Our top children’s books that survived our home library declutter.
Over on Instagram I shared some photos and videos of our home library as we sorted and pared down the kid’s books the other day. You can still see some of it in the ‘Room for 3’ archive. Our top children’s books cover a huge range as we have readers of varying abilities and ages in our home. Children’s books is an area I don’t sweat being a super minimalist on right now. I counted our books and we have 91 books for three children right now. It feels very manageable for our space and time.
We also visit the library once a week and bring home ten to twenty books for the three boys. Our oldest is now reading chapter books and novels so that actually reduces the number of books we take. I can see that in the next three to five years the children’s book collection could be even smaller. I don’t think I will save the books for grandchildren – not really my style – and there are some great titles in good condition that other families will enjoy.
How we decluttered our home library.
Most of our books have been gifts: either from relatives, friends or from Santa or Mom & Dad. In general, the kids have good taste in books and if they like it I like it. Exception is the so annoying Book With No Pictures and a few of the levelled reader books. Gah! Not my favourite.
There was no grand method to our paring down of books: we simply kept what we like and read. I’ll admit I moved a book or two into the giveaway pile that our youngest still likes. I’m just really done with Paw Patrol. The two Paw Patrol books we have were gifts and I’ve been wanting them to disappear for a while.
Did we keep any books for sentimental reasons? There was one for me. Mr. Brown Can Moo, Can You? This book was my oldest’s and he loved it. I loved it too because he would make a few of the sound effects for the book as we read it. He had a language delay when he was young so this book felt very important: we could get him to speak with this book. I haven’t read this book as much with the other two kids. Will we keep that book forever? I don’t know. But my heart isn’t ready to let it go yet.
What our three year old is reading.
Our youngest’s top children’s books range from early learning readers to board books. This guy is closing in on four and I think in another year he may be out of the board books. Which makes me both sad – he’s growing up! – and happy because we can pass those books on to another family.
I say this is what he is reading and I really do consider that he is reading these books… although he cannot yet read. He sits down with books often and flips the pages himself and looks at the words and pictures. “Reading” time is very enjoyable for him although he can only identify a few letters right now. He knows the names of his favourite books and will bring them to me and request they be read.
Most of our board books made it into our home with our oldest son. They are a mix of favourites from older cousins and books that were gifts. Some of them are really beat up. Such is the nature and function of board books.
Here’s a few of our top children’s books for our three year old:
Go, Stop, Go *We love this one in the larger format picture book as well. It was a repeat loan from the library.
What our five year old is reading.
The top children’s books for our five year old crossover with his younger brother. He loves large illustrated books and also enjoys the soft beginning reader series that his oldest brother was learning to read with. He isn’t yet reading – enters Kindergarten this fall – but can identify letters and a few words.
Again, while our five year old cannot technically read yet, he spends a lot of time reading on his own. He has an introverted side and will ask for ‘alone time’ and take a book to his bed or a quiet corner. He often sneaks books into his bed in the evening and flips through them if he is struggling to fall asleep.
One of the interesting things about having kids at three different ages/stages is that they all still want to be read to. And often aren’t picky about what the book is. If I crack a board book for the youngest and start reading, the older two will usually come over and want to listen in. Although they wouldn’t pick those books themselves they are drawn to almost any book being read aloud.
Here’s a few of our top children’s books for our five year old:
The Skunk *This is such a fun read! A bit of mystery and a cute twist at the end.
The Baby Tree *We got this one when I was pregnant with #3. It’s still a favourite.
What our eight year old is reading.
The top children’s books for our eight year old have made an exciting leap this year: he now reads the books that we were reading to him six months ago. It really was a dramatic jump as he was painstakingly working through levelled readers in the early spring. Somewhat overnight he suddenly could ready anything! Watching my child learn to read has been a lovely part of parenthood.
Our eight year old enjoys novels like Harry Potter and Hardy Boys. Another big love of his is reference books focused on historical architecture, machinery and transportation. Reference books for Lego and Star Wars and Lego Star Wars are a constant draw for him at the library too. He will still read the levelled readers like Frog and Toad – I think so he can have the satisfaction of finishing a book in ten minutes. He also reads the levelled readers to his younger brothers as they really enjoy them. I love having another storybook reader in the house.
