Monday, March 30, 2015

Tips for buying children's books

Here are a few tips for people who are starting to build up their children’s books’ collection:

1. Learn about children’s books and authors by reading on the internet. There are a lot of websites and blogs dedicated for children’s books.

2. Don’t buy everything you read about. Make notes. Find more about the books. Evaluate on the basis of your child’s interests and level of understanding.

3. How to look inside the book, when you are purchasing it online? Most books on Amazon offer sample pages (2-3 pages) to give a peek into the book. You could search specific books on YouTube also. Many people upload videos of books and book readings where you can see the inside pages and find out more about the book. Another way is to do Google Images search of any book.

4. The easiest way to check best prices on various websites is any price comparison website like India Bookstore.

5. Online shopping websites like Amazon and Flipkart are undoubtedly best places to buy your books for their competitive pricing. Infibeam is another website where you would often find books not available on any other site but the prices may be a little higher. I have personally used all these websites.

6. There are also some places from where you can buy second hand books because let’s face it, international titles are expensive. I have used Passaro Pre-owned Imported Children’s Books (Chennai) for buying second hand books. 
They have good storybooks in the range of Rs 100-150. Apart from these, there are several Facebook Groups on Used Children’s books. Many metro cities also have booksellers selling ‘Books-by-weight’ which means they will have Rs X per Kg of Books.

7. Indian children’s books publishers like Tulika, Tara Books, Karadi Tales and Pratham Books have a wide range of books in very affordable prices.

8. In last 4 years I have learnt that one needs to be patient in buying books for kids. I have bought books for as much as 800 rupees. Honestly speaking, for regular people, this is not a sound practice. Be in the lookout for discounts in the range of 60% and above.

9. You can also select a price range. For example, I select books upto Rs 200 and then go about choosing books. Kids just need some good story books to read.

Image source: Google

You may also want to see: 

Why you should Read Aloud to your Child
How to start Reading to your Child
5 Children's Fiction Titles We Love

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