I just bought my 8 year old daughter 50 books for the summer holidays

[mamalife1990]

As its the summer holidays I decided that I would let my 8 year buy some books for over the summer. She absolutely loves to read and I realised that it might be nice for her to have some new books to read over the next 6 weeks.

So I ordered her some books. However most of the books I ordered were series. I got a few individual books. But most of the books were series. Meaning I didn't really calculate how many books I was actually buying. My plan was, wait until all the books arrive, put them all in one big box and give the box to my daughter.

The last box arrived today so I went into my room and got every book and series out of their boxes....and I realised...that's a lot of books. So I decided to count and there is 50 books. 50! When you're buying book series, it's easy to forget how many books you are actually buying.

I gave my daughter the box and she is extremely happy. So seeing her smile was worth the financial cost of all these books.

Let's just hope my husband doesn't want a divorce after seeing so many books. Was this financially responsible? Nope. Do I regret anything? Nope.

Now my 4 year old wants some new books too 😭 Thankfully the books he would read are a lot cheaper lol

I was about 8 when I got my first Chalet School book. God I loved them!
I was about 10 when I got Gordon Cooper's 'A Second Springtime' about orphan girls being sent from England to Nova Scotia. I still read it!

We were very lucky in school (my sisters and I, not sure about my brothers). Every classroom had a very well stocked library (100s of books) and we were allowed to take them home whenever we wanted.

I take joy in seeing all my complete series of books on a bookshelf.
maybe for Christmas get her a kindle- can consume so many more books that way too when you run out of bookshelf space. You can set up amazon family and send books to her kindle.
Or amazon kids has so many series of books available… i set up a profile for me to reread the princess diaries books

I love this! She may enjoy to write down the book title/author and a few sentences to remember each book she has read, to look back on.

How lovely OP! I remember when I turned thirteen being given the set of Trebizon (?) books and lying in bed, I read them all by midday!! (I was an early waker!). One of my distinct childhood birthday memories!

Can I ask why you think it's important?

If it's for knowledge, that can be gained in so many other ways nowadays. If its for enjoyment too that it available too

Where does the importance come from?

I’d have been in seventh heaven if my mum had done that for me.

When I was about 7 or 8 I asked my mum to move my bed under the window. I said it was so I could get the breeze from the open window, but it wasn’t, it was so I could pull the curtains back, slightly, and read by a slither of light after I’d been put to bed.

Now I have a little grandson who is 2.5. He’s been read to since he was days old so he adores books. On Friday I bought him 4 of the Large Family, by Jill Murphy, from Aldi for 79p each. He knows that Granny doesn’t say no to books. I really hope he continues to love them as much as he does now.

Oh for goodness sake. Maybe she isn't sporty and reading is her thing. And friends may be on holiday.

What a lovely Mum you are. 8 year old me would have been in heaven. Wondering what they are. When I was 8 it was Narnia, Pippi Longstocking, Ballet Shoes, the Borrowers, Swallows & Amazons, Five children & it, Heidi etc

It teaches concentration, imagination, new words, how to use grammar effectively as well as knowledge.

As an example, I learnt a lot about Rye, Shropshire and the area around Southwold when I read the Malcolm Saville books as a child. I wouldn't have happened on that knowledge independently.

50 books?! That's fabulous 🤩 I used to devour books like that, at your daughters ages and I still do!

I remember saving my pocket money and walking down the shops to buy all the Sweet Valley High books when they were released. Then on the flip side, Flowers in the Attic and other books of the same ilk. Jacki Collins.. scandalous! And also totally inappropriate for a kid that age, when you look back on it! Ahhh the 80s 🤣

My kids don't read for fun and nor does my husband. I truly don't understand and feel sorry for them, they are missing out on one of life's great joys! I'm delighted for you and your daughters that they love reading! Enjoy!

OP this is lovely. Can I just say though that I did things like this on a smaller scale for DD, and she read it as a task.

