Building Your Home Library: where to buy books

This post is a response to Janae's post about creating a literacy rich home over at Bring Joy. Janae talked about buying used books, new books and using the library to build your home library. She mentions some of her favorite places to buy books.

I once found Shark vs. Train at a yard sale.
Score! We love this book

I would like to add to that list. 

First off, garage sales are also a great place to find books. I often like to glance through what's offered at a garage sale and pick out books that I consider gems. I never buy anything at a garage sale that I might read someday.  I buy the ones that I know I love and I can't believe someone else is selling for so cheap!

Buying from physical bookstores supports bookstores, authors and publishers. Buying online from a retailer that has physical stores (like Barnes and Noble) helps support the existence of physical bookstores in general, but buying in-store helps support the specific store you're in. 

Trust me, the loss of a bookstore in your town is a tragedy. About a year after we moved to Illinois, a local independent bookstore that had been open for more than 20 years closed down. I had had just enough time to fall in love with the place, and driving by its empty shell brought literal tears to my eyes for at least six months. (After that, the tears dried. But there was still such sadness in my heart!) And do you know what kills me? Five years later, no one else rents that space. It's such a shame. How many more books would I have paid a little bit more for, if I had but known? 

And let's not even go into the fact that when Borders went under, their space was taken by a liquor store. It was utterly depressing to me, as a teetotaler, that the place where I was accustomed to taking my children to play while I browsed was now so useless to me. You can't buy quality children's literature (or play at a train table) at a liquor store.

Yay for bookstores with train tables!

In summary, here are 7 great places to buy books, used or new:

• Local independent bookstores
• Local chain bookstores
• Online retailers that have brick-and-mortar stores
• School book fairs (I wrote all about my love of book fairs)
• Thrift stores
• Garage sales
• Library book sales

plus also bookstores have author events!

At this event at Little Shop of Stories,
Amanda Kingloff taught the boys a craft from her new book, Project Kid.

What are your favorite places to buy books? 

Happy book buying!

Pet Peeves & Pet Projects

It really bugs me when I read a book with a young protagonist who has no reason to mistrust their parents (according to the book's setup) BUT then, the conflict -- the big thing that starts the plot -- comes up and suddenly our protagonist is all like, "I can't tell my loving, trusting, smart parents about this. I'd better just run away!"

That is my book pet peeve. It came up tonight because of this IndieGoGo campaign (which looks awesome). Wings by Aprilynne Pike is like that, and So is Wildwood by Colin Meloy. There are many, many others.

Anyway, this campaign is to help alleviate the medical debt of an author who suffers from mental illness, Robinson Wells. I have heard of his books but haven't read them. The main perk of donating is an anthology with submissions from such authors as Brandon Sanderson, Shannon Hale, Ally Condie, Kiersten White, Sara Zarr, Jessica Day George, Aprilynne Pike and Brandon Mull. And those are just the authors whose books I have personally read (Everead reviews are linked). See the full list of contributing authors, here.

Chances are good Jacob and I will end up with a copy of this anthology. It looks too good. And, helping to remove the social stigma from mental illness is personally important to me, since I know many sufferers. Also I'm passionate about being debt free (and I remember how choking it was for my own parents to have been in debt to the IRS, decades ago).  

So anyway, help a brother out, if you can! And you can get a nice anthology if you do. Also, here is what Shannon Hale has to say about it.

What are your own book pet peeves? What do you think of the campaign?

Waiting for a pre-order: Dangerous

Do you know what is killing me right now? Waiting for Dangerous by Shannon Hale to arrive in my mailbox! I have found that pre-ordering a book is sometimes NOT the fastest way to get it.

This happened to Jacob and I with Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. We were on vacation (a family reunion in Michigan) when the book was released and subsequently delivered to our doorstep (in Utah). My brother, who was living upstairs of us at the time, got a hold of me and was like, "Hey . . . Can I open this package that looks a lot like the last Harry Potter book and read it?" To which we said, "Yes, of course!" And we saw copies of Deathly Hallows everywhere we went in Michigan and just decided (tough though it was) to wait until we got home to the copy we already bought. Thankfully, we had brought along some good vacation reading: The Golden Compass by Phillip Pullman if I remember correctly.

Anyway, we pre-ordered knowing full well that pre-ordered books are sometimes delayed if they are part of a larger order (or, the rest of the order is sometimes delayed!).  But this time Jacob and I ordered only two books that released on the same day -- Dangerous by Shannon Hale and Words of Radiance by Brandon Sanderson (the sequel to The Way of Kings). We thought that since they came out the same day it would be smooth sailing, but no. Release day came and went without a shipping notification (Jacob updating me on the shipping status of our books frequently, since he is dying to read his book. It is HUGE and has so many chapters that several "teaser chapters" etc. have been released and now he is just slavering in anticipation.) and when the books didn't ship the next day either Ursula took matters into her own tentacles Jacob called the Barnes and Noble customer service number. He called at night and the next evening he was gearing up to call again when he got the shipping email.

