Building a home library from almost nothing
How I built my home library on a foundation of thrifted books and cheap paperbacks
Hi friends,
Reading didn’t used to be something I thought about much. It was just one of those regular parts of life. Like eating breakfast or playing outside. Mom read to us. I read to myself, mostly books from the school library or whatever we were required to read for school. I occasionally got to spend a few dollars at a school book fair so that I could add a book to my very small but treasured collection. I remember looking at my mom’s mass market paperback copy of The Dragon Riders of Pern by Anne McCaffrey and thinking it would be cool to read it some day (which it was, I discovered in my late 20s). We didn’t have a lot of books in our home growing up, but the ones we did have got plenty of attention.
By the time I got married my collection of books was still pathetically (in my mind) small. It didn’t even fill one shelf on the cheap Sauder bookcase that hubby and I had in our living room! But I didn’t mind. I still read plenty. Mostly books I borrowed from friends or the library or sometimes even my mom (whose own collection had begun growing once her seven kids started reaching adulthood—go figure).
But after having my own kids, I started thinking about reading differently. I wanted there to be plenty of books in our home so that I could read lots of different books to our kids and so that there would be plenty of books for them to choose from once they were old enough to enjoy books on their own. And I didn’t want to always have to give them back! So, I started buying more books.
In the beginning our book budget was minimal, to say the least. Most of the books we added to our family library were from thrift stores, yard sales, and a few 99 cent book order specials. On the rare occasion that I bought something new, it was a Little Golden Book or a paperback from the local bookstore.
And let me tell you, those books got read! I have the battered paperbacks to prove it.
Okay, so David Goes to School isn’t as battered as the others, but it did get a lot of attention!
Here are some other favorites from the early days and how we acquired them:
How Do Dinosaurs Say Goodnight? by Jane Yolen, illustrated by Mark Teague. School Book Fair
Hooway for Wodney Wat by Helen Lester, illustrate3d by Lynn Munsinger. Book order.
Frederick by Leo Lionni. Paperback bought new at the bookstore.
Say Hola to Spanish, Otra Vez (Again!) by Susan Middleton Elya, illustrated by Loretta Lopez (yard sale or thrift). My son especially loved hearing me read this one aloud when he was little.
How the Grinch Stole Christmas by Dr. Seuss. Coloring book edition. I bought this new at the book store because it was less than $3.00 and it is a duplicate of the original, just not colored!
What was That? by Geda Bradley Mathews, illustrated by Normand Charier (yard sale or thrift)
Tikki Tikki Tembo retold by Arlene Mosel, illustrated by Blair Lent. Paperback, new at the bookstore. I know this one is a little controversial, but my kids loved it and will still, after all these years, recite Tikki Tikki Tembo’s full name by memory.
The Foot Book by Dr. Seues. I got this book for FREE as part of an incentive to join the Beginning Readers’ Program (which I did not join, but I was happy to accept the free gift).
I could go on and on listing the mostly thrifted books we used to build our home library in the early days. Even now, over thirty years later, more than half of the books I buy are secondhand. What began as half a shelf on a humble book case so long ago has grown to shelves of books in nearly every room of the house. And where they don’t fit on shelves, they stack on the floor or in neat piles on accent tables. It’s quite a home library!
But it isn’t just a home library we’ve been building. It’s a culture of books and reading and stories that my kids (even my son who doesn’t read as much…for now) sincerely appreciate now that they are adults.
And now our daughters are carrying on in their own homes, with their own families. I am so glad that we were able to lay that foundation for them while they were still at home. By the time each of them moved out, they each had at least one bookcase overflowing with books with which to begin building their own libraries and establish a culture of reading in their homes.
It’s one of the best gifts that we, as parents, have been able to give our children.
Have you seen my middle grade novel in verse, Mari in the Margins? It would make a great gift for a young book lover in your life.
Love love love!!! And what a selection!!!
I love getting insight into home libraries! This is especially timely for me, as my little ones are very into borrowing library books, and I’ve noticed that we don’t buy books as often as we used to because of that!