How I Collate & Catalogue Our Children's Bookshelves

...or, how one day I will own a home library

**spoiler - book suggestions for under-5s included at the end of this post**

One thing you should know about me (well, two things, but one we’ve discussed before: I’m organised, so we don’t need to go over that again), I have a weakness, nay, compulsion, for purchasing secondhand children’s books.

Surprisingly, my home library aspirations started way before I began home educating. When I became a parent, I promised myself I would prioritise excellent literature for my children. It wasn’t something my parents (oddly) seemed to focus on, so I was left to languish in the pits of terrible books. I won’t name any titles… (DM me hun)

My compulsions were easily fuelled by charity shops and car boot sales, where I could purchase books for 10p. Even now, over a decade later, I still purchase children’s books incredibly cheaply from the same places, though I will sometimes stretch to £1 for a particularly good looking, hardback, non-fiction book. My home library aspirations were well on their way to being realised.

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But! How can all these books be stored and used without being lost in the depths of shelving…?

Let me focus today on just one section of my bookshelves: the under 5 fiction books. In case you are unfamiliar, the vast majority of books in this genre, are paperback with very little spine. Not great for storing on a bookshelf for a child to access, especially when you have amassed over 200 of them, as I have…

Solution:

I store all of these books, alphabetically on an Ikea Kallax unit in our bedroom. In the baby’s bedroom there is a sling bookcase, where the books can be stored facing out, so the front cover can be seen. I will rotate 10-12 books onto this bookcase every fortnight or so. It’s not a super precise timeframe, but once I feel we’ve read the books several times over at bedtime (repetition is key for young children) and I just don’t want to read them again, I will switch them out.

Some Might Say Nerd-like* Bolt On to Solution:

In order for me to keep track of all our books, what they’re about and make sure I rotate out different ones each time, I use an Excel spreadsheet to capture this data. Now, I may have a degree in Computer Science, but, honestly, it didn’t help me with Excel… my spreadsheet is a very simple table, however, I did get a little fancy with a random number generator to tell me which books to rotate. Perhaps a story for another time, I don’t want to bombard you with my lame computer wizardry all in one go.

*I am actually very happy to be called nerd-like and this should not be taken as a slight on any readers who are also of the nerd persuasion.

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Today, I rotated out a fresh batch of bedtime reading, hence the inspiration for the post. I am very passionate about books and reading, even more so since I started home education, but the two aren’t mutually exclusive. You clearly don’t need to home educate in order to focus on great books for children. But! My version of great books for children and your version will be very different. We have different kids after all. So, below is a list of the current books I will putting out for my children. If you’re interested in more ideas for children’s books, I’m happy to make this a regular post, every time I rotate. Just let me know.

• The Coral Kingdom - by Laura Knowles & Jennie Webber

• My Five Senses - by Aliki

• Louie the Tui Learns to Sing - by Janet Martin

• Bringing the Rain to Kapiti Plain - by Verna Aardema

• Cat’s Cookbook - by Julia Donaldson

• Alfie Gets in First - by Shirley Hughes

• The Berenstain Bears’ Moving Day - by Stan & Jan Berenstain

• Sneakers, the Seaside Cat - by Margaret Wise

• Would You Rather… - by John Burningham

• The Story of Black Beauty (Usborne Young Reader) - by Anna Sewell

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