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A home library can be a wonderful place for your children to explore books. They can discover new titles and reread favorites any time of day. The key is knowing how to organize a home library your kids will use.
I’ve had lots of bookshelves around the house, but I don’t always see my kids taking books off the shelves. In fact, I’m not sure they even realize how many great books they’re surrounded with.
I know why.
We have too many books crammed onto shelves with no organization. It’s time to get serious about designing a home library my kids will use.
Sift your book collection
The first step to organize a home library your kids will use is to get rid of all the books that are in poor physical condition or are not quality reads. Shelf space is precious, and you want to feel good about every book that your child takes from the shelf.
You know the ones I’m talking about.
They’re worn out, their covers are ripped or torn off completely, and you’ve had to tape them several times. If the books aren’t attractive to the eye, they probably won’t be taken from the shelf anyway.
Quality is more important than quantity. It’s better to have a small library of wonderful books your kids want to read, than walls of books that are sub par.
Weed out books that are low-quality. I’m not a fan of most books related to movies, TV shows, or product brands. Send those books to the donation bin. If you come across duplicate books, keep the one in better shape.
Don’t be afraid to sift your book collection. If you find that you’re missing a book you tossed out or gave away, you can probably get your hands on another copy. So, as you go through your books ask yourself, “Would I want to read this book?” This will help you keep only the best.
Note: Don’t feel pressured to toss out your worn and dated sentimental books. (My husband still has his childhood copy of “I Am A Bunny,” among others.) Just keep them separate from the home library you’re creating for your kids.
Organize books into categories
When I tackled all the bins of books in our garage after we moved, I weeded out the ones I didn’t want and then moved onto sorting them by genre. You can do this on the floor. Find a room with lots of floor space, and start making piles of books that belong together. This takes time and effort, but it will be worth it!
Here are some possible categories for your book collection:
- Fiction novels
- Classic novels
- Book sets/series
- Poetry books
- Fairy Tales
- Historical fiction
- History
- Biographies
- Geography
- Religion
- Science
- Art
- Reference
- Picture books
- Beginner/Early readers
- Board books
Group books as you shelve
After you have your categories of books piled on the floor, it’s time to begin the fun part of shelving all those books. As you take a stack, think about how you can further group those books to make it easy for your kids to find what they’re looking for.
For example, a stack of science books might further be grouped into science encyclopedias, science genre (physics, biology, earth, anatomy, chemistry), and/or field guides. When your child is looking for a book about an animal or a guide to the constellations, he’ll know where to find them.
Other Considerations
Cover & Size
I like to sort my picture books by hardcover and paperback. But this is not a hard and fast rule. For example, we have a lot of books by Eric Carle, but some of them are hardcover, some are soft cover. I’d rather keep them together, so when we do an author study, the Eric Carle books are all in one place.
However, I find that soft cover picture books can get lost among the shelves of hardcovers, so I tend to group them together and place them in baskets if possible. Many times the hardcovers are larger and won’t fit on my smaller shelves that are better suited for novels.
Age Appropriateness
Where you place your books will depend on the ages of your kids. Put the books for your youngest readers on lower shelves, so they can access then easily. Starting with board books at the bottom, move up to picture books on the second shelf, early readers above, chapter books next, etc. Save your highest shelves for older kids and teens that can safely use a step stool.
Book Spines vs. Book Covers
Placing books on shelves with only the spines showing is not the best way to attract readers, so think about ways to keep your shelves visually interesting. Use book ends (affiliate links) to provide some space between book spines and highlight favorite books on display easels (affiliate link), like they do at the library. Or, if your shelf is not too high, place a few books on top facing out.
Kids are more likely to pick up a book from the shelf when they can see the front cover. In a future post I’ll show you creative ways to display books so kids will want to read them.
Conclusion
Taking time to organize a home library your kids will use is worth the effort. Once your collection is narrowed down to the most attractive, high quality books, you can move forward with grouping them into categories. Shelve the books in ways that make sense to you based on genre, cover type, size, and ideal shelf height based on the ages of your children. Making your home library user friendly and attractive will ensure that your kids will use the books you’ve invested in.
Your Turn
Do you have a home library that your kids use? What organizational tips can you suggest?
