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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

to think there's no such thing as too many books for a child?

108 replies

jumpjockey · 15/10/2009 15:31

DD is 10.5 months and has about 40 books - mostly board books, lift the flap, touch and feel, crinkly cloth books etc. She loves turning the pages (book right way up or not... ) and looking at the pictures. Most of them are from charity shops as there's one we pass every day that has a 5p shelf. MIL recently commented that she thought this was far too many and wasn't she too young to appreciate more than one or two?

Given that I'm a librarian this is particularly , but surely babies can enjoy books and have great fun sitting on someone's lap looking at the pictures? How can there be such a thing as too many, given that we're not wasting swathes of money on them, they're easy to tidy up, and she's learning all sorts of things when we 'read' them together?

OP posts:
cory · 15/10/2009 17:45

I don't get this that you've got too many books if you haven't already read everything you've got. Surely people are not in the same mood every day, children don't have the same level of maturity that they did last year, a book that looks totally uninteresting to them now may come into its own in a few months' time. I know I need different books for different days, sometimes I want light fluff, sometimes I want something challenging, sometimes I just want to re-read something old and recapture the feeling I had when I first read it. And I would hate it if we ran out of books: what if I caught the flu before I could get to the library ?

I did start sending some of my old books to the charity shop. All it means is that I have to buy them or borrow them again for dd. Wasted effort.

alwayslookingforanswers · 15/10/2009 17:48

the but devil there comes a risk that with so many books that they'll be wasted. Honestly many of the books that I got rid of years ago, and have still to get rid of (I try to encourage my boys not to be "gender stereotypes" - but I've been unable to engage their interest in most of my "girly" stories despite my best efforts ) and 99% of the 1000's of boooks my parents got rid of hadn't been loooked at by anyone for years. Bloody waste of some damn good books.

roulade · 15/10/2009 17:57

I don't think you can ever have too many books. i do occasionally sort through and have a cull to make room for more ( usually the chick lit easy reading crap )
I am very jealous of the charity shop 5p shelf, in my local one you can't get a book for less than £2.95 blinkin' rip off merchants!
I don't wish to scare anyone by mentioning the 'C' word but i have already ordered all my 'C' presents and they are all lovely, brand new, sparkling BOOKS!

ninagleams · 15/10/2009 17:57

You have to encourage compulsive reading so that when she's a bit older you get to pinch all of the 'young adult' literature (which is better than most adult's books)! I can't wait for that stage, it's so easy to miss the good stuff when you actually have to lead an adult life! That's why she is definitely being unreasonable, who doesn't benefit from having a child who's a book addict.

Pyrocanthus · 15/10/2009 18:05

It's the other way round here, nina: my younger DD is desperate to read my horrible crime thrillers. Need to get back to more elevated literature. Or children's books.

pranma · 15/10/2009 18:26

It really is impossible to have too many books.I was babysitting today and counted books.Dgs1 is 3 and has 84 which are his.dgs2 is 8months and has just 14.The three yr old also gets 2 weekly library books.He has so many favourites.baby likes chewing his books but also likes touchy ones,noisy ones and lift the flap ones.Current No1 is Night night Baby.

sayanything · 15/10/2009 18:30

I'll chime in:

You can never ever ever ever have too many books.

I love re-reading books, so I have ended up buying books twice, each time cursing myself for giving away the original. And I know where all my books are, because I have a vague classification system (by genre and then alphabetically), even though I'm the messiest person in the world when it comes to everything else.

Really, just put up more shelves.

alwayslookingforanswers · 15/10/2009 19:08

have you ever seen over 10,000 books in a tiny 3 bedroom 1930's semi????

No - I doubt it - it's not nice, although my dad very diligantly had an "index" on the computer of them all actually finding them was impossible. It was claustraphobic, I love libraries, but living in what felt like a library (with 99% of them covered in dust as they were never looked at since the day they were bought) was awful.

overmydeadbody · 15/10/2009 19:11

Of course you can have too many books! Too many books for a particular house anyway.

But 40 books is not a lot, at all, for a child. Your MIL is wrong, ignore her. DS has hundreds of books in his room.

nighbynight · 15/10/2009 19:13

I am gonig to go against the grain and say you can have too many books. You can have too many of anything. My parents are hoarders, and I longed for SPACE.

There is always the public library. Some restraint is required.

I divide all books coming into the house into 2 categories: Pass-ons, and ones to keep. To keep, they have to be ones that I can see myself re-reading in my old age! Its the only way to keep from being swamped by books.

nighbynight · 15/10/2009 19:14

In our town, people sometimes put books in teh paper recycling

Morloth · 15/10/2009 19:17

The problem in the above cases is not the number of books, but the size of the house!

alwayslookingforanswers · 15/10/2009 19:21

hmm well tbh to live comfortably with 10,000 books I do think you need a pretty decent sized house........like a fricking mansion.