She really felt that I was saying 'this is what we prize in this family'. My other child is ASD and very academic - this DD saw it as a manipulative way of disguising 'be more like her' inside a gift.

For various reasons we have become a therapy family lol - so she's been able to articulate this, but I probably wouldn't have been able to as a child.

I don't want to shit on your parade (badly mixed metaphor but I hope you enjoy the vision 😂) but sometimes grand gestures like this aren't received how we expect them to be - plus kids don't want to hurt or displease us, and sometimes can't even connect with what they really feel about things.

I think I'm just saying that you could have a 'casual' conversation that really makes it clear that you want her to have what she wants - but if she doesn't want it, that's really really fine too.

It’s really important for their education so much of which of course involves being able to read. In general but specifically in English. I have 2 kids. Both bright but one an avid reader the other not. The reader one absolutely breezed through English at school because a lot of the exam techniques were so natural to him as he was a reader. The other one struggled and took a lot more effort to pass than his brother took to get As. I’m not a teacher but a teacher can explain how it all works much better!

my daughter would have loved this at that age I did indeed buy her endless books my niece is 8 absolutely hates reading any books and I have bought loads for her yet still somehow she is an advanced reader and on last colour on reading scheme before she will be a free reader I don't get it ! meanwhile my daughter now 30 has read about 70 books this year i have read 50!

As a reader.. please share where you got books so cheap.. for research purposes 😂.

Ive got my daughter into the library. She loves it. She’ll take her ten book limit out but it makes her happy. I also mention it’s good for the environment and she likes that.

I would have loved this as a child, I was an advanced reader too and read and read and read it was my favourite thing to do.
I have tried and failed to install a love of reading to this extent into my kids, you are either a book worm or you are not. They love a good book but it’s more like a few pages every other day that they will read. I am pleased there are still kids who love books this much out there :) I have whole series I have got my kids untouched on the shelf which makes me sad. I do try, they just haven’t got the bug.

I have no idea why some posters are determined to piss on your cornflakes!

It sounds like a lovely thing to do.

We do it at Christmas - I go all in on books4people and similar sites for series that the kids like.

We do charity shops and library too.

And of course they do a variety of activities. My 7 year old read 3 books today but also went to the park and played cards and a number of other things.

to add 8 year old me would have loved this my mum usually bought me a book a week started with Enid blyton then noel stratified chalet school books trebizon sweet valley high Judy blame Heidi what Katie did Anne of green gables little house on the prairie worked my way through them all then was stuck as too young at that point fir actual adult books but then as a teenager it was vigilant Andrews Catherine Cookson etc still an avid reader now

Virginia

One of my happiest memories is a colleague of my mums calling around with a huge box of books she d cleared out of her house for me ( their house had an actual library with sliding ladder and everything, was my dream room) when I was 11. I read constantly as a child and this was just an absolute treasure trove to me - and there was no checking of age appropriateness lol, this box contained Flowers in the Attic amongst others that my mam would definitely not have let me read but no one actually went through them!
What a lovely memory for your girl to have

I appreciate your concern but I can assure you my daughter does not feel this way. She loves reading more than she loves playing with toys. For her, this is just as exciting as getting a box of new toys. :)

I absolutely love this. Your lucky daughter. I have so many happy memories of going to WHSmith with my mum to choose some books when we went on holiday to read on the way and way home. I got lots of books or book vouchers from family for birthday and xmas (still do to be fair!) I also remember collecting stamps at junior school (early 80s) i seem to remember they had an owl on them and then when you had enough you could exchange them for a brand new book. Absolute bliss!

What a lovely surprise for your daughter. You can never have enough books. Lucky girl to have such a kind mum

Fantastic! What a lucky little bookworm 📚

I’ve donated whole boxed series of children’s books to charity over the years as my kids grew up. They didn’t want them anymore so hopefully the books found new homes. Despite all the books and reading at bedtimes etc neither of mine ended up as readers 🤷‍♀️