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Cheryl
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| Posted: Nov 05 2007 at 6:14am | IP Logged
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I'm not sure where to put this topic...
How do you decide what to collect and what to keep in your home library?
What are your favorite booklists?
If you were going to buy the My First Little House books for example, would you prefer to buy a hardcover (or two, or many over time) or would you get the whole set in paperback?
Do you think it's better for a child to have a smaller quantity of books to hear over and over, or to hear a large variety? (I'm actually looking at our stash of board books and wondering what's best for my 20 month old.)
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Martha
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| Posted: Nov 05 2007 at 7:58am | IP Logged
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See now I wouldn't buy the "My First Little.." books at all.  I go for the original production in all it's glory theory.
I think it's a large quantity of quality books that counts. If it's not quality then why buy it at all?
I go hardback when possible because it's more durable and I have 8 kids, something is bound to appeal to one of them at some point.
I suppose if I only had 1 or 2 kids I'd be less concerned about building a home library and more of a personal library for each child. My kids certainly have books that have become their personal favorites and those would be the ones I'd likely keep with only a couple of kids.
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Barbara C.
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I think quality is more important than quantity, especially if you have a good library near-by. And by quality I don't necessarily always mean the great literature, but often it does. I think that the "quality" are the books that have been borrowed from the library that you see yourself reading again and again and again, usually at least once a year. My Star Wars books aren't exactly quality literature, but I re-read most of them often enough to have justified their purchase over the years.
I think board books are probably the easiest and best thing to keep a stash of, especially since each little one usually has their own personal favorites (and ones from the library are usually really abused). I think once you get to picture books, though, you could probably get by with just hitting the library regularly. I think in a family library I would mainly include non-fiction reference books, maybe some thinking games books like "I Spy", maybe a handful of those stepping stone readers for beginners, and maybe a few literary classics (original Little House, Narnia, Anne of Green Gables, etc) but otherwise I would let each older child build a collection of their own favorites (with the stipulation that they had to have read it at least once from the library before being purchased).
I tend to prefer paperback because it's cheaper, lighter, and less bulky. But like everything written up above, it's just my personal opinion. Our space and money are at a premium like so many of you, so I really have to evaluate what comes into our house. And although I am often able to guide outside family in their gift-giving, we still end up with a lot of junk books and toys. Which reminds me that I need to find some time to sneak up to the playroom and do some culling. 
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KC in TX
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| Posted: Nov 05 2007 at 3:31pm | IP Logged
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I go for both actually (probably an oxymoron but...). We have a huge variety of books to accomodate my children from my varied interest of my oldest child with autism (he only likes non fiction books with actual photos) to my youngest who is finally not tearing books up.
I keep the quality books in the school room and try to rotate them out for show monthly based on my booklists. The books we tend to buy that are a bit more twaddly go in our play room. These books have been great for teaching my oldest daughter how to read. She taught herself using these books.
Of course, we have a lot more space than we've ever had. This is just the way we do things (we have to keep everything to help with my oldest child's anxiety level--long story).
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ALmom
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We have quantity - but hopefully they are mostly quality books. I don't have a good library nearby and it is exhausting to me to have to haul people who will be looking in different parts of the library and then I have to sort through, make sure no one is wandering away from my watchful eye - but cannot be 6 places at once and ... besides we never find what I'm looking for and we don't have interlibrary loan outside our local area without fees. Also the youngest come up to me with piles of 20 plus books all of which were chosen soley on the enticing cover and most of which must be replaced due to obnoxious content. It had a cool train on the front with lots of vivid colors - but inside the characters are all yelling insults at each other or something. Now I have to either explain that the book is not acceptable or what is usually easier and more efficient, flip through pictures if appropriate and slip them back to the librarian at checkout because we have exceeded our 30 book limit. Even those few books that I know are there - and are great books, well, usually when I need them, they are checked out. I also have no Catholic books unless I have them myself - libraries here don't carry Catholic materials (we are in the Bible belt). When I have to prioritize, then priority does go to the Catholic life of Saints or good history. I won't find these in local bookstores or on the shelves anywhere. Oddly enough, I often find them at Friends of the Library book sales for 25C. I also will choose books I know my local homeschooling friends don't have as we do borrow one another's books - guess we each have our own libraries. I am a major income source for most of the Catholic book catelogues - though my orders go in waves every couple of years and we often do group orders to save on shipping so my name isn't always on the invoice. So any one company may not see my specific orders except once every 3 - 5 years - but when I order it is a huge order. Most of my catelogues have endless checks, stars and initials indicating who is most interested.
There is something about just having books to browse. It is because I never got around to removing all the science stuff that didn't work with my oldest 3, that #4 took off on science. I hadn't even gotten around to dumping my high school chemistry book and guess where he has learned a lot of chemistry. This is a textbook and maybe twaddly - but, heh, this kid loves chemistry and I cannot keep enough around to keep him busy. Whatever it is, the quantity seems to be the key in our house, though I am generally picky about the quality of all that comes in. We don't have books taken from movies stuff or the latest fad stuff. I don't have any Papa Bear stuff. Guess the closest twaddle are the textbooks and maybe a handful of books some of my children won't let me part with (Mrs. Piggle Wiggle, etc.) We check the twaddle we want out of the library - old Hardy Boys or whatever which generally gets old quickly (mostly daddy taking an individual or two instead of the whole crew showing up on the library steps - or when I'm purusing the much more succesful Friends of the Library sales.