We picked Barnes and Noble because they have actual physical bookstores, unlike Amazon. And we are fans of bookstores. Also it irks me that the "free super saver shipping" minimum has gone up. (Don't even think about telling me to join Prime!) Why did we not pick our local independent bookseller? (We DO have a couple independent bookstores that are much more "local" to us than ever before.) Well, they don't have online shopping, either of them, and let's be honest this was a late-night, just-finished-the-budget, we-should-probably-be-more-responsible, impulse purchase. Like Erasmus said, "When I get a little money, I buy books; and if I have any left, I buy food and clothes."

So, we are waiting for our books. I'm getting more excited for mine, the more I read Shannon Hale's blog posts about it {one, two, three}. I take care not to read too much about a book before I begin it (I usually skip the back cover and the front flap) because too often I've had my eyes opened to a twist or a plot point too soon. Interestingly, though, if I'm currently reading a book and not loving it, sometimes reading the jacket helps me get invested. This was the case with Neil Gaiman's The Graveyard Book.

Have you ever not gotten your pre-ordered book soon enough?
Have you ever been horribly spoiled by a book jacket? Which book?
Do you remember where you were when HP&TDH came out?

Talk to me, friends. Because my book isn't here yet. Quick, before I resort to taking more selfies to pass the time.

Update: Here is my review of Dangerous!

Claudette Colvin: Twice Toward Justice

This is an excellent book. It won the National Book Award, is a Newbery Honor book and its list of accolades continues.

I picked it up from my local library (it was on display) because I knew I'd be meeting Phillip Hoose at the Indianapolis Children's Literature Festival.

I don't particularly love reading about the Civil Rights movement. I have great respect for the leaders of the movement, and great loathing for its opponents. It's a sensitive subject to me because it happened so recently, there are so many horrible and violent stories about/from it, and civil rights should never have been a question. I will freely admit that I have abandoned some historical fiction books set in this era  -- for some reason reading fiction about it seems so . . .  I don't know. You don't make up crap about Civil Rights. Bad stuff really happened, really. So. (That said, I have read and approve of Roll of Thunder Hear My Cry, The Help, and To Kill a Mockingbird.)

I opened it up wondering if I was going to be able to finish it. Would it be saccharine? Would it be stomach-turning? Or could it hit the mark?

Alysa and Phillip Hoose, author of
Claudette Colvin: Twice Toward Justice.

I ATE IT UP. I brought the book to the dinner table. Someone alluded to the "no books at the table" rule and I said, "Hang on a minute, she's testifying."

Claudette Colvin refused to give up her seat on the bus. She was within the bounds of the law, but outside the bounds of local culture. Did people call her "Rosa" for it? No. It was before Rosa Parks's stand and the Montgomery Bus Boycott. It very probably inspired Rosa Parks, since they became acquainted shortly after Claudette's wrongful arrest and conviction.  That's once toward justice.

Twice toward justice: She testified as a key plaintiff in Browder vs. Gayle -- the trial after the boycott that finally did the trick. She was a teen, a junior in high school when all this stuff began. Claudette's emotional journey throughout the book is the keystone in the book's arch from Jim Crow to justice.

I would read this book with kids.

I would give it to teachers, friends, and people who sometimes hate to read about Civil Rights.

Phillip Hoose;
I asked and he said it is pronounced "hose." :)

Phillip Hoose flips back and forth from his own narration to interviews with Claudette (who is still living). When I met him I told him I admired the way that he had told the facts and left out the gory details, somehow making the text true and powerful without making it overwhelming. How did he walk such a fine line so well? He said he knew Claudette would read it, and his editor. "Other eyes would be on it," he said, and he trusted them to let him know if he was balancing it right.

Really, I can't recommend it enough. It's an excellent example of why I love Juvenile Non-fiction. I bought it.

UPDATE (6/24/2014, 1/16/17): Here is an affiliate link, in case you would like to buy this book from Amazon. If you purchase the book after clicking through, I will receive a small commission.
Claudette Colvin: Twice Toward Justice from Amazon.

Thoughts on Good Books

Blogger Enna Isilee just posted about reading.  She asks, "are all books created equal?  What does it take to make you put down a book?"  I've got a few things to say about books...

