Hi Friends!

Last time I posted a photo of our book nook over on my IG feed, so many asked for details and when I polled y’all, you wanted to see it in a blog post, so, let’s start off by going over what it is and how to start your own!

What is a “book nook”, basically just a curated collection of books with a theme. I was inspired by Jordan & Co. when she posted her monthly book nooks and decided to take the plunge to sort through all of our books and try to break them out into months, or seasonal groups. It was a large under-taking and I reached out to Jordan for some tips! Here are some things she has shared, and some tips I have learned since going through the process:

• Look at each book and make a keep, donate and trash pile. Donate the books that your kids have outgrown or no longer read and trash the ones that are missing pages or are in tattered condition.
• As you’re going through each to assess condition, separate the “keep” books into “picture books”, “board books” and “paperbacks/readers”.  I like to keep hardcover picture books to use for our book nook, I put board books in the playroom for all children to play with and I put paperbacks or readers in the girls’ quick access areas in their rooms. Of course, these three separate spaces often get combined, but it makes me heart happy for everything to have it’s place, at least to start!
• After I separate by type of book, then I narrow down what my themes might be and separate the books by theme. I’m planning to just round out my monthly collections of hardcover picture books. Right now I’m just separating paperbacks and board books because we happen to have them, but depending on the ages of your kids, you may want to grow those collections, too!
• When starting your monthly nook, don’t spend a bunch of money or stress that you don’t have enough to meet the “theme”. A few ways to pick a theme: seasonal holiday, national holiday (like MLK, you can do books about acceptance, differences and history), color (ex. all green for St. Pattys or all pink/red for Valentines).
• A few money saving tips:
  • Trade or swap with friends and family.
  • Hit up a consignment store
  • Go to the library
  • You don’t have to curate by “hardcover”, “paperback” and “board” books. Combine them all together if you want!

Having a book nook makes it a fun little thing for the kids. They always get excited when they see that I’ve changed it and are excited to read some fresh content.  I always try to add some seasonal decorations to make it more fun!

Hopefully this was helpful! If you have any questions, leave them in the comments and I’ll get back to you!