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My Intentional Approach to Managing Children's Books at Home

Updated: Sep 16, 2024


We all know how magical and impactful a childhood filled with books can be. But as a parent, one of the most surprising sources of frustration can be dealing with the books in our homes:

  • kids dumping them out on the floor and shoving them back in to bookshelves never to be found easily again

  • feeling like there are books all over the place but no one actually wants to read them

  • having books that annoy you or you frankly hate having to read over and over

  • feeling overwhelmed by all the beautiful books available and never really feeling comfortable saying no to buying or accepting new books.

I see so much resistance to simplifying and minimizing this area of life, even if the current state isn't working for a family. The presence and quantity of books is often prioritized over their content or impact.


If this is not a problem that resonates with you - please, stop reading! Don't start worrying or wondering if this is something that should stress you out if it doesn't already. Go live your life without wasting time reading this :)


My Book Collection System


As in almost all areas of life, having a system in place lets you relax more - less decision making and struggling, more clarity and confidence. Here's how I approach children's books in my own home. For reference, my children are 1, 4, and 6. I anticipate making slight changes over the years but the framework likely will stay the same.


4 Book Categories


I think about books in my home in four groups:

*I'll put my favorite books in a separate post and link here since this is already so long.


The "system" I use is to keep the number of books in each category relatively small and get all other books from the local library. When out at a bookstore or on the internet, if I see a book that looks good, the first thing I do is ask myself if it fits in one of the first two categories (Seasonal or Reference) and if there is a need for it. If not, I'll write the name down to reserve at the library. If I can't get it at the library or I'm certain we need it for a longer period of time (for example, a book about welcoming a new baby), I'll purchase.


Throughout the year, if there are books that just aren't appealing to the kids, I don't spend much time wondering whether or not I should keep them. I put them by the front door and bring to our neighborhood Little Library box. This makes space for new books that come up that seem to fill a gap in our collection.


Seasonal Collection


I have four baskets (because I have open shelves in my current home. Before this I used old cardboard boxes in the laundry room) that I store Spring, Summer, Winter, and Autumn books in. I built this collection of seasonal books slowly when my oldest child was little, buying a few books each season for his first 2 or 3 years of life. I haven't purchased many more since, but if there was a really great looking seasonal book, I would add it. I do, however, give myself a pretty clear boundary that the books must fit in the basket. I want to avoid overflow.


Each basket has around 10 or 15 season specific books - Winter having the most thanks to winter holidays. Some are countdown books (leading up to Christmas), some are non fiction, some are picture books. I like to have a variety of books connected loosely by the season they speak to or take place in.




Reference Books


One of my priorities with my children is to walk them through the process of learning and investigation, and I think that one of the best tools for this is encyclopedia and reference books. We practice identifying what our question is, using the Index, scanning the pages for what we're looking for, etc. We asked grandparents and others who ask for gift ideas to pick a book on a specific topic and we've slowly built a small collection - space, body, nature, flowers, encyclopedia, early humans, etc. These tend to live up on a normal bookshelf and we get them down intentionally - thought sometimes I'll open one up to encourage browsing.




Baby/Board Books


This is obviously a short term stash, depending on the age of my children. I started with a LOT of these when my first was born and whittled them down to a collection of the most engaging, and fun to read for our family. It's really interesting to learn what your baby engages in.


Remember that it's really normal for little ones to be rough with books, dumping them off of shelves or throwing them around. The best way to manage these periods is to drastically reduce how many and which books are accessible. If you have 3 small board books out, cleaning them up is quick and easy and damage risk is minimal. Expecting a young child to care for even more than a few books will almost certainly set you up for disappointment. The photo above is easily accessible but just out of reach from my 1 year old, so we swap booked in and out often. She also loves to get a "stack of books" and we'll pile up a bunch, look through them together, and then easily put them back.


