Children's Books discussion

I'm just sort of curious- I buy a lot of jFIC, it's really cheap at thrift stores around here so I can't pass up any good stuff. Now I own a lot of unread books- doesn't help that I no longer work in a public library. I used to bring them in and add them to the collection.

Just as a rough extrapolation from the last time I counted, I'd say I own around 400 juvenile fiction titles and around 200 are unread. In my defense, most of them were purchased for $0.59. lol

That's just chapter books, I didn't bother to count picture books because I read those as I buy them and don't own any unread picture books.

I own a lot of unread books, period, both juvenile and adult. Some of the adult books I purchased for academic reasons and either just have not gotten around to reading them yet or have read only those chapters I needed, but with the unread juvenile ones, many of them are cheap editions that I downloaded on my kindle and just have not managed to read yet (which I am trying to remedy but it will take some time to put a dent in my to-read list and while I have not been downloading books recently, that has not really made too much of a difference so far, as I am currently reading a lot of library books as I do not have room for books and even my kindle is exploding with titles).

Many. Many many. As with you, most purchased for very cheap. Our library approach is the opposite - the vast majority are coming from libraries and would never be welcome back there. So if I come across something for sale that in days gone by I would have liked to borrow from a library, I often purchase because I know it won't be readily available in the future.

But slowly we progress through them. And the kids will too. It's nice to have a good selection always waiting when you're ready.

Manybooks wrote: "I own a Lot of unread books, period, both juvenile and adult. Some of then adult books I purchased for academic reasons an d just have not gotten around to reading them or have read only those chap..."

I don't mind my Kindle unreads as much, because they aren't taking up floor space. But, yeah, I have those too.. lol

Jennifer wrote: "Manybooks wrote: "I own a Lot of unread books, period, both juvenile and adult. Some of then adult books I purchased for academic reasons an d just have not gotten around to reading them or have re..."

My shelves are definitely overflowing as well. But with my kindle, I have too many downloads to be able to keep a good idea of even what I have.

Michael wrote: "Many. Many many. As with you, most purchased for very cheap. Our library approach is the opposite - the vast majority are coming from libraries and would never be welcome back there. So if I come a..."

That is unfortunately an issue with the Hamilton Public Library as well. I recently tried to sign out a book that I signed out about five years ago and never got around to reading before it was due back and sadly, the book had been discarded.

Michael wrote: "Many. Many many. As with you, most purchased for very cheap. Our library approach is the opposite - the vast majority are coming from libraries and would never be welcome back there. So if I come a..."

Oh yeah, a lot of things I used to add were books that had been deleted years before. But, public interest ebbs and flows so the book that was out of fashion to read is suddenly back in fashion. Unfortunately, libraries often have exclusive contracts with book companies that prevent them from reacting to this natural ebb and flow. Too bad really!

I finally have all my juvenile fiction up on shelves and sorted by author- so now it's more apparent what I haven't read..lol

Sidethought, do either of you have Ollie's near you? They are a discount store like Big Lots- but they have a very decent sized book section. They get closeouts and sell them for usually $1.99 or $2.99. A lot of it is junk, but, I usually walk out with a giant pile of decent books. The layout is very bad, you have to dig through things. But, I bought most of Jason Reynold's Ghost series for just $1.99 each, brand new. Also got a beautiful special edition of The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao for just $2.99- with printed cover and sewn in bookmark. It's a dangerous place to go if you like some of the newer stuff too.

Jennifer wrote: "Michael wrote: "Many. Many many. As with you, most purchased for very cheap. Our library approach is the opposite - the vast majority are coming from libraries and would never be welcome back there..."

I live in Canada so Ollie's does sadly not exist here. We really are slaves in Canada to large book conglomerates even though my hometown of Dundas has a great independent bookstore (which often does sell cheap juvenile fiction but not always).

Jennifer wrote: "Michael wrote: "Many. Many many. As with you, most purchased for very cheap. Our library approach is the opposite - the vast majority are coming from libraries and would never be welcome back there..."

I guess libraries have to have some kind of a plan in place, but I agree with you that there should be more of an emphasis placed on interest and that natural ebb and flow.

Manybooks wrote: "Jennifer wrote: "Michael wrote: "Many. Many many. As with you, most purchased for very cheap. Our library approach is the opposite - the vast majority are coming from libraries and would never be w..."

That's most of what we have here- I'm actually rather fond of BooksAMillion at the moment. They've started selling used books- I've enjoyed buying quite a few of those. We have a few used book stores- though one of them only sells really old books- more antique books than books you actually would read. There's only one used book store with a respectable children's section near me. A couple times a year they have a sale where a ton of kids paperbacks are just .25 cents each. They usually do that around back to school time. Most of them are silly things like 80's babysitter clubs books and similar selections where the pages aren't yellowed, they're 'oranged'. lol But, I've found some fun stuff that was worth reading one more time. Usually the books I get there are only good for one more read and by the end of it the pages are falling out- but a cheap way to try a book anyways.

Jennifer wrote: "Manybooks wrote: "Jennifer wrote: "Michael wrote: "Many. Many many. As with you, most purchased for very cheap. Our library approach is the opposite - the vast majority are coming from libraries an..."

I have a number of antique children's books and mostly I try to read them at home and with gloves as they are so fragile.

I have a couple of cartons of assorted children's books that I can't bear to part with because I read them and want to reread them... probably in my dotage when big adult books get too difficult. I have a full bookshelf of assorted unread books, but as far as the children's books there, pretty much only newberys for the club here. Now, if I had grandchildren or was a scholar, I'd likely have more.

Cheryl wrote: "I have a couple of cartons of assorted children's books that I can't bear to part with because I read them and want to reread them... probably in my dotage when big adult books get too difficult. I..."

I have sometimes tried to limit myself to Newbery books but for one, I have not always been pleased with the Newbery choices and for two I also want to not limit myself to Newbery fiction as I am also interested in reading children's novels from other countries and in other languages (for example, I have a lot of Canadian Middle Grade novels on my to read shelf, some of which I own but most will from now on likely be library books if possible, as I just have no shelf room for more books).

Oh sure, the only reason I have unread Newbery books on my shelves is because I found them at thrift stores or Little Free Libraries, and I picked them up to make it easy to grab them as we read them in the Newbery club. I am eagerly looking forward to the time when we're caught up on those reads, not only so I can free a shelf but also because I agree, they are often not the most enjoyable or satisfying reads!

My grandparents gave me a set of Junior Illustrated Classics. I still, 30 years later, have not read them all. I have read most of them though. Other than those few, I don't have ANY unread children's books in the house. I read everything I wanted and could get my hands on when I was a kid and have gone back to the library to read the books that were published while I was away at college without access to a good public library system. When I see libraries weeding old favorites, I make sure I buy them! I got a nearly pristine last year! It's out of print and our childhood copy is super beat up.

I have a few books set aside for my nieces to give as gifts but I have already read them and know my nieces would like them if they bothered to read anything other than graphic novels.

As a retired Children's Librarian, I have collected my fair share of new and used children's chapter books. I'm not going to count them, but I estimate I have between 40-50 unread children's chapter books. I also have about 3 1/2 shelves of picture books, but those have all been read.

I own probably over 50 children's chapter books that I haven't read yet. There's sooo many other books I own that I haven't read yet too (picture books, adult books, graphic novels, etc.).