It's always good to end the week on a positive note. Sometimes we concentrate on the negatives. We have a choice. Choose positive. Choose to celebrate. I will be joining Ruth Ayres and her weekly link-up, Celebrate This Week. Check out all the other celebrations HERE
This week I am celebrating ORGANIZATION! I've spent weeks organizing my books. What started out as a little project, ended up into something huge.
I switched my adult shelves and kid lit shelves around. My kid lit has grown exponentially in the past two years. Previously, my kid lit was on shelves that were so deep, I could double stack the books, which means 1/2 of the books were hidden behind another stack. Since my 9yo and I are constantly in the shelves, it was often hard to find books. However, my adult reads have gotten a little dusty and not as frequently pulled out. Time for a swicharoo. Took the opportunity to also weed out a few titles and donate to my local library, school library and classroom library. Once I got that done, and I started to really spread out my kid lit, I realized I needed more room. Trip to Menards for a new bookshelf. Spread those books out, think about the stacks I have upstairs in my room, and another trip to Menards was needed!
Here's my efforts!
Fiction Picture books
They are alphabetized and the titles are in a google doc that puts them in categories (ex. friendship, problem/solution, writing, Mock Caldecott...)
4 bookshelves of kid lit! One shelf is professional reading. The far right bookshelf and the bottom shelf from the bookshelf next to it are all TBR books! I have stacks up in my room too! Not all of the other books have been read, but the majority have.
My adult books. Notice how they are double stacked. Please note the bottom right shelf. Vintage Babysitter Club series! I owned I don't know how many but my mom got rid of them. My daughter started reading the books with the "new" covers 2 years ago and loved them. Bought 60+ on ebay for her with the "vintage" covers. She won't read them. Says they are "old fashioned".
It's good to feel organized. Now I just need to read those books....
I have always believed that a person could not have too many books! Your shelves look great! I spent the end of summer reorganizing my new classroom library. I actually touched and labeled every book with the exception of all the boxes I took home because they were too low for 6th graders. Organizing is so refreshing! Now if I could just organize my house!
ReplyDeleteI've been rearranging too, trying hard to manage what I have here, & taking some into school for different bins there. It's a big job! Your shelves look awesome, Michele! I'm impressed that you created a Google Doc-am not sure I want to do that, but I understand that it would be wonderful to have! Funny about the vintage covers & your daughter's take on it. Aren't they the same story? Have a good week!
ReplyDeleteI want to come to visit your library! It looks amazing! Such a satisfying accomplishment to have your books in order! I have SO many books at home - but I store many of them in tubs as I lug them back and forth to my school and other schools I visit. I laughed at your Vintage Babysitter club books - I have the same collection of Nancy Drew books - and I will never part with them! Have a great week!
ReplyDeleteSo many treasures on your shelves!
ReplyDeleteLove all these books! My kidlit collection has grown tremendously over the past couple of years. I try to keep books in my office, but I'm out of shelf space there too. Hoping I can commandeer another bookshelf from someplace or other! Had to laugh at your daughter's response to the Babysitter Club books. My son hates any kind of old books or games too. My husband wants to bust out his edition of Clue--the very same edition he played as a child--but I know my son is going to be like ewww, it's old. You really have everything extremely well-organized here. Yesterday I was trying to put my hands on a Ralph Fletcher book I wanted to quote in my blog post, and I could not find it to save my life. For about 10 minutes, I was totally determined to organize my shelves--but by now, the impulse has faded!
ReplyDeleteLove the library. I get so excited just seeing pictures of how others arrange their books! Thanks for sharing and celebrating here!
ReplyDeleteI would be celebrating such an accomplishment too. Your book shelves look fabulous and I had to laugh at your daughter's idea of those old fashioned books. You've given me hope that I will be able to get mine organized. I am moving out of the classroom this year to be a literacy coach. I need to figure out how to get all my books into the hands of teachers and kids.
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