Thematic Favorites

This category includes our go-to books about feelings/emotions, welcoming a new sibling, going to the bathroom, bedtime stories, and random family favorites - for example, I had a vivid memory of a book from my childhood and went down a rabbit hole on google and finally found and ordered it for my kids. It's special to all of us and fun to bring out in the rotation. Our collection is made up of gifted books, books from the Little Library, thrifted books, and ones I've ordered. I try to be very intentional about which books come in under this category.


Book Access & Storage



Ok. So now that I've walked through how I make decisions about what books come IN to my home, I want to talk about what matters even more than that - how I store and make books available to my kids.


As I mentioned above, I keep the seasonal books sorted and super easy to grab from a shelf by using decorative baskets. I got some rectangular ones from World Market that fit my open bookshelves and place them up high enough that and adult can access but my kids can't. As seasons shift, I start to put away some of the current books and get some of the upcoming season's down.


The reference books are always accessible but out of reach of my littlest since she's still likely to tear the pages. We take them down and return them to their place each time they're in use. If I ever find this access is too overwhelming, I put them away (inaccessible in a closet) for a bit and we try again.


The Board Books & others all live on an adult access level shelf - ideally out of sight. I've played around with different ways to sort or organize them, but since there is a fairly manageable number, it doesn't matter much. My 4 and 6 year old still do best with a smaller number available, but they have much more access and ability to tidy up at the end of the day. My 4 year old has her own basket she keeps on her top bunk bed and rotates books in and out as she likes.


Book Display

If I could go back in time and stop myself from doing one thing, it might be purchasing a way too expensive kids dresser with open bookshelves on each side when I was pregnant with my first. Dramatic, yes. But its remarkable lack of functionality drives me crazy. Sliding books into traditional bookcases make them difficult to identify AND put away... for adults, but especially for young children. We keep a front facing book display shelf in two places in our home where we do a lot of reading - the living room and the kids' room.



Each one holds around 20 books (though sometimes I keep fewer out), most covers are visible, and even the littlest child is able to access AND put away. I've linked an example here - but you don't have to get fancy. In our old very small home, we used wall mounted Ikea spice racks that might have cost $7 each.


If there are more books out than fit in those shelves, there are too many books out! Gather up the ones that aren't being read, return/donate/put back in the easy to access storage. This should never take more than 3-5 minutes! When I see piles of books all over the kids room, I announce excitedly "Oh no! We've got too many books out. Let's stack up the ones we're finished with for now and we can get a few new ones out."


How to Handle Gifted Books


Years ago, a friend of mine texted me to ask how I handle my kids wanting me to read a book I hate over and over. I didn't even think for a second before replying, "I do not keep books I hate reading in my home."


"Even if it was a gift?" - she replied.


"Even if it was a gift."


This might be controversial in a culture that suggests that we should be appreciative of anything given to us (even if we explicitly have asked not to be given gifts), but nothing that is optionally in my home should negatively impact my daily interaction with my kids - including gifted/inherited toys and books. Especially as my children get older, there will be more room for them to have things I don't necessarily enjoy. But there is no reason to keep a book or toy around for a young child if it annoys you. Reading a book over and over that makes me irritated or bored (and therefore feeling more distant from my child) doesn't serve either of us.


Years ago I read Marie Kondo say about gifts something along the lines of, once a gift is given, the gifting is complete and the recipient decides what to do with the item. It's possible to appreciate the act of gift giving AND do what you need or want to do with the gift itself. Unlike many gifts, books tend to be really easy to donate. There are Little Library drop offs in many neighborhoods around the country, and some library accept donations.


Was this helpful?

As I've written this post, I've thought to myself a few times, "does anyone actually need this kind of advice?" But I kept going because I feel strongly that overwhelm is a thief of joy, especially as a parent of young children. Living in a home that you feel good in and that works FOR your family goes such a long way in enjoying little moments throughout the day. To me, that's what life is all about. Not an abstract end goal, but frequent little moments of happiness.

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