Now that you are determined to gift the joy of reading and books to your kid are you wondering where to find the right kind of books? Are you worried about the cost of board books? Or wondering about how would you manage with space if you were to pile up books on the long run for your budding reader?
Fret not. We have answers to all your queries. Here are a few tried and tested resources, practices and tips that can make your reading journey enjoyable, affordable and sustainable.
How to find the right kind of book as per your kid’s age and preference
While just starting out with a reading journey, it can be difficult to understand which book will get your kid lured to reading. While some prefer comics, some picture books, some may prefer touch & feel books.
With a plethora of options out there to lure you as a buyer with their attractive reviews, it gets confusing and overwhelming for a parent/caretaker to pick the right book.
This is when a book reading community can come in handy. One such community (we bet, there was no looking back or searching for another community after joining this!) is Kids Book Café (KBC).
KBC is your one-stop destination to discover children’s books (well, they have one day of the week dedicated for grown-up reads too!) through peer recommendations and reviews.
The biggest plus of the community is its founder, Asha Chaudhry (a certified community builder) who gets to understand e-v-e-r-y kid’s likes and dislikes and never fails to surprise us with her impeccable book recommendations. (And no, this is not a sponsored post!).
Join their active FB group to find a treasure trove of book recommendations. The members there are quick to respond, non-judgmental and always encouraging. The perfect place to get all the queries answered in the journey of raising readers.
Also, did I tell you they come up with amazing book offers and contests exclusively for KBC kiddos from time to time? Join now!
Where can I buy affordable children’s books
Here are some of our favourite places for buying books. Again, this is not sponsored and the mentions here are just purely out of the personal experience.
https://www.nbtindia.gov.in/catalogues__online-listingSearch.aspx
https://store.prathambooks.org/productCategory?STORY_BOOKS
https://rupapublications.co.in/book_category/children/
https://www.karaditales.com/shop/
If you have any particular suggestions on where to buy from, do tell us in the comments section.
Affordability is a problem? Here’s what you can do
We have come across concerns over board books & touch and feel books being unaffordable for many parents/caretakers and here are some solutions you can try.
Library subscriptions
One of the best, time-tested solution to have access to various books at affordable rates is to have yourself enrolled in libraries.
While public libraries may be more cost efficient, private or independent libraries have vibrant collection and subscriptions are competitively priced too.
It’s highly recommended that every kid has access to library as it helps them explore different genres and grow to understand their preferences much better. More so, when a kid picks a book of their own choice, in 99% cases they tend to enjoy and finish the book.
So help your child have access to library. I bet it won’t be much costlier than your TV subscription and also the returns are high here. Choose wise!
Pre-loved Books
For those who wish to own a colorful physical books but not in a place to buy them first hand, here are links to some tried & tested places for good quality, affordable pre-loved books:
https://instagram.com/mom.me.nd.books?utm_medium=copy_link
https://instagram.com/pupiliobooks?utm_medium=copy_link
https://instagram.com/peek.a.boo.boo?utm_medium=copy_link
Book fairs
While many may have an idea of book fair showcasing only new books, there are also sections allotted for pre-loved books that come at throwaway prices. One of our favorite places for trying new and preloved books is certainly a book-fair. Discovering books in a book fair is a must try experience.
Practical tips for sustainable reading journey
Earn a book
This is a tried and tested way to help kid have their favorite book while also learning to be responsible. The rule is simple. Assign them doable tasks or chores and tell them they will earn points for every completed task and depending upon the points scored they get a book.
A win-win for both kid and parent!
Reader Friends
Inculcate reading habit among your kids’ friend circle and exchange books. This way they bond over books, get to read different books and most importantly learn to share.
Also, having friends who read books helps have healthy conversations, discuss taboo topics with ease and gives a lot of scope to have book related activities as a group.
Gift books
As a parent/caretaker make it a habit to gift books on different occasions, be it birthday or festivals. This way, over years, you will have a library of your own.
Audible books
Introducing to audible books improves the listening skills of the kid. Also it motivates them to do read aloud.
https://www.podchaser.com/podcasts/nani-ki-kahaniya-970242
Hope this post helps you. Do let us know if you have any other resources to add to our list. We are always welcome for suggestions.
Raising Readers Contest
We hope you are aware of the ongoing contest and as part of it, here is your Activity-2.
Activity 2- Bonding Over A Read Aloud
One of the best ways to spend quality time with your kid is to pick up their favourite book and do a read aloud.
It is simple. Now that you might have started exploring books with your kid on a day-to-day basis, do a read aloud of a book that your kid is currently enjoying.
Capture a short 1-2mins video of you doing a read aloud for your kid. If you are camera shy, it’s understandable. In that case, capture your child enjoying or responding to your read aloud as you do so behind the camera.
Keep the video ready.
In the next few days there will be few other activities. Once everything is done, you can upload your entries here: Raising Readers Contest Form
Stay tuned! Happy Reading!
Really this post will help our raising readers!!! And the link provided in post very helpful and all the questions we had in our mind were answered by you seetha. Thank you for this post and your effort in encouraging our young reader’s.
Thank you, Kani Glad to know that you found the post helpful. Feel free to save & share the post