Have you ever had a book exchange/free book thing at school??

[lindberg99]

My friends and I were talking about how we have so many kids' books around our houses and what to do with them. I was thinking it would be nice to organize some kind of book exchange at school. You know, like you could bring in picture books and exchange them for people's chapter books, etc. But I would also like to make it so people could just come in and take books without necessarily exchanging them. I have a feeling that there are kids who would love to get some books but don't necessarily have books at home to "exchange."

I want to do it as all free, not a book sale.

I'm just curious if anyone has ever done anything like this before I pitch the idea to our principal. How did you organize it? Did you have any problems at all?

[mojumi]

Originally Posted by lindberg99

I'm just curious if anyone has ever done anything like this before I pitch the idea to our principal. How did you organize it? Did you have any problems at all?

I'm not sure if this is exactly what you are thinking about, but our school does a book give-away at the end of it's fall festival. Parents and students are asked to bring in a children's book to donate (or more than one), and they are placed on rolling carts or bookshelves from the library by the exit to the festival. Children who attend the festival (students or anyone from the community) can pick one book each to take home. There is no fee. I think this is a lovely good-bye gift for all the school visitors, and a great way to share books. I think the school has been doing this for many years, not sure how it started.

[lindberg99]

Yes, I think it would be good to tie it into something like that. I'll have to think about when the best time to do it is. We're doing a Spring Festival, maybe then.

[ollyoxenfree]

The book exchange is a great idea.

In another thread, I mentioned a clothing drive we held at one school. It was a similar idea. We asked for donations of winter clothes, coats, snow pