How many books should I buy

[Kiki91]

First time mum to be

I really want my child to be a reader and love books
How many picture books do people buy, I keep seeing second hand ones and thinking how many is to many?

Help

I would just buy a select few to start with - kids love repetition and once they are showing an interest in books you can judge what they like/enjoy and get books based on that. Joining the library early on is also great to help expose you and baby to different kinds of books to find out what you/they like

I think you can’t have too many books, we always get them for free off a free group or swap books so can be done cheaply, try and swap about 5 a week

No such thing as too many books. Really. We're a bookish family, my kids had books from tiny, their kids now do too, between us we all own a LOT of books. Still buy more all of us.
Every book is different! Love of books is love of books, it goes on and on.

I think too many is impossible tbh op.

I would buy ones you like the look of, or those that are recommended. If your dc doesn't enjoy them, you can always charity shop the excess.

FWIW I would suggest:
Julia Donaldson books (The Gruffalo etc)
Hairy McClary series
You Choose
Peepo and Each Peach Pear Plum
Kipper series eg The Blue Balloon
The Tiger Who Came to Tea

Local library is your friend x

Also I read to my little girl every night since we brought her home from the hospital. Her speech is excellent and has been talking in sentences since she was about 15 months old. She’s just turned two now and we have great conversations about all sorts of things. I’m convinced it’s the contestant reading from a young age x

Thank you everyone

People have been looking at me strangely for buying books now (he’s not due till March) but I’m going to carry on as sounds like you really can’t have toooo many

I’ll also have a look to see if there is any kind of book exchange near us (and library of course) xx

@Kiki91 you can never have too many. If you live in Scotland you will get Bookbug bags from your health visitor at 6 weeks, 1 year and either nursery or primary age (can't remember the last age) but they are great

you want lots of books, but don't buy them all now. wait and see which ones work best - you'll find there are some that you enjoy reading and others that are hard work to read aloud. and some that baby loves and others that he rips up.

So buy slowly - there are plenty of reading years to come.

All the books but the main thing is being read to otherwise they are just decoration. Once you have a feeling which are the favourites then many young children love repetition and anticipating safely what comes next or correcting you when you (deliberately) make mistakes. You can also ask them what happens next and suggest something silly when they are older.

Good luck.

What they all said, but especially@Zilla1!

I read to mine from a couple of days old I still do, even though they're teens.

I didn’t buy any before DD was born but gradually we accrued quite a few. Started off with the “that’s not my” books and the baby soft books then processed through all the toddler classics. She was an early talker and early reader, whether that was due to the books or just her way I don’t know, probably both. She’s 9 now and still an avid read, well over 200 books in her room and she’s kept hold of her favourite toddler books too

Babies need books - and ideally lots of their own! This is an old title, but excellent - see reviews. Worth reading.
www.amazon.co.uk/Babies-Books-Third-Dorothy-Butler/dp/0140156798?tag=mumsnetforu03-21
The Guardian has a brilliant books section which will guide you through buying books from babyhood to the teenage years.
www.theguardian.com/books/2014/may/05/book-doctor-books-for-babies
Book Trust’s site is useful, and if you are anywhere near Newcastle, Seven Stories is magical.
www.booktrust.org.uk/
www.sevenstories.org.uk/
Have fun!

you can't have too many! start reading them to baby in womb!

Ive literally stocked a library for my DGC from my local charity shops. The majority of the books I got looked brand new and were rarely over £1. I’ve hardly bought any books bought from new. As soon as both my DC and DGC were old enough they chose books from the library too. All my DC and DGC are bookworms and one taught themselves to read at 3 which amazed us all. I agree you can’t have too many books. They are a gift for life.

Don't buy new - find a good charity shop! and use your library. New are so expensive and not worth it. If there are ones you really want to keep and own try second hand bookshops online.

I'm a big reader myself and I'm 39 weeks. I have started buying a few books, classics for now and my absolute favourite where the wild things are. I definitely plan to read to baby straight away as way of a a "routine". I love the little board books of classics like "each peach pear plum". Will sign baby up for the local library during my maternity leave but I don't have a lot of space to build an entire library for bub at this point, although I'd love to!

No such thing as too many (unless you're really pushed for space or something). Choose ones you like and can imagine reading out loud a million times without wanting to claw your own tongue out. We (me, DH and 14 month old DD) all like Hairy Maclarys. I also really like Kim Lewis books - such gorgeous pictures.

The hard board books are best the first 2+ years. We have lots of regular paper style kids books from charity shops but Ds age 20 Months finds them too long or rips, so have put away for now.

So board books still. I tend to have 10 or so in his room and again in living room. We read a few months, and some of the smaller or lift flap ones get battered where he accidentally rips when looking at himself. I don’t want to discourage him ‘reading’ so I tape up and they last a bit longer. Then once I’m bored of certain books or Ds doesn’t enjoy we charity a couple, throw away a couple that are too destroyed, and buy a few new ones.

He’s getting better tbh, I think they mainly trashed them the 6months- 18 month stage. He can now open them better and understand carefully.

You can genuinely never have too many. Having books in the house is an indicator of future literacy. ( Obviously need to read them to your kids!) Read everyday from birth if possible, repeat favourites many times. I was sad when I gave a bag of books as a gift to someone for their kid ( they had asked, it was me just dumping them) and they returned them after a couple of weeks saying they had read them once to their child. Maybe they weren't the right ones for them but children love to hear the same ones repeated (so choose well!) As they get older, we use the library more as they tend to only read novels once and they are so quick, £7/8 feels a lot for a few days entertainment! They still get books for birthday/ Christmas but everyday reading would be from the library or swaps with friends.
Also talk about reading and let them see you reading for enjoyment, information, learning. Don't get worried what type of reading ( within reason obviously!) Fiction books are not inherently better than magazines or instruction manuals or comics or joke books or poetry books. All types have something to give.
You could ask people to give the baby their favourite childhood book if you don't want to be swamped with plastic for birthdays/ Christmas.
Let babies handle them too, they will learn to be careful. There are children who turn up at school sadly never having turned the pages of a book.

We had 100s and they were well read and loved.
My 14 year old is coming back to reading after a teenage reading dip.
I think books for toddlers are a great bonding experience.
Do you use the library?
Mine loved going to pick books.

Pick the ones you loved as a child - about half a dozen, keep them in a basket next to a nursing chair and read them as part of a routine.

I did this with ds and it meant that I had something familiar and relaxing to do, at a time when everything was new.

I disagree with the " you cant have too many books' for a baby and toddler.
I found with mine and my nieces and nephews they liked a small select group of books that was on repetition. They kept asking for the same ones and liked saying what was going to happen next.
I'd try to read the favourite and introduce a new one but to be honest a lot of money was wasted on books they didnt want to know.

As they got older we would have a day out once every six weeks to a particular place that sold discount books ( pre The Works) and let the kids pick their own choice books.
We read every night up to the age of 6 or 7 and then they was allowed 20 mins reading time. Both lads are in their 20s now and still read but have completely different interests in what they like.

I agree with using the library

Charity shops are also good. However I do think dozens and dozens of books for a new born is a bit ott.

For a baby the 'that's not my' range is fantastic.

I made the mistake of over buying books for Dd, I blame the book people and their excellent bundles. As she got older 1)Dd outgrew and her reading ability outgrew the many Rainbow fairies and other early reader books I had bought and she simply wasn't interested in them. We donated a ton of unread books to her school.

When they are small the library is your friend not just for books but audio books and other events and activities. The lobby app that links to your library card is brilliant and you can use it to read books, magazines and listen to audio books.

Read out loud to your baby now and once they are born. It doesn't matter if it is a childrens book, the first book I read out loud to Dd 1984. Interestingly she loves dystopia books so perhaps there is a link

As your baby gets older you want high contrast books, black, white and red. Thick books so that they can learn to turn the pages. Then books with rhyming words, they'll probably have a favourite you have to reread constantly. As they start to learn to read you should still read to them, modelling is very important, you should read more difficult books that they can't access on their own yet which will help their vocabulary increase and keep doing this for along as they'll let you.