Monday, June 17, 2013

Old Books.

Something else ruthlessly sorted during the Great Household Purge of May 2013 were the family room bookshelves.  When the boys were young we'd been fortunate to receive a lot of hand-me-down books from my cousins and my half-brothers, and I held on to them for a long time, in grim denial of how quickly kids grow up.  But it was time to face facts - the boys have grown too old for picture books, and we didn't have enough room for the books they actually do read.

I wanted to send those old and beloved books to a good home, so I contacted some other cousins with very young children and offered them up.  Then I set to work.  Obviously some books needed to stay with us:  Dr Seuss, Harry the Dirty Dog, Charlie and Lola, The Very Hungry Caterpillar, Q Pootle 5 stand out amongst a small selection of sentimental favourites. But the rest were put in boxes. And more boxes.  And then a few bags as well.  The cat supervised.

2013 9:30 PM

I think my cousins were a little bit surprised when Mister Fixit arrived in Woodend with the booty.  I may have glossed over just how many books I'd be sending their way, and we threw in some beloved and hard-to-part-with baby toys and puzzles as well.  But a couple of days after the treasure arrived, I received a text from the cousin with the 2-year-old.
"Just thought you should know that over the past few days we've hardly been able to leave the house.  This is because all B wants to do is read  story after story, first in his room, then on the couch, then at the table, then in the big bed.  After he's finished stories he wants to do all his new puzzles.  This really has been going on for several days.  Thanks for the great hand me downs.  We are all really enjoying them."
Meanwhile, I was able to display all the remaining books in a horizontal or vertical position, which means the kids are now game to pull out books to read.  No more danger of being crushed by an avalanche of books, I'm happy to say. The cat agreed it looked much better as well.

2013 9:26 PM

7 comments:

  1. I like it how cats love books so much. Nothing like the sight of a well sorted book shelf either.

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  2. Ah yes, I understand the difficulty of parting with books. You never know when that Chemistry textbook on the second-bottom shelf is going to come in handy! Glad to hear your picture books went to a good home and are being treasured by other little people.

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  3. I love a good book purge, At work and at home!

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  4. I kept most of our children's books and the picture books are now being recycled for Nicholas, our grandson. I had remembered them as being so lovely - and they are, only really quite grubby and thumbed, which I'd forgotten. Still, Nicky doesn't seem to notice.

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  5. Great that you were able to find new homes for them, another generation of readers is born! :)

    Basil...it makes my heart happy to see him. What a cutie.

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  6. Kinda book related....I assume that you have seen that there is a stage production of Horrible Histories in Melb in July. Thought of your boys when I saw this competition (hope the link works) http://blogs.abc.net.au/abc_tv/terms-and-conditions-horrible-histories-live-show-newsletter-competition-june-17.html

    We still have some picture books around too....some I just can't bear to part with. Sadly my 15yo is not an avid reader, despite my best efforts. :(

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  7. We de-booked recently too, keeping some of the same faves ( our Harry the Dirty Dog belonged to husbo when he was young :) )

    It was hard to do, but sending them to a new home is worth it!

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Don't let the cat get your tongue.