"Good Books"
In my Children's Literature Class (one of my favorite college courses, prof. Jim Jacobs) I learned that there are two things that make a book "good" to a person. First, Emotional Response (if I LOVE horses, I will read even a crummy book about horses and love it! If I had a bad experience at boarding school, I don't want to read about fictional fun times there.)  Second, Quality Of Writing (Is the book well crafted? Are the words well chosen?  Are the ideas clear? Does the narrator have voice? Does the story drag or jump? Are readers bored or confused? Is it properly edited? etc.). There are many different examples of how these two factors can come together, but when people say a book was good, they're talking about one or both of these things.


Picking up a book
Now, a word about book recommendations; or, "Hey, try this book!"  Say you loved a book.  Great!  Before you recommend it, you're going to have to figure out why you liked it so much.  Was it purely emotional response?  Or was there some high quality writing involved, too?  Which parts of the writing were best?

If the book is a nice story about ballerinas, recommend it to ballerina fans.  If the book is an exquisitely written, well paced, ballerina book, maybe even those who are on the fence about ballerinas will like it too.  The better the Quality of Writing, the better the chances are that more people will like a book.  If someone has a strong negative emotional response (read: hates all ballerinas) they're not going to like it no matter how well it's written.

Putting down a book
Personally, I stop reading a book when I feel like it. Usually, if the book is well written (good Quality of Writing) I come back another time when my Emotional Response is better (when I'm more "in the mood" for it). For example, I'm just picking up The Thief by Megan Whalen Turner again.  I've heard so many good things about it and the series that follows -- but when I tried it out several months back I wasn't jiving with it.  Same story with Octavian Nothing.  Now, If the book is poorly written (plot holes, flat characters, etc) or if I have a strong negative emotional response, I usually don't bother picking it up again. There are SO MANY good books out there.

Does this make me a quitter?  Abandoning a book does not make a person a quitter. It is good and right and proper and needful that we select carefully what we read and use our time wisely.

Rick Riordan Coming to Champaign Public Library!

You guys. Rick Riordan is coming to Champaign Public Library! I'm so excited!

His Percy Jackson and the Olympians series is nearly complete (the 5th and final book comes out in May). And the whole series is great! They are so funny and fast paced and engrossing and . . . awesome! We've reviewed them here and here and here. Also my crazy dream about book 5 was mentioned here.

So, if you haven't read them yet, you totally have time to read them before he comes. He's coming Monday, March 9th, 7 p.m. And you have to get (free) tickets -- cuz it's gonna be packed, cuz these books are awesome.

Also, just so we all don't embarrass ourselves, I've looked up how to pronounce his last name. It's RYErdn. Like, the first syllable sounds like Fire.

One more thing: I think events like this (i.e. author events) are grossly under publicized. I mean, I talked with the teen librarian who booked this event (and put in a plug for having Shannon come), and she started organizing this event by calling Rick Riordan's people over a year ago! And it's made possible by a grant from some (most likely very awesome) people in the community. (Gosh, if I'm rich someday, that is totally what I'm going to do with my wealth. Give it to libraries to have authors come!) I mean, him coming is a BIG DEAL. So how come there aren't, like, posters everywhere and stuff? And announcements being made over library loudspeakers? Nope. Just a tiny mention on the flier for the teen reading program. Anyway, I thought I'd add to the publicity.

Banned Books Week

This week is . . .you guessed it. . . Banned Books Week! (What gave it away? Was it the post title? Poll time.) What does that mean? Well it means that lots of people are celebrating the "freedom to read" by reading a banned book.

This week does NOT celebrate the banning of books. If it did I wouldn't be taking part. Every author, librarian, and teacher I have heard speak on this subject is against book banning. I am too. Not only do I think book banning violates the first amendment, I also think it is counterproductive and a monumental waste of resources.

Think about it: If, instead of trying to get a book banned, a book-banner put all that effort, time, and money into getting a book they liked promoted, everyone would be happier. Say instead of shouting from the rooftops (and local newspapers) "Don't read Book X!" they shout "Read Book Y!" Then instead of the librarian being in fighting stance, the librarian is on their side. Instead of people reading Book X to see what all the fuss is about, they're reading Book Y for the same reason. Instead of sounding anti-constitutional, they sound pro-education. No one will have time to read Book X because they're all reading Book Y. People are picketing the library with signs that say "Bring author Y here!" "We want author Y!" It's like a librarian's and an author's and an educator's and a parent's dream! Good books for all! Just ignore the ones you don't like. Stop worrying about protecting the community from bad books -- show them a good book and help them love it!

Yay, books! Good books for all!

A video via Bookshelves of Doom