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 did similiar for my youngest son who is an avid reader. Would buy series bundles for Birthdays/Christmas.
He is now 22 and he still purchases at least 1 or 2 new books per week. He has a large bedroom and has 4 full tall bookcases full of books and large storage boxes under his double bed, full of books.

I agree with this. My 17 year old is an avid reader but if I’d done this at 8 years old, she would definitely not have appreciated it, but never would have told me.

I’m also not sure what the point of this thread is.

Throughout my DD's later childhood yrs (8 - 14), in the months of June/July when most schools were having their Summer Fairs, we'd spend our Saturdays scouring neighbouring districts, scooping up books for (then) about 50p each. Then, in the hols, we'd go Eurocamping in France with one large plastic crate of books for DH & me and another large plastic crate for DD. At that time she was tearing through two books a day. Still look back with on those hols with great fondness. DH now gone to the great library in the sky. Me & DD still avid readers.

Now, of course, there's World of Books (wob) UK, a very tempting source of cheap 2nd hand books.

it fosters the imagination, it builds vocabulary, it takes the reader into different worlds which they would not otherwise encounter.
It is the best and cheapest way to develop the brain, the cognition and the emotional capacity of the child.
There's loads of research on this. Look it up.

I would have loved this. In fact I would love it now. Lucky girl!

Oh, wow! You were so lucky! In my 4th Yr Juniors (Y6) class, 1957, we had some Arthur Mee volumes in the very little class library at the back of the class. I loved them and learned so much from them. They were like a banquet of reading delights. I would have loved to own just even one volume.

There's the Alex Riders books by AH, but there's more than 6 now. He stopped writing them then returned to them. One of the few series of books that all my dc loved (they have very different tastes in books).

He also wrote the Diamond Brother books. Only ds enjoyed these particularly. If I remember rightly older brother sets up a detective agency but is totally hopeless so younger brother keeps stepping in and saving the day - although clueless older brother doesn't realise. They're funny!

Op, if I had the money I'd have a house with a tower and a library in the tower. I suggested to dh we could add it to our (standard 70s house) and he didn't even bother replying. In fact he may have rolled his eyes a little. 🤣

My dc used to love (as I did as a child too) going round the charity shops at the start of the holidays and collecting books. We'd arrive home and they'd all disappear into their favourite crannies around the house to read and I'd get silence. The younger two in particular loved old fashioned books - dd2 loved the sort of "every day" books and ds loved adventure.

Older authors to look out for that they loved:

Malcolm Saville (ds' favourite. We managed to get permission to stage his most popular book and ds was delighted)
Monica Edwards
Enid Blyton
Violet Needham
Gwendoline Courtney (dd2's favourite book still is "A Coronet for Cathy." I bought her a couple of extra copies as she had read hers to extinction so she could have one at home and one at uni)
Noel Streatfield
Arthur Catherall
Arthur Ransome
Antonia Forest
Geoffrey Trease
Biggles books (ds as he was mad about WWII. He picked up the language and was going round saying things like "it's a crying shame" and "crocks away!" Very funny)
Diana Wynne Jones (not sure they count as older yet, but they're good)
Chalet School
Pamela Brown
Elizabeth Goudge

And individual books they loved, but I can't remember the authors
Family from One End Street
The children who lived in a barn
Demon Island
The Young Detectives
Fred and I series
Kestrels Plot Adventure (we had a couple in the series)
A set by someone like John Pudney called Monday Adventure etc.

Girls Gone By Publishing (republishing old books) and Topsy turvy books (second hand) are good places to use online.

Ignore those that say you're pushing your wishes on them. I loved to read as a child, and still do, although my eyesight makes it more of a chore now. Of my dc, dd2 is still the keenest reader and will read a book through three times in a row if she's loving it. Dd1 reads less, but still reads although normally the Kindle version, and ds prefers factual books now, but still talks about his favourites if the subject comes up.

So pleased for your DD.
I used to go to the public library for my D3D and they now take their children. It’s a pleasant time spent there as they can play board games with other children as well as Lego and the such.

@igelkott2026

Oh golly, me too! I have yet to visit Rye (we're northish east) but we've just had a family holiday in Shropshire, based on me always wanting to visit the Stiperstones and Ludlow from the Lone Pine books.

I'd still love to go to Rye - maybe at some point, but I absolutely agree on how interested you can get in various things from books.

I remember discovering to my delight that they were real places.

I started with a Monica Edwards book, which had belonged to dm. I was trying to find more books by her and was searching the second hand shops and found Malcolm Saville, and realised he was writing about the same place.

My dc know when I suggest a place for holiday then it'll be followed up with "and this book....". We've been to Church Stretton for holiday and Rye area and Dartmoor, all of which are MS connections.

For cheaper place to stay if you go over the border to Kent and stay round Dymchurch, you can ride the mini railway to Dungeness like Penny and Jon (and also like Tamsin etc) and visit Camber Castle, Rye and Rye Harbour (the real Wrestling) etc. Bliss!

When mine were that age they loved the Rainbow Magic books (like "Violet the Lilac Fairy"). We would do a mixture of bedtime stories with me reading and them reading for themselves.

Oops, sorry, I meant "Heather the Violet Fairy".

I used to get loads of Sweet Valley High every holiday. I loved those twins!

£150 on kids books, you must have money to waste, it takes no effort to find lots of great kids books at charity shops and car boots. You can buy off vinted at a fraction of the shop price.

£3 each is not the cost of a new book, you are out of date. These will be second hand at that price.

Good luck trying to source whole series of books in charity shops and car boot sales, and it would probably cost more than you save in petrol, parking fees and time.

Have you heard of an invention called THE LIBRARY?

Actually if you're looking for specific things it’s incredibly hard to find in charity shops.
Vinted is one of the most expensive places for books, even at £1 or £2 you’re spending £5 or £6 with the buyer fee and postage.

Have you been to a library these days? The choice is almost non existent!

Library?

Maybe you should try a different library.

I love this. I love to read now and did as a child. My toddler is really into books and I'm hoping this continues as she grows up. Nice to hear of a child so invested in reading and not being attached to a phone or tablet!

I volunteer in a library and even though it’s small the choice is not non existent. It also has a brilliant ordering service ( which where I live includes all the London libraries ). My nearest library is much bigger, newly revamped, has drinks and air con!!

That's lovely. My 7.5yo can't read yet due to her dyslexia. I'd love for her to have the same joy from reading that I've had.

Goodness, like a real life Matilda. I’m so sorry 😢