For the Love of Reading: Steals and Deals

Hi there! Hope you had a Happy St. Patrick's day.

In this post I'm talking about books. [Books, you say? Make sure you read this recent post on changes I'm making to the blog.]

This weekend, besides eating green pancakes to celebrate St. Patrick's day, we went to the semi-annual book sale at our local library.

We can't wait for this event to come around every four months. We love books and we can't resist a good deal. Enough said.

It's safe to say the library is our second home.

Going to the library is like going to church, or going to the grocery store for my kids. It's a regular, expected, part of life. They've been going since they were babies, every week, usually a few times a week. We've been going to story time consistently for the past 6+ years.

We love our library. It's a renovated historic building that almost got demolished, but some community members banded together, raised a ruckus, got the funds, and fixed the dilapidated, yet promising building.

One of our favorite aspects of the library is this used book sale. We've been going to this sale a few times each year for several years, and it's enabled us to build a rather large children's book and VHS (we still have a VHS player, can you believe it?) collection on a tight budget.

All books and videos are $.50 (which goes with out saying, but that is a steal!). We're the first ones there and I'm sure everyone hates us, because we quickly scour the shelves and get the best goods.

Here were some of our finds from this last sale:

I know VHS has almost gone the way of an 8-track player. But we have a VHS player and lots of VHS's so, it works for us. And look at all the great classics we picked up. I'm thrilled to think my kids will grow up knowing the likes of Tevia (Fiddler on the Roof), Babe, Pinocchio, and Dorthy, Anne, are all good company.

Another great find was this classic:

Robert McCloskey is a master illustrator and children's lit writer. His books are from a by-gone, simpler era, one that I want to make sure my kids get exposure to and know about. That basic, almost monochromatic way of illustration, great storyline that takes place outdoors. (more of rare thing in current children's lit).

I've liked this book ever since I began reading to Hyrum when he was baby. But I think I like it even more now that I have my own little Sal. She even kind of looks like McCloskey's Sal.

Here's another awesome find: Baby, Boo! A sturdy, baby friendly book.

The larger version was purchased a few sales back, and Salem loves it. If she is sad, nothing cheers her up like reading Baby, Boo! Each page is a picture of a baby, and she loves each one. She gets giddy with excitement when she sees their faces and has to give each of them a kiss.

When I found the same book, but just smaller version, I had to get it. Can't hurt to have another, smaller version to tote around (and the price point was just right, too!).

A few other things.

As a treat, we like let the kids climb into our bed, and we'll read books. It's a treat for them. Here Joseph is reading one of our favorite collections, The Peter Rabbit series (we have the entire Beatrix Potter collection, it's a classic, one that I think every parent should own).

And here's a book we checked out from the library.

Usually my kids will bring me books that we've checked out from the library, and more often than not, I'll sit down and read the book but think, "geez, this is a dumb book" or some such critical thought, but continue reading because they like the book. I kind of had the expectation that this book was going to be one of those, so I started reading, and before I knew it, I was enraptured with how delightful funny and surprisingly good the writing and illustrations were.

I thoroughly enjoyed reading each word and don't think I've laughed as much (and my kids liked it too). I highly recommend.

Giveaways and Guest Blogger

Tomorrow I'll announce this week's giveaway winner (there's still time to enter!).

Also, if you participated in the let's eat greens! challenge last week and are interested in sharing your experience (doesn't have to be anything long or elaborate), please, please email me with your experience (and a pic would be great too).