Too Many Books?
One sentence that drives me mad is when some one comes to my book stall and says "they have too many books". I don't mind if they don't want to buy books. I am a big believer in libraries and visit them often with my two little one (yes I sell books that we absolutely love, but I will not deprive them of a even broader spectrum of books to love). I do mind when they say "they have too many books as their children don't read the ones they have."Shouldn't they ask themselves why their children don't read the books they have. Thinking of a lot of my friends houses, many of their books are no longer age appropriate for their children. These books should be removed (stored, sold, given away, what ever they want to do with them). This probably gets rid of the majority of the books. Next they should take a critical look at the books they have left. Are they on a topic the child actually enjoys?
For example, if a child likes princesses, feed their imagination with good old fashioned princess stories. Steer clear of the new modern day commercialism. Every child, every age has a passion, whether its animals, dinosaurs , princesses, pirates, insects, cars, planes, I could go on. What ever subject it is, if they like the subject they will be interested in reading and looking at pictures about that subject.
Research has actually shown that children improve their reading ability by reading a lot. Independent reading increases both vocabulary and reading fluency.
Children who choose their own books usually reads more books and spends more time reading. If they start reading young (or have books read to them from an early age) they are more motivated to continue reading as they advance though the grade levels.
So can a child have too many books? The answer is they can have too many wrong books but if if they only have books that are appropriate for them they can never have too many books! So the next time you are walking pass a book stall with your child, have them browse and see what interests them or talk to your child find out what type of book they would like to own. The better books they will want to read again and again,
To help you purchase the right books for your children, Barefoot Books are running a free shipping campaign until Mother's day May 10th. Please feel free to combine this with my 10% off coupon.
May is an exciting month, I recommend "off we go to Mexico" for Cinco de Mayo, Motherbridge of Love for Mothers day and for anyone planning a long car journey I recommend our books with CDs such as "we all go traveling by, Creepy Crawly Calypso or Portside Pirates, Jack and The Beanstalk, House that Jack Built".
Thank you Heidi!! Great recommendations for books! We have a few of those she mentioned and my kids LOVE THEM!!!
5 comments:
I agree - never too many books! For my baby shower theme, guests decided to help me build a library for the baby. Now she has an awesome array of titles to choose from. The question is where to store them :)
Please check out my latest blog on my struggle to "un-stuff" my life. I think you'll like it:
www.mrszeee.com
I so agree! Our bookshelf is packed but I keep the baby books on the top shelves and the older aged books below (it isn't high). We frequent the library because I feel it gives me a good idea on what kind of books my 5 year old likes to read. She has just started reading on her own and checking out books will show me what she will read over and over and what she puts down after a few minutes. We are big readers here and it is fun now that she can read because she will read to us! :) The baby books that we are outgrowing will be donated...just not sure exactly the best place to donate them to!
I agree! Stuffed animals? Well, we have way too many of those, but books? Never!
Carrie
I love Barefoot books. And I don't think you can have too many!
I agree...there's no such thing as too many books! Great post. I'm going to go check out barefoot books right now! :)
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