How many books does your elementary child own? How many do you and spouse have?

[Anonymous]

My elementary schoolers each have about two big shelves worth, so prob 100 books each?

I only have about 15 books in my “permanent collection” (books I’ve read and have kept around, usually for years). Those are beloved, or signed or ones I’ll even re-read from time to time. Then at any given time I probably have 20 “to be read” books that I own and another 5 or so from the library. With Christmas having just passed it might be as high as 30 (I get lots of books as gifts).

I’m a big reader (prob a book every week or two) but I cycle through books. 99% of the time, as soon as I finish a book, it’s out the door to the little free library across the street (for which I’m grateful! I almost never take books out, but it stops books from cluttering my house!)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My elementary schoolers each have about two big shelves worth, so prob 100 books each?

I only have about 15 books in my “permanent collection” (books I’ve read and have kept around, usually for years). Those are beloved, or signed or ones I’ll even re-read from time to time. Then at any given time I probably have 20 “to be read” books that I own and another 5 or so from the library. With Christmas having just passed it might be as high as 30 (I get lots of books as gifts).

I’m a big reader (prob a book every week or two) but I cycle through books. 99% of the time, as soon as I finish a book, it’s out the door to the little free library across the street (for which I’m grateful! I almost never take books out, but it stops books from cluttering my house!)

PP to add - my husband is also a big reader, and he keeps more. He’s probably got about 100 books. But I’ve been rubbing off on him, I’ve noticed more and more that books he reads go out the door.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Very few. The library lets us take out up to 50 books so we do 20 per child then swap them out every few weeks. Makes more sense than cluttering the house with books that only get read once.

Do you buy the ones they love and want to read again? Or how do you decide what makes the cut in terms of buying?

I'd consider it if they asked but that hasn't been a thing yet. My youngest will sometimes pick a book they've already read so they have it again but there haven't been any "oh I must have this" books. We give them $20 for the book fair so there's a few books from there but nothing I would keep long term.

[Anonymous]

Hundreds.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We have quite a collection and though DD is a voracious reader, she probably has more than she will actually read. I know I do.

Just curious how many books your kids own? And how many do you own? No Kindles or ereaders here, just paper books.

Our kid had this question in an ES homework packet - we stopped counting at 189. We are all voracious readers, going to all the used book sales at the local HSs and buy boxes at a time, visit our library regularly, etc.

[Anonymous]

1000+ books, about half Fiction, half non-fiction (many from grad school). Both of us are big readers. We save books we might consider reading again or think the kids might eventually read (which is a lot) and donate others to LFL if they were books that we thought someone would like. The nonfiction honestly needs to be pruned a bit and those unwanted books will get donated to second story books in Rockville since they are too niche for a LFL. Kids both have big bookshelves full of chapter books and we have crates of picture book favorites in the attic for theoretical grandchildren. We routinely donate kids books to LFL or simply put out a box for free pickings on our high traffic sidewalk.

The library never seems to have what we want when we want it and I’m willing to shell out money for books—especially if it means that my kids always have a book that they like and are actively reading.

[Anonymous]

1000+ for all. Books and shelves in every room. Lots of non fiction. We read in multiple languages so those are hard to find. My kids keep finding DHs old kids books and reading them which is great.

[Anonymous]

More like zero. I need to get rid of the few he has outgrown. If he needs one for homework, we scramble to look for something online.
We do have a small library in the building open 24/7, but haven't used it yet.

[Anonymous]

Always a bit more than we can fit. We have a pretty tiny house. Two IKEA shelves in our room about 2/3 full (Other 1/3 is storage for other stuff); a bin of board books, two small shelves, and books stacked all along the top of the radiator cover in the kids' room; 1.5 tall shelves of kids' books in the family room; and about 25 sq feet of adult books in the living room built in.

At this point when we get new books we try to comb through and get rid of some to make space. We also go to the library and reload on new kids' books a couple times a month.

[Anonymous]

I hate hoarders

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We have quite a collection and though DD is a voracious reader, she probably has more than she will actually read. I know I do.

Just curious how many books your kids own? And how many do you own? No Kindles or ereaders here, just paper books.

Our kid had this question in an ES homework packet - we stopped counting at 189. We are all voracious readers, going to all the used book sales at the local HSs and buy boxes at a time, visit our library regularly, etc.

Why they theiretical?

[Anonymous]

Early on in our marriage, my spouse wanted to open a used bookshop in later life. This romantic thought propelled us to acquire and keep quite a few books in the decade preceding our DD birth. Fast forward to today, our DD is 10 and we no longer have that dream. In an attempt to de-clutter our home, we’ve reduced our home library from 2 thousand to about 500 for us and our DD has about 50 (books, not kids books).

We have discovered that DD is a habit that is there only when we are on top of requesting her to read, otherwise the iPad takes over.

[Anonymous]

I'm trying really hard to cut back by using the library more. I'm also trying to get rid of the books I realistically won't read again (like that mystery I bought for a train ride six years ago).

I'm a big reader and it's good to have some books around but it does just become hoarding at some point.

[Anonymous]

My kids have probably 50-75 each because we go through them regularly and give away books they’ve outgrown or don’t like.

My own collection is probably down to 60-70 now. I gave away boxes of books several years ago and kept my favorites. We were running out of space.

I love my kindle and mostly read kindle books now (including ones borrowed from the library). It’s so easy and I never have to worry about shelf space or bringing enough books on vacation. My kids still check physical books out of the library but my 6th grader mostly reads from his kindle.

[Anonymous]

I have about 200 in my personal collection, many of which I've had since childhood and re-read yearly or every other year. I try not to buy more because we don't have much shelving or places to put shelving. Maybe someday.

Similarly for the kids, each has one bookcase and they're full. We try to cull every so often, eg, 2nd grader really does not need all the Mo Willems books she has, but she refuses to part with them.

We make very good use of the library. Between me and two kids we have between 20 and 30 books out at any given time. I will not buy the kids a book if they can get it from the library or school library. We always check there first.