How to Children's Books

The topic of children's books is obviously too big to completely cover, but I do have a few tips that include:

1. How to organize them (and avoid getting duplicate copies of titles you already own)
2. How to get them on the cheap
3. Just a few book recommendations

To start this out—as is book tradition—I'd like to make a dedication:

Rileigh Smirl, Sydnee McElroy and Teylor Smirl are three sisters of the podcast Still Buffering. They discuss how the youngest sister teens now and compare it to how the other two sisters used to teen, or to put it more eloquently, as Rileigh says in their intro, it is "a sister's guide to teens through the ages."

Their episode titled How to Books definitely inspired my title, but it also got me excited about all of the books I look forward to reading to my now 22-month-olds. One book, in particular, that they mentioned, Sideways Stories from Wayside School, was a childhood favorite of mine and is so rarely known by people I meet—so I knew the Still Buffering ladies get it.

Besides being amusing and giving me that snuggly, warm feeling of love in my tum-tum, the sisters of Still Buffering have managed to attract a supportive, caring audience who never make you feel silly for sharing a thought in their Facebook group. I love those guys and the good vibes they always send out.

Now, on to business...


Catalog Those Books!
After my kids were born, grandparents and other family members asked me what children's books we already owned so they could avoid sending us duplicates. I honestly couldn't remember them all, which wasn't so great for me either when I did some book shopping of my own.

So sort those books on the shelf however you want—by author, genre, Dewey Decimal System, etc.—but put them in a shareable list to help you and your relatives out.

Google Docs
I add all of my books in a Google Sheet and share that file with my family members. Since it's digital, that means we can pull the list up on our phones for when we're shopping for books on the go-go. Sure, it's time-consuming at first, but it is worth it in the long run when you reap the benefits of avoiding duplicate copies of a book and having your library catalog at your fingertips.

Each column can easily by sorted alphabetically in case you prefer to look something up by author versus title

libib.com
This website is what I used to begin my library catalog. It's a bit of a time-saver since I can simply enter the ISBN number of any book, and it will bring up all of that book's information: title, author, number of pages, date of publication, etc. You can even edit the information or add a picture of the cover in case anything is missing.

book details from libib.com

It's easy to organize everything when you can also create different Libraries. I, for instance, have one for board books, one for paperback picture books, one for hardback picture book and will soon have one for chapter books.

NOTE: I haven't tried it yet, but I thought it was worth mentioning that you can choose a library type other than books in case you want to catalog more of your life: movies, video games and music are also available.

This service is free, but they also offer a Pro version that you have to pay for. The biggest advantage that I can tell is that you can get these lists "published" and accessible to others (HINT: this is where Google Docs comes in).


List Tools, Assemble!
So if you start with libib.com but want to take advantage of the free sharing abilities of Google Docs, then you've come to the right place.

Under Settings, select Libraries and click on Export a Library (.csv). Select the library you want to export and hit... wait for it... Export Library.

Easy as 1, 2, 3... 4, 5

Once your file is finished downloading, you can Import it into your blank Google Sheet.

Will it be a bunch of gobbledygook at first? Oh, so much yes.

AAAHH—the gobbledygook!!!

But you delete whichever columns you don't need, put some visual hierarchy in there by increasing the size and boldness of the title row, maybe add one column that defines which library it came from and BOOM—Sensical City.

Does this seem like a lot of work for a list of books? Maybe. But that's just because you've never logged all of your stuff before, lazy bones. And, again, once it's done, the rewards can be reaped.

Also, keep in mind that from here on out, you'll only have to log one book at a time as you gradually gain more, and a Google Doc does not need to be shared again once it is updated. It automatically shows everyone the most up-to-date document that you have made.


Where Does He Get Those Wonderful [Books]?
Everyone has their little bargain secrets, but what I've found to be super helpful for just a bunch of baby books at a low cost is a used book sale. I actually have two coming up this month in my town that I'm excited to return to. One is at my local library and the other is held by a non-profit organization called Books For Keeps.

Why are books sales like these so awesome?

1. The money goes back towards the community
2. You likely have a local event like this wherever you are (check your library at least)
3. Most books are no more than $2 or $3 at the most
4. They both have a Bag Day* (my favorite)

*Bag Day usually means you pay a flat fee ($5 for a grocery bag in one case) and you get to fill a bag with as many books as you can. Be warned: Bag Day is usually the last day of the event after the bigger titles have been swiped, so if you're looking for something in particular, it might be worth it to go sooner and pay the whole two or three dollars. But when you just need a bunch of simple board/picture books for a little baby—well, let's just say that you can fit a lot of small books like those in an average-sized bag.

Don't be discouraged though. You can still find plenty of good-quality books on Bag Day. I've gotten classics such as Dr. Seuss and Berenstain Bears, for example. I've also found a bunch of other gems that I never knew existed like The Giant Jam Sandwich—whaaaa? Yes!

