Best place for buying childrens books

I have got masses of books from the stock that our local library sells off. 10p each for children's books and some of them are immaculate. Every time I go in I take a look at the ones for sale.

Otherwise it's generally Amazon or ebay for me. The Book People do some real bargains too.

I wish it were possible to stay away from amazon. Eg at their warehouse in Scotland before Xmas they cut short the shifts of their night workers without pay and the workers had no choice but to hang around for hours waiting until the buses started up to take them home again . Ever wondered why their prices are so low?

PuraVida: How about a home party with an Usborne rep if your friends also want to buy books? You should even get some free that way.

It didn't occur to me to look at ebay for books but I've just bought loads of stuff in great condition for a snip that I couldn't even find in the useless book shops near me.

i know

Sorry, wasn't being picky, just thought it was only fair to say!

madame - i do agree with you!
good booksellers (of every genre) are worth their weight in gold.

I was referring to the chains themselves, not the workers.
In chains, the topsellers are given precedence and the really good books that booksellers want to recommend have to be proven first (ie, bookseller says "i love this book can we stock it" manager says "if you can sell it we can stock it" bookseller then spends all working hours handselling it.)

You have to remember my position is the reason I started my own shop is that I had seen Ottakar's be taken over by Waterstone's and the beautiful, autonomous shop (part of the chain) which I loved working for, going from a shop that really cared about what the local people wanted to buy, to a shop that had to put 3for2s at the front, and the best sellers right there, in as many places as possible in order to maximise sales.

It was only when the last boss left, that there finally started to be change and go back to the Ottakar's ethos of matching the book to the person, not the "chain theory" of matching the person to the book.

It's sooo much better now than when I left, but I watched so many of my colleagues go from happy, excited booksellers to bored, miserable shop assistants.

It was horrible.

picky.

i've changed it.

that's coming down next week anyway, cos christmas will be over.

and [grrr]

Nickel - just looked at your website and there's a typo - oline instead of online on the home page

nickel - I disagree with you. Good children's booksellers do not just care about the money regardless of who they work for. The branch I work for encourages good links with the community - we go into schools (with and without authors), we ask local children for their recommended books AND display them AND ask them to write reviews to display. We hold local author events, including a night where ten local authors from different genres came, met each other and the public, shared a bottle of wine, ate mince pies etc. Yes, a lot of titles are centrally ordered BUT we are able to order in our favourite new and old titles and prominantly display them, thus encouraging customers to try something new. Of course, the main emphasis of any business is to make money - even independent book shops unless you are in the enviable position to have so much money that you can do the thing you love most without needing to worry about making a profit.

Sorry if this sounds a bit of a rant but, regardless of popular opinion, it is possible to work for a chain and still have heart and soul.

oh, and Takver - i know what you mean about chains! they only care about the money.

With few exceptions, everything in my shop has been chosen by me, and I refuse to stock what I class as rubbish books (unless custoemrs ask me for them .. )

independents tend to have more freedom to do that.

oh, and after seeign your latest post - fill up the bones of your library with charity shop books and jumble sale books.

But get a good core of decent stuff from your local bookshop.

the ones that are grown out of can be sent back to charity or jumble and more bought, but if anything like me growing up, then the pleasure derived from books i've owned all my life is immeasurable.

madamehooch, I do know its not always like that - I used to work in a (lovely) bookshop as a teenager and my favourite bit was finding nice childrens books for people wanting help. I also loved Heffer's (sp?) children's bookshop in Cambridge, best place to visit as a child.

In fact, there is a good though rather tiny independent bookshop relatively near us, its just in a town we never go shopping in, IYKWIM, so this year we will make a special trip there.

My bad experiences have mainly been in the big chain bookshops when we're away visiting, we go somewhere like Waterstones in Oxford expecting great things and are much disappointed. There are good things there, I'm sure, its just hard to find them, and kids non-fiction seems a particularly thin point in the chains.

Anyone who happens to pass Kew on the way to the gardens, mind you, I would definitely recommend the little bookshop by the station which has a great selection and very lovely assistant :)

I know that the suggestions made are good value for money, but please consider supporting your local bookshops.

I would be considerably worse off (and not in business, actually) if it weren't for all the llocal people supporting me.

The staff in the book shop can recommend you books, and offer help of all sorts.

You're in Wiltshire, so not much use for me, but i don't know if this google list is any use

don't know where in wiltshire you are...

takver - sorry to hear about your bad book shop experiences.

If it makes anyone feel better, I do work for a very well known chain of bookshops - not an 'indie' so you can live within reach of a 'good one' - it's just finding it!

Even if they don't have the range you're after, a good children's bookseller will be able to suggest titles and order in if necessary.

Abebooks is really good for 2nd hand copies of childrens books for slightly older children cheaply - all those books you remember from your childhood :)

madamehooch, I am sure your bookshop isn't like this, but sadly most bookshops I go into with dd are full of Rainbow Magic, Beast Quest & all the various heavily marketed series', and really have very few interesting books.

In particular, they have very few non-fiction science-y books (not even horrible science/murderous maths), which is often what dd is looking for, and we have yet to find a helpful assistant who will say anything beyond "nah, we don't get much call for them, we had a few before Christmas, but they've all gone now" (don't they plan for kids with book tokens?)

As a bookseller, I make a plea on behalf of a real life bookshop.

You may be able to get books cheaper on line but this depends on you knowing exactly what book you would like to buy.

A bookshop is a magical place full of untapped treasure. Make friends with your children's bookseller. A good one can recommend books you may never have heard of. They can put authors into your child's school. Some run their own reading groups and story time sessions. Good book shops should be child friendly - we encourage the children to sit and read the books and, when time permits (and the children want to) we love to listen to them read to us!

Don't let your child's reading matter be constantly governed by price or by what is listed in a catalogue. Support your local bookshop.

Thank you.

Definitely school Christmas/Summer fairs. They always have a well stocked book stall, particularly pre-school books the pupils have grown out of and donated, and are cheaper than even charity shops. Plus you'll be helping the school raise money!

The book people has become a recent favourite. Unbelievable value especially when you add on some online voucher codes :)

Good tip if you're in the area is the Epsom Methodist Church Book Fair here. Known for its size and extremely reasonable prices, though admittedly the quality isn't immaculate if you want to build up a pristine home library.

I get books for me and the children from Amazon. You can get second hand ones including packaging normally for about £2.50. The quality is listed when you buy and I've always found it to be really accurate. I've not got a book from a book shop for a couple of years though I do always browse.