If you’re anything like my family, you’ve really missed the library over the last year and are excited to hear about some library re-openings. In the meantime, here are some creative ways that parents manage to find kids books.
(For updates on what libraries are open and what libraries remain closed with drop-off and pick-up opportunities, go here: What’s Reopening).
Reading a book from our Buy Nothing stash
Join the Facebook Buy Nothing community
Buy Nothing groups are in most cities in the Seattle area. People donate bundles of literature ranging from board books to adult fiction. Most are ready for porch pick-up the same day. We’ve been lucky to pick up hard-to-find Marvel comic books and a series of original Curious George books, all for free!
A variety of books for the neighborhood book bags
Create book bags to trade with neighbors
Mukta Mann teaches 6th grade at Cedar Valley Community School in the Edmonds School District. She’s been helping parents find kids books by making book bags for children in her neighborhood, rotating them on as she gets them back. Mann borrows from other teachers and purchases Scholastic Books with neighborhood parents. She fills paper bags with a mixture of fiction, non-fiction, and picture books. Each one set to a specific reading level. Mann drops them off at doorsteps or coordinates pick-up with families. “It’s nothing fancy, just a grocery bag full of books,” Mann said. “I cannot reiterate the importance of having a physical book.”
Little Library in Kirkland
Install a Little Free Library in your neighborhood and clean out your shelves
Kelli Curtis built a Little Free Library in her Kirkland neighborhood, complete with hand sanitizer when she heard about closures. “My kids are now young adults so we have a house full of children’s and young adult novels. It’s a joy to help parents find kids books,” said Curtis. Little Free Libraries are found all over the Seattle area. You can buy library stand kits from the Little Free Library website. If you build your own, you can register it (for a minimum of $39.95), so people can find it on the website.
Oliver and friends read novels and discuss the books over their weekly online meetings
Start a book club to read books
Mei-Sin Kong, who lives in South Bothell, started a book club with her son Oliver. Oliver and his fellow 5th-grade classmates choose a book and meet three times a week, over Zoom, to talk about it. Among the books they’ve read: “The Bridge Home” and “The Mysterious Benedict Society.” “My son has always loved reading, but only books that he likes. But this book club encourages him to read books that he normally wouldn’t read,” said Kong.
Front yard book fair complete with reading buddies
Put on book fairs at home and create a bookmobile
When the libraries closed, Heather Heavener Card’s family cleaned out their bookshelves, wiped them down, and set up a book fair in their front yard. They gave out children’s picture books, board books, and young adult novels. The book fair also had stuffies, calling them “reading buddies” for young readers to practice with an audience.
Books to browse on the bookmobile
After the book fair, Heather started a bookmobile service for families in the Northshore Family Partnership Program. “I wanted to make sure that any child without access to an electronic device is still able to access new reading,” said Card.
Card loads her SUV with books that her family cleared from their own shelves. She accepts trades and donations and has a schedule of meeting places where she can hand out books while staying physically distant. She sanitizes books with wipes and then stores them in the garage for a few days before putting them on the bookmobile shelves.
Social media groups help find kids books
Matisse Lorance Berthiaume of the Bryant/Ravenna neighborhood had memorized all her two-and-half-year-old daughter’s books and was feeling the need for something else to read. She decided to form a Facebook group: Seattle Kids Books- Give Get Buy. More than 550 people have joined, and they share resources and books for children of all ages. “While online books have been a wonderful resource, for my daughter’s age, being able to turn off the computer screen and allow her to explore books on her own has been incomparable,” said Berthiaume.
Help families in need find kids books
Natalie Kinsinger’s organization, ChildStrive, drops off books, food, technology, and other basic necessities to families in need. “The closing of the libraries has heavily impacted families, particularly families that are severely under-resourced,” said Kinsinger, “Many of the families we serve do not have a supply of books at home, so the libraries are very important.” ChildStrive depends on community donations to help meet the need in North King and Snohomish Counties.
This article was originally published June 25, 2020.
Other tips when you want to find kids books:
How to Find Better Books for Your Kids