We’ve been reading Harry Potter books and longer novels to the kids at bed time for the last year or so. It’s my husband’s thing as he does the bed time routine so he and the kid’s pick out what to read next. Our eight year old is reading those books on his own now but he still loves being read to. He’s also now a big fan of audiobooks which have been great for road trips.
Here’s a few of our top children’s books for an eight year old:
Harry Potter Series *We have held off reading the later books as they are dark and intense. We also soften them a bit when reading aloud to all the kids.
Diary of a Wimpy Kid Series *Great mix of illustrations and lower word count for starting chapter books. Con: oldest has started to use Greg Heffley (protagonist) phrases both in his journal and as part of his everyday vernacular.
Our top children’s books from our home library are only a fraction of what we read.
Our public library is our best resource for books. We live in a rural town. Our library is small but we read almost any book for free. Our library is part of a large network of libraries and they can order in almost any book from other branches in the network. It’s important to us that the kids become familiar with the library and all of its resources. Not only because it saves us money (books are expensive!) but because it’s a great hub of community and learning.
As I mentioned before, we have almost 100 children’s books in our home. The number feels large but for our space, for three kids and for the amount of reading happening in our home, it’s just right for us at this time. I really encourage you to find the right number for your family and your home. You may have more books at home because you aren’t at the library frequently. Or fewer books because you’ve decided to just read books from the library. Make your system manageable for your own space, skills and time.
How do you decide what books stay in your home library?
I think you should always keep that one book Mr. Brown can Moo Can you! It is a classic and something you can pass on to him when he leaves for college or an adventure one day 🙂
We read to Ripley 3.5yo to get him to sleep so quite a lot of our books are ‘sleepy books’. We get more interesting ones from the library to create variety.
I’m a SAHM to a 2.5 yo now, but worked as a children’s book editor for about a decade. Needless to say, children’s books are a big part of our home and I have very strong opinions about what’s “good.” I haven’t counted how many we own, but I think it’s very reasonable number since there was about ten years where I could get any children’s book I wanted for free, haha. We have three IKEA picture rails that hold books (two in her bedroom, one in the den where we do a lot of reading) and the lowest shelf in our living room holds a few more. If I’m groaning every time she brings me a certain book, it’s not a keeper. Our absolute favourites are the “Picture My Day” (Owlkids) books. They’re French imports and I worked on them circa 2011 or so. They’re picture dictionaries starring three siblings as they go about their days (A Day at School, A Day at the Farm, etc.). She has learned SO MUCH vocabulary from these books and I often have people asking me if she’s almost 4 rather than almost 3 once they hear her speak.
I think we have similar philosophies! Books are an important part of our house. My husband and I love them – although I have gotten better at paring down my personal library! He’s slowly coming around. But in terms of kids books, we have two bookshelves for their books, and that’s our limit. We rarely buy books, although the girls receive them as gifts. But we regularly visit the library and come home with armloads of books. All of the libraries in Rhode Island (a teeny state) share books, so we can request books from all around – plus we have 4 libraries within a 15 minute drive. Libraries rock!
Yes, each family has to find their own right number of books! Every person is different, with some being bigger readers than others. Also, I think it’s great that you shared the top books that your family enjoys! It gives some new options to check out.
I had a whole load of my own childhood books that I kept because I loved them. 40 years later I find that I read them to my daughter and discover that they’re not so fantastic after all. We sometimes find the movies of the book and enjoy it more. Classics from the 1970s are often too old fashioned in a heavily descriptive or embarrassingly chauvinist sort of way. So we’re decluttering book by book. Read and get rid.
What great books! I go through ours every month or so. I’ll pull a few out and add different ones. I always leave a few of her favorites.
I was recently going through my large collection of picture books. I kept those of my favorite illustrators- Ruth Sanderson, PJ Lynch, Tasha Tudor, Patricia Polacco, Susan Jeffers, Jan Brett, Gary Blythe, Garth Williams and Byrd Baylor. I didn’t keep every book I had that they did– just those I loved. Also for adult books that I haven’t indulged in yet but has moved several times- ie: The Century- I checked my local library for it, they have it- so I’m giving mine away & created an email to myself for library books to check out. I went from 12 boxes to less than half. I’m so glad I won’t be moving as many this next time. Hope this helps someone.