I just wrote a post about the amazing benefits of having your own reading area at home. One important aspect is adding books to your home library. Over the years I have come across several ways to do this, on a budget.
Family and friends
I would start by asking your friends and family close to you. They often have books in their home library that their kids may have outgrown. Board books and early reader books fall into this category.
One way is to swap books via media mail if they live farther away. You can do monthly book exchanges via mail. This way you can create your own family library that will keep rotating.
Media mail is only for books and educational material and is very economical.
As a bonus, you can make your kids write and exchange letters or cards. This way, they can develop penmanship and the habit of writing and composing themselves.
Visit the local thrift shop
This was the first place where I found very good deals on children’s books.
Thrift stores often have very good deals (got books as cheap as 50 cents).
There are also many great local stores where you can find books from independent authors. They might be more pricey but you will be supporting small businesses.
Trip to your local library
I discovered the joys of story time at local library when my older one was 6 months old.
Over the years during all the moves since then, we have prioritized our library membership.
To look up your local library by zip code, you can use this link.
Local libraries have hard copies as well as digital memberships for books. They often have videos and tablets that are preloaded with educational material. Our library has started lending sets of books according to grade levels with the pandemic restrictions.
Online preloved books
Once you have an idea of what kind of books you want, this can be a wonderful way to add those to your library. Below I am listing links for some of them. I have personally used thriftbooks and recommend them highly.
First: Thriftbooks
I have used this plenty of times. They have free shipping over $10. I would recommend double-checking the prices with amazon to be sure.
Second: BookMonster
They have $2.99 shipping, but free over $25 order. I haven’t tried them but the option to sell books is also available. This can be a wonderful resource if you want to get credit for books you may not need and thus get credit to buy other books you want.
Third: Goodwill books
I discovered recently that they sell online used books. The prices appear to be higher than I have seen in store. Check them out. They have 15% off for 3 or more items and free standard chipping. So let me know if you use them
Special books
I have found a few places where you can get Islamic books for kids. The goal is to make the learning process more educational and fun.
I will link to some of the books here so you can check them out.
The prices are on the higher side since these are new books.
1. Juz Amma: This is hands down my most favorite way to teach about small Surahs to my kids. I have gone through it cover to cover myself and learned so much.
2. Mini tafseer books by Ad-Duha: These books are amazing in terms of tafseer. They have e-books as well as physical books. i have found the tafseer books to be full of facts that were new to me.
You can get 10% off any product, book or E-book by using this coupon code:
Coupon Code: 8IX6PRPGVC
Her is the link for e-books and for print books
I reached out to them and asked for this to share with my readers. Please remember to tag me on instagram if you use this. (#urdukacove)
3. Happy street:
I received one of the books about Prophet Yunus (AS) through my Bismillah Box subscription. This website has many other colorful ones. Check them out.
I bought the 5 pillars board game from a different store but I see you can get it from here.
Printable reading reminder (in the Resource Library)
- As a bonus, I created a free printable that has the days of the week in Urdu.
- You can frame it and use a dry erase marker to mark it. (Glass makes an excellent dry-erase surface)
- Anytime you read for ten minutes, just put a mark next to that day.
- Aim for three or more marks per week.
- When the next week starts, you can add a mark next to it or just erase them and start over.
I hope you found something useful in this post. Please share in the comments if you have used other methods to get books for your home library.