I tell you it was a bloody waste......I think my parents could probably have BOUGHT a house if they'd sold the books they gave away, they'd been collecting them for years, from 2nd hand bookshops, first editions, all sorts. And NO-ONE read most of them as there were simply too many

Thank god he held onto his Times Atlas of China though - he spent 20+yrs trying to track one down and got it for a bargain price when he eventually found one.

cory · 15/10/2009 19:39

Your parents must have been very different from mine if 99% of their 10,000 books were wasted. What did the poor things read? My parents possibly have close to that amount- but they are working their way through them and the books get dusted religiously once a year by my mother. You don't have to leave your books undusted and unloved just because you've got lots.

nighbynight · 15/10/2009 19:52

Morloth: when you live with a hoarder, they can expand to fill the space available, though!

alwayslookingforanswers · 15/10/2009 19:52

Cory - you won't believe this..........but my dad read most of the "read" books at home - wasn't into reading novels but used to spend hours looking at this various Times Atlas's and other reference books.

My mum (and I'm not joking here) - used to go the library and get books out every week to read.

She used to get us books out too - which is why I never read several hundred of the ones that belonged to us - I was too busy reading the library books before they had to be sent back.

When they "downsized" - they kept about 500 books - which were ones that got taken off the shelves fairly regularly - of course they didn't "do" nice "normal" sized books so they still take up umpteen bookcases (And some are still in boxes).

LifeOfKate · 15/10/2009 21:00

Crikey, your MIL would hate me, DC is still in utero and probably has more than 40 books already...

girlsyearapart · 15/10/2009 21:04

No YANBU kids like re visiting books.

I charity shop mine when I'm finished though unless useful or want to re read.

DH would probably agree with your MIL though.
He can't understand why I take the dds to the library 'They already have books'

Hulababy · 15/10/2009 21:09

YANBU - a child can never have too many books!

DD had literally hundreds of books and she loves reading and books. She always has done, right from being very tiny. Even as a toddler, once old enough, she would take books to bed with her to look at and "read." At 7y she still does.

I get a lot of DD's books from charity shops and can pick them up for as little as 20p. Newly published books or specific titles we buy new online or fom the local bookshop.

Every so often, when she has a reading ability spurt or interest spurt, we have a clear out. I recently took 40 odd books to school to put in my Y1s book swap - so every child got to take at least 1 book home each. I also charity shop some take some to my school for the book corner in class, pass them onto yunger friends,or DD has take them into her school for the reception/infant classes to have in their book corners.

But we always just go out and get more, lol!

NightShoe · 15/10/2009 21:12

YANBU, DD is 3 and has a bookcase downstairs and one in her room too, I rarely refuse her a book (or myself for that matter!). That said, we always pass on books that we don't use anymore so all her baby ones went out bookcrossing or to bookcycle. As much as I love books, I think they do a much better job being actively used than sitting decoratively on a shelf.

primarymum · 15/10/2009 21:30

We have bookcases in every room in the house, there are even books in the bathrooms. Both sons and I read almost continually, youngest son in particular is obsessed with books and ALL his allowance goes on books, he even did his work experience placement in a bookshop! ( and I'm practically on first name terms with Amazon staff). He has Aspergers and I'm not allowed to pass any on to anyone else ( although I managed last time I needed to clear his room out by paying him for them so he had money to buy replacements) and doesn't like "old" books from the Library as he doesn't like anyone else having read them
so it costs me a fortune but I would rather "waste" my money on books than on anything else!

sweetnitanitro · 15/10/2009 21:31

YANBU. I have told DD since the day she was born that we won't spoil her with toys but she can have as many books as she wants. She mainly chews them at the moment but she loves turning the pages and looking at the pictures. I take her to the library with me too although I will wait until she's out of the habit of chewing books before I get her anything.

alwayslookingforanswers · 15/10/2009 21:35

I must say though - that 40 books isn't many - it's under a "normal" shelf on your average bookshelf - since I guess we're talking pretty thing books given our DD's age.

Pyrocanthus · 15/10/2009 21:41

Sorry jumpjockey, it's just not enough.

piscesmoon · 15/10/2009 21:59

No one-adult or DC-can have too many books. I have them in every room. 40 books is only a shelf and a half of my, quite narrow, book case. I get them new, car boot sales, fetes and charity shops. All the DCs joined the library as babies.

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