So Google you some local money-saving book events. And if you're worried about used board books being icky, just wipe it down with some 3% hydrogen peroxide on a cloth. I've learned recently that hydrogen peroxide seems to be more effective as a disinfectant on inanimate surfaces—like baby books—than on cuts or scraps on people (thanks, Sawbones!).

Recommendations
This list could quickly get way out of hand, so I'm going to stick to what my 22-month-olds are into right now (all are board books).

What the Cool Babies Are Reading
When babies are less than two years old, they're not as into a good story as moms and dads might be. What appeals to my son and daughter are the books with pretty pictures, minimal words—so we're not waiting too long to turn a page—and any kind of interaction with the book (feeling textures, turning pages, flipping peek-a-boo flaps, counting objects, etc.).

Peekaboo Sophie!

Besides every page having a peek-a-boo flap, there is additional interaction involved, such as touching Gabin the Bear's squishy nose, tickling Sophie and her soft felt spots or—my children's favorite—popping the glittery bubbles above Margot the Turtle's bath.

Is Margot the Turtle behind the bubbles? You're darned right she is.

Where is Baby's Belly Button?

Babies usually love looking at other babies, which is every page of this book. And because each page has a baby's face, it's an easy way to ask your child, "Where is the baby's eyes?" or "Can you point to baby's nose?" as often as you like in addition to the specific body part on which the page is already focused.

The baby has another set of arms (and cup) behind her first pair of arms (and cup)!

Dream Snow

I haven't met an Eric Carle book I didn't like—even for just the beautiful illustrations alone. As a bonus, this one focuses on counting to five and has those peek-a-boo flaps that my kids can't seem to get enough of.

The farmer in this book is a nice guy but not the most creative by naming his animals One, Two, Three, Four and Five

It is technically a Christmas book, but we can do Christmas in July or August or September—or any time we want! The textured snow on the cover is another nice touch (whoa—accidental pun!), and the kids and I make sure to Ooo! and Ahh! over them every time we start or finish the book.


Poke-A-Dot! What's Your Favorite Color?

This has animals, colors and counting, but the best part is the "POP-A-TRONIC technology."

The back actually claims "POP-A-TRONIC technology." I can't make this up.

Every page—even the cover—has little plastic bubbles for the kids to poke, which then give off a satisfying pop sound. And every pokeable bubble aids in counting the color-themed animals.

Alphaprints: Colors

The two big reasons I like this book are the vibrantly colored illustrations and the incorporation of textured fingerprints into the images of the animals.

One of the reasons it appeals to my kids is the way the pages are stacked and have a shiny colorful edge—the stacked pages make it much easier for the kids to turn a page on their own, which is definitely one of their favorite parts of reading a book to being with.


My Numbers / Mis Numeros

It's a simple counting book with simple but colorful illustrations, which I say as a positive—the simplicity actually makes it easier to focus on the objects to count.

Every page has the number and object(s) to count in both English and Spanish. It's a nice introduction to a second language that any parent with any level of Spanish-understanding should be able to read.


Super Heroes: Colors, Shapes, and More!
Super Heroes: ABC, 123

My husband and I are both into super heroes, so it is only natural that we use them to teach our children different colors, shapes, the alphabet and numbers. It's fun to go away from the norms of child-oriented words like kite or kitten to represent the letter K and showing that it can stand for Kryptonite as well.

As an added bonus, my husband has been pointing out the names of some of the super heroes as he reads these books to my children, which they seem to be really into. Can my kids say "blue" or "circle" yet? No. But my son and daughter can identify and can say "Batman" and "Superman."

Here is my daughter saying "Superman" and rushing over to the book shelf to request the Superman books.

Winry's version of "Superman" comes out a little closer to "Su-mon," but you get the idea.


Star Wars: ABC
Star Wars: 123
Star Wars: Colors

If the parents are into Star Wars, which we are—much like the super hero books mentioned above—this is another fun way to introduce the basic colors, numbers and letters to children. Of course, you may have a problem like I do of the book mentioning that R2-D2 is a robot instead of a droid, but I know they were just trying to use as many words bringing with R as they could, so I let it slide.

The kids seem to like Yoda and Chewbacca the most—without having seen the movies yet—probably because their faces are featured bigger than most on the pages, and the kids have fun pointing out Yoda's or Chewy's eyes, mouth and nose.

They can't say "Yoda" yet, but we'll get there.

Another perk of these books is the larger-than-normal dimensions for a board book (9x9 inches). Because the pages were so big and fun to turn and because the pictures on each page were also large, these books seemed to more easily hold my kids' attention. They were the definite favorites for a long time for this very reason and one of the first books that they both sat through until the end.

I love having a lap full of babies!