Also if I am planning to follow a certain historical period, I don't know in advance, which books will entice which children or even which particulars will draw my children in for more intense study. One child engulfed the civil war. Another went wild over WWII. It is so much easier on me and my children expand their horizons more if I just have the stuff around, lots of it on so many different topics. This year my purchases have all been related to ancient history or MacBeth recommended science. I try to keep the quantity of stuff I purchase, quality but I do make sure to have some textbooks around for easy reference.
However, the disadvantage is that some gems do get lost inall this quantity - so every year at the end of the school year, we refile, rearrange our school room and books get stacked in various categories, etc. During this time most of my children discover some gem and my piles never stay neatly rearranged for long as everyone does numerous rearrangements as they pick off the jewels that resurface. I also have a few displays where I highlight some of the really, really special books I don't want us to miss (and this rotates).
Now if space were a premium, I'm not sure what I'd do. Well, yes I do, when we lived in a smaller house and were crammed - every closet in the house stored books. I didn't own changes of sheets or very many towels, but every shelf in the linen closet, even the bathroom closet was chocked full of books. We stored a few old college books neither of us could part with (I couldn't part with mine and dh couldn't part with his) but mostly we had everything on a shelf somewhere. We even lined a wall of our very, very crowded kitchen with shelves. The first thing someone asked us when they walked in was - you are homeschoolers? We just had a libraries worth of books. These books have been gems - our science fan has gone wild with our high school and college science books once he discovered them. Some of the math and engineering books are still waiting for a little longer before someone discovers them.
Ok, true confession time. Guess where I'm tempted to hoard and be greedy.
I guess the question boils down to the individual balancing act you must deal with. Without a really great library system, we have to have a big variety in our home. With a great library system, small house, unemployment or some other financial stress, we might fall a bit more on the quality spectrum. But if you can have both quality and quantity - go for it!!! 
When you have 6 children, each with a very different passion, and a bookaholic mom you end up with quantity regardless!!! I have become the local homeschoolers library of choice and feel that the way for me to be generous is to let folks check out my books.
Janet
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Rachel May
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| Posted: Nov 06 2007 at 7:26am | IP Logged
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I'm working with a less is more approach right now simply because I find that having a quanitity of books doesn't mean that a quantity of books is acutally being read. We are all so overwhelmed by having too many choices that we fall back on old favorites or don't read at all. 
I would like to have a few quality books for each reading stage and gender (that still adds up to plenty). For easy reader series books (like First Little House), I buy one of two paperbacks. The kids have heard all of the original series, so the easy reader versions are really to whet my child's appetite for reading and to give him/her something to look for at the library. For the actual Little House series or good quality picture books, I *try* to buy the hardcover when I can because Lissa once said that sends a message to the publisher that there are people out there who will pay for good children's lit. 
I'm thinking of dumping the majority of our board books since I find that most often the little guy is listening to the big kid books and not interested in the board books.
Just my $.02.
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SusanJ
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We think through this question every birthday and Christmas. We have (at family's request) Amazon lists for each kid with quality picture books and the hard-to-find Catholic mosaic books and any other favorites we've discovered during library trips. Last Chrismtmas when my older was two we thought, "This is enough books!" But this year when his third birthday came in October we were all wanting new books to read aloud. We do a lot of reading aloud here--several books a day. It's my son's favorite activity so we think it's okay to have a lot. It's also great to have great books on hand when a particular situation or experience arises. My son really processes his life vis-a-vis the stories we read to him.
We ask for hardcover editions and buy them ourselves at used book stores when we can. Partly the hardback is more durable but, honestly, I like that they will lie flat. I'm usually reading with a baby nursing or climbing on me. Lord willing, that's not going to change anytime soon. The hardcovers get read more if I can do it with one hand.
For storage in a small space, we find lots of shelf space by installing a high single or double shelf near the top of a room. The books are hard, or impossible to reach without a stool, but books that are read less often can go up there. It's amazing what a few more feet of shelf space can do!
Susan
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Cheryl
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| Posted: Nov 07 2007 at 3:14pm | IP Logged
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I'm enjoying reading your responses. I think Christmas shopping is what got me thinking about these questions. I wonder what to buy for my dc, or what to suggest to relatives. My dc don't really NEED anything. I prefer giving books over toys, especially for my one year old, but I wonder if we have a huge amount of books, will the best ones get lost on the shelves?
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Cheryl
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Mom to Matthew 13, Joseph 11, Sarah 10, Rachel 6, Hannah almost 4 and Mary 1
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mary
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| Posted: Nov 07 2007 at 7:39pm | IP Logged
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i know what you mean - i have very generous relatives and way too much stuff. as for your questions, i recently pared down my books from 8 to 4 shelves. i only keep my sonlight core books, catholic books and hsing reference type books. anything i can't get from the library or will be reading more than once made the cut. often i find myself ready to buy something at amazon, but then after getting it from the library, i realize that while it was a lovely book, i really don't need to own it.
so, i don't own the my first little house books, but i do have the little house series. most of my books are in paperback. i don't usually give my kids books as gifts, although i give each of my children a book for epiphany. as for my toddler, she wants me to read the same books over and over again.
did that help? i love it when you are in organizing mode!
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4Real Forums : Living Learning
Topic: Quality vs quantity with books
