What if I told you I have been collecting books for my kids library since I was in college. It’s true. I have been buying books for my future children since I was in college. I worked in a retail store and they would get great kids titles in, and I would buy them with my discount and store them away for “one day.” But let’s be honest, books are expensive and expanding your read aloud library can add up quickly. I have worked on this for a long time and I am going to share all of my tips on how to expand your read aloud library.
Here is the truth. You don’t need to spend a dime on your read aloud library. You can simply get a good library card and check out books and never spend a penny on a book. But honestly, my girls LOVE to be read to. They would sit and read a book for as long as I would entertain them, and there are some of those books I want to keep forever. Just like in college, I am already collecting their favorites for my future grandkids (I understand, I am a little crazy!) So I think it is always a good idea to buy some books and create your own library. I keep an ever growing wish list of books, and it makes me so happy to get a new book to enjoy!
How I get books for free!
There are a handful of ways that I get books for free. It isn’t easy to get books for free, but if you keep an eye out you will stumble on some every once in a while. So here are my go to’s for free books:
- Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library This is soooo good! They have so many great titles and you get books for the first 5 years of your kids life. I love this service, and they cover a huge area of the country now, so you are most likely covered. I get so excited when I see that a really great title is coming that I have wanted. The books are paperback, but super sturdy. They also have questions and activities to go along with the book in the inside flap! They are GREAT for homeschool lessons.
- Little Free Library I’m not sure if this is technically free, since you are suppose to take and book leave a book, but if you desperately needed books for your kids, I know the person who sponsored the library would want you to take a book. We have found a lot of really great books this way, and we will often use books that we have doubles of or have grown out of to make a trade!
- Birthday Parties We do birthdays a little different. We ask at our birthday parties for people to bring a book as a card. I will even share a list of books we would love for them to bring! This has gotten us a lot of really fun books and my kids have loved them all.
- Grandma’s House My mom still has a lot of the books she bought for me when I was a kid. Recently, I went and gathered them all up and brought them home for my kids to enjoy. I know, not all grandparents will do this, but if they have go get them and use them! Some of these books are hard to find now and I love sharing them with my kids! Another way to get free books is to tell grandma that you need new books, and usually they will magically appear within a few weeks. Grandma’s are the best.
- Christmas Gifts Every year for Christmas we ask for people to gift our kids at least a book, if not a couple. I always have a book list to send out to family, of things we want to read. This is a great way to get a good practical gift. My kids are never upset when opening a new book.
- Library Of course you can always check out books from the library! Totally free, you just don’t get to keep them.
- Trade with Friends If you have friends who love books do a swap! Bring all your books and switch them around! Get a friend group to do it, and have everyone invite 2 new people to do it, and you will have a great selection! Do it with your church group! Or co workers! With Family! Seriously, if you tell your 3 closest friends to come to your house and bring all their old books AND 3 new friends to also bring all their old books to trade, you have just made 9 friends and gotten a bunch of new books! Sounds like a blast to me.
- Kindle for Kids So I know this isn’t exactly free, but there are a TON of options for free kindle books. You can do Kindle Unlimited and it will include free kids books on top of free adult books. You can also use Libby, Hoopla, or your library’s database. I could go on forever about how Kindle is a great investment and how it can really help with books! This is a great option especially if you don’t have a ton of space to put books, or aren’t concerned about keeping them.
How I get books for cheap!
This is where the bulk of my books will be bought. I love a free book, and I love a brand new book, but with how quickly my kids go through book this is where a good portion of our book budget goes to. I have several places I will go and look for books at.
- Thrift Stores Books at goodwill are about $1.60, and you would be shocked at how many great titles are there. I have found so many brand new books, current titles, and classics for really cheap. The key here is to go often. I will always stop and look through some books to see if there are any deals. But I will rarely pay more than $4 for a used book.
- Facebook If you know anything about me you know I love Facebook Marketplace, or a good yard sale page. People are always going through their books and I will gladly snag them if they are a decent price. I have gotten whole collections of books for cents each. Keep an eye out, you will be surprised what you will find.
- Retired Teachers This is the gold mine. If you can find a retiring elementary teacher they will have so many books. The books will be in rough shape, but they will be great titles, and if you can find a teacher of the same grade as your kid they will be on level, and usually marked for you. I really love when a teacher does a destash on facebook.
- Library Our library is always selling books for next to nothing. Most of the time the kids books at 10-25 cents. Our library always has a decent selection. I grab a lot of classics in these sales. Books I want to have so my kids can read them as they get older. Think, BFG, The Great Gatsby, To Kill a Mockingbird, etc.
- Half Priced Books This is a great idea, but honestly, they are overpriced. I will go here if I am looking for an older book, or a really expensive book that doesn’t go on sale often. Its a good option, maybe not a perfect option. Just be careful sometimes their prices are more, or equal to buying new. I have a lot success in their paperback section.
How I get very specific books I want!
Sometimes I need a very specific book, or I want a specific book. Honestly, there are so many really great new titles out there, I struggle not spending big money on books every month. Here are my tips in this area
- Wait for it to go on sale. All of the big box stores will do a sale. They will do them a lot around the holiday’s. They will do a few through the summer. When it comes to the big stores I recommend putting together a wish list of books you want and then watching to see how often the price goes down. I would also wait until you see the BOGO 50% sale at B&N, it happens often. Or the BOGO at Target!
- Gift books around the holidays. I try to always give my kids a book for every holiday. It’s just a good investment for us, and then I’m not constantly buying them. It scratches and itch to buy them for the gift giving holidays.
- Ask others to gift them to your kids. Like I said above, grandparents love to give gifts, and your kids love books. Its a win-win. Or when someone says they want to gift your child something, don’t turn them down, give them a book they wanted.
- Don’t stress about having a million books. It has taken me 15 years to get the books I have now. It’s a slow process, your kids won’t outgrow the book. My oldest is 6 and we still enjoy board books. I promise they love reading with you more than they specific story. So don’t stress, grab the books when you can.
- If you want to buy books consistently, agree to a book a month, or a book a pay check. Most books are equal to the price of a fancy Starbucks drink, so skip a latte and buy a book. If it coincides with the sales I mentioned above its even better!
Did you know it is suggested to read your child 5 books a day, every day until they are 5! If you do, it will equate to over 1 MILLION words read! Think of the vocabulary your child will have experienced. Reading to your child is such a gift! I hope you will enjoy it with them! I hope this list has helped you figure out some ways to get reading more.
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