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

8 year old me would have been beside myself with excitement, that sounds like the best summer holidays ever & a wonderful memory ...... hey mum remember that summer you bought me the huge box of books 😁

I would have loved it too, as long as I chose most of the books.

I often look back on holidays and remember what I read.

Hi, nice thought but Blytons books contains extreme racism, mysygony and transphobia. I take it you are ignorant of this or are being cruel. Either way I have tipped you off now so no excuses I'm the future.

You couldn’t give better than the gift of reading ☺️.

My lads loved reading growing up , however very little went on during the Summer, out & about enjoying the outdoors .
So they mostly read over the winter months.

Transphobic? Which book?

I love a bit of Enid. I think there has been some modern editing and changes too.

I love the library, local charity shops, vinted and world of books for books - but I also do an occasional big new books order from the likes of books4people or books2door for series that the kids are into.

The library and charity shops are great for trying something different (thank you local charity shop for your 3 for £1 on kids books) but if my kids are into a long series it's pretty tedious tracking them all down that way. Shorter series, I will do on world of books or vinted but a longer series, I value my time too much!

The trans bollocks wasn’t a thing in Blyton’s time. Give over.

True 😂

My local library has a pretty good range of books to choose from, and it's only a small branch library, plus there's the facility of being able to get ebooks and recordings online. The one in the nearest town is even better.

How lovely. It works out at around £3/book. Many ice-creams can cost £3 these days and are gone within five minutes. These books will provide hours of pleasure each and many will probably be read and reread many times. It doesn't stop her buying her own books at charity shops or car boot sales either, should she so wish, or from borrowing them from the library and participating in the reading challenge. I was a bookish child - devouring almost every book l could lay my hands on - and am a bookish adult and would have been thrilled if my parents could have afforded this. I still remember having chickenpox extremely badly when I was just eight and being off school nearly a month because of it. My Mum bought me Enid Blyton's The Naughtiest Girl Again, which was a real treat, which I still remember well over fifty years later. I can imagine your daughter will too.

She got 50 books for £150. That's only £3 a book! I'd call that a bargain for something that provides hours of entertainment.

And she certainly couldn't have found all the books in each series she was looking for 'no effort' in charity shops and car boots.

I love second-hand book shopping and I also loved it when I was a kid, but if you're looking for specific books and complete series like the OP was, it's a hell of a lot easier and quicker to buy them new.

Also, it's her money and she can spend it on whatever she likes.

I think it's important to encourage and support reading OP. My second thought was, is she planning on going outside at all?

Yes, lots of the racism has been removed.

It’s good for children to understand that social
mores and morality change over time. Rather than censoring their reading and eliminating the wealth of children’s literature before say the 1990s, wouldn’t it be better just to discuss the issues with the child?

Agree.

Little women for example has a lot of sexism in it by modern day standards but still a great read for a child with someone to discuss it with

Parts of Laura Ingalls Wilder's books are now considered racist but there is so much good in them that they are well worth reading and discussing

That’s so wonderful! What bliss for her! You’ve bought yourself a quiet summer too!

On the last day of summer term me and my sisters would be taken to the bookshop to buy 6 books each. I’d read all mine in about a day, then read my middle sister’s and then the youngest. Then read everything they had in the library. I remember those bookshop trips so fondly and will do the same for my daughter. A summer book box is a wonderful tradition she’ll remember. Like you, I unofficially don’t have a budget when it comes to books!

Inspired by this thread I just went on books2door and ordered 144 euros worth of books Unfortunately was not able to get the copies of The Secret Garden and 1984 that DD wanted because they were in some range that is apparently only for UK delivery Did get the whole set of A Series of Unfortunate Events which will make both kids and me happy

A summer book box, I love this! What a wonderful idea, I’m sure your daughter will remember this fondly.
I’ve got children who love reading too, but they also do other things, move/ be active, days out etc. Some of the comments are silly! I wonder if you’d get such comments if you said you’d bought a Switch for summer holidays….. Happy reading!!!! I’ve bought kindles for this summer as we’ve no more space for books. 🤣

Erm hello.. one of the famous 5 girls is cruelly ridiculed and verbally abused by farmers, smugglers, butchers etc for wanting to be and acting like a boy. I have furst edition copies and they are quite shocking, if they have been censored then I'm not sure how much has been left. Did you know they made a black friend and called him sooty?

Who did?

The famous five.

I bought my daughter the "A series of unfortunate events" books!

Rubbish.

Sooty's real name was Pierre and the boys knew him from school, which was his nickname there, because his surname is Lenoir. The five don't give him the name and there is no suggestion he was anything but Caucasian. Smugglers' Top if anyone wants to check.

George is not ridiculed for wanting to be a boy, she's treated with admiration most of the time - not when she's having one of her strops, but "good old George comes out on top again" is a regular theme. And she's not trans anyway. She's a tomboy.

If you think the books are so terrible, why have you bothered keeping them anyway?

The books are first edition for one thing but secondly I don't think are suitable for the current generation as they were for mine. I'm too old to care but you have to be very careful these days in everything you say and a child of this era reading those books will get in big trouble for calling a little black boy sooty or for calling someone Aunt Fanny etc.