You can't have too many books!

Most people who know me, know that I love to read books and I love reading books aloud to Nicholas. You might say I'm a book addict. I have books in almost every room of the house. There are books in boxes under the bed and in boxes in closets. Nicholas has quite a nice collection of books as well. Buying books, even just little children's books, can get expensive pretty quickly so most of the books I buy for Nicholas are used. I buy them from used book sales at various libraries, Half Price Books, and on ebay. Nicholas has a stash of books in his playroom but most of his books are on a little book case in his room. They are easily accessible to him and he loves to get out books to "read" on his own.

Last weekend, our local library had a used book sale and I only went shopping for books for Nicholas. What fun! I came out with a bag full of books for him for only $9.00. I bought some educational ones - Nature Hikes by Golden Books, Discovering Trees by Douglas Florian (great children's author for nature-themed books), All About Seeds by Melvin Berger, What Happens When Fire Burns, a book and CD-rom on outer space, a "Bob" workbook which is a series of beginner reading books. I also bought a 12 book collection of pocket-sized field guides such as Insects, Butterflies and Moths, Rocks and Minerals, Stars, etc. We can bring these with us on our nature walks to help identify the neat things we see along the way. I also bought some fun books like a Batman book that has buttons you can press to make different sounds that go along with the stories, a Spiderman book, a book on a silly red carpet that rolls all over the town, a book of stories about giants, a book of Halloween stories, a book about a dragon.

This week, I volunteered to work at the Scholastic book fair at Montessori. Yesterday I baked 4 dozen cookies for the book fair patrons to enjoy while they shopped. Volunteers get a special at buy 3 books, get 1 free plus yesterday was a special "no sales tax" day for the book fair. I bought 8 books! 7 were for Nicholas and I donated one book to his classroom. I bought Froggy Rides a Bike, Diary of a Fly, Bats on the Beach, The Three Snow Bears, Santa's Stuck, Snowmen at Christmas, Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus, and If You Decide To Go To The Moon. Nicholas also won a drawing at school in which he got to pick out one free book from the book fair. He picked out Poor Puppy which is a story about a cute little puppy who likes to play with kitty but kitty doesn't like to play with puppy but puppy finds all kinds of other wonderful things to play with. Wow! Where are we going to put all of these books? His little book case in his room is packed full and we're just stacking the extras on top of the book case or on the floor. But that doesn't mean that he can't have any more books....



Grandmama Owen sent a card to Nicholas letting him know that she got him a subscription to Highlights magazine. How cool! She got me a subscription to Highlights when I was little too! Thank you, Grandmama Owen!

Next week, Half Price Books is having a coupon sale!! I think there is even a coupon for 50% off your entire purchase. I can't wait! I love to get great deals on books for Nicholas there!

Speaking of deals, I recently bought a set of Great Illustrated Classics on ebay for a great deal. In case you aren't familiar with these books, they are hardback books of true classic stories like The Wizard of Oz, Huckleberry Finn, and Black Beauty. They are original versions of the classics with short chapters and line drawings - great for children! These books retail for $9.99 each and I bought a whole collection of 14 of these books on ebay for a winning bid of $10.00! And they are in "like new" condition!

If you love books but hate to spend money on new book prices, just keep your eyes open. There are wonderful deals on great books all around you!