LeAnna blogs at Written Windows and has written this guest post about how to get books for free. LeAnna is a mom of two and is passionate about reading. She has posted about 250 children’s book reviews on her blog. I love that you can browse by age group, there are over 100 books in the 3-4 years category. So next time you need another mom’s help in finding books to check out from the library, you know you can turn to Written Windows for a recommendation.
This is a guest post by Written Windows:
There is nothing like curling up with a good book, especially if I have a child or two cuddled on my lap. You can get books at so many places: big name stores, garage sales, the internet… but what about getting books free? I am an avid shopper for books; a book needs to be worth my while to read it. Can you really get a good book free?
As we all know, Heather has brought us some great ideas for hearing stories for free and several programs that we can access free books. What else is out there? Libraries are the tried and true freebie book program that I know many people overlook. My 2-year-old daughter and I pick out about 20 books from there a week and we read them all multiple times. I am lucky that not only are the books free but my library is only about a block and a half from my house. So I walk – free travel!
So what are other freebie book programs? Try doing a book swap with other moms in your area. I have borrowed books from friends before and it is fun to read some fresh titles. Our library also had a free summer reading program that my daughter enjoyed. They read about 3 books, sang some wiggly songs and made a craft! I noticed as we were walking in our mall this past weekend that Barnes and Noble has had a program going all summer for kids to earn a free book: Barnes & Noble Summer Reading Program. Reading 8 books was their only requirement. Since it doesn’t end until September 2, 2008 some of your avid readers may still be able to participate. Check out their website!
Other possibilities are:
1. Book Adventure – run by Sylvan Learning
2. Best Places to Get Free Books – this blog has posted a lot of links that might work for you
3. PaperBack Swap – around $3 shipping but you get a free book for each book you ship and right now they have a special sign up bonus if you submit a certain number of books.
4. Free Books Page – this site has quite the list also of free books
Always remember that good content is more valuable than cute pictures and pointless humor. Beware of fluff books that are thrown together for a quick profit – a free book with bad content is worthless, even if it is free.
Happy reading,
LeAnna C.
wow, thanks for the ideas! I will have to suggest them to my readers also!
There is also Book Crossing at http://www.bookcrossing.com/ where you can find a book, read it, and drop it off somewhere else. You can recycle your old books this way, you don’t have to pay for any of the books you find, and you will be able to share your book after you’re done reading it.
Don’t forget BookMooch! http://www.bookmooch.com All you pay is to ship your books out. We’ve been “mooching” for over a year now and I highly recommend it.