How to Declutter Your Child's Library

My daughter, James is three and has over 300 books. She loves to read. She still loves to read her baby board books, and enjoys her newest additions too.

Here is a list of five books that have stood the test of time and are among her favorite books always. Here is a list of books we love that add to the diversity of her library.

She loves to read, but she not only uses her books to read, they are plates for pretend waffles that she serves to me. Her books are beds for her babies. Her books have been carseats, and spots for her students to sit on the floor for story time. Her rampant imagination can mostly be credited to books so it is no surprise that she uses her books in multiple ways. It is also the messiest thing in the universe. Nothing like coming into her room after quiet time to find 100 books on the floor for various reasons, while she is reading a book to a set of dolls in the corner. The perpetual mess needed to end.

So, I took over 200 books out of her room.

It turns out, that was the best thing I could have done (for all of us). Obviously what I had to gain was less mess to “help her” clean up after quiet time. But what she had to gain, was way more.

Giving children access to literature (and diverse literature at that but that is a whole other blog post) is one of the best things you can do for them. Giving them fewer books just takes it up one level. When kids have fewer books to choose from, they will read the same books over and over again.

Repeatedly reading the same book(s) over and over again is shown to increase FLUENCY and COMPREHENSION.

As she continues to read the same book over and over again, her increased word recognition will increase fluency as she will be using her energy, not to decode the print on the page, but to search for deeper meanings and unique understandings. Now, James is not yet decoding text print, but she is memorizing whole books, which will lead to her making strong AUTHENTIC and RELEVANT connections to decode texts.

For example, in the book Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See, she can recite the whole book. Soon she will realize that the words she is saying appear on the page and will be able to see in an authentic way that is relevant to her the word brown. She may see it again a week later on her brown crayon. She will learn the word brown, not from a flashcard but in authentic and relevant ways to her.

So, what will happen with the 200 books that have been placed in the guest bedroom closet?

They will get rotated in to take place on the bookshelves in her room, as the current ones get rotated out. Every month or two, we will rotate the existing books out and replace them with 30ish other books for her to repeatedly read for the next few months. This has been a game changing decision for our family, and I hope you can make the change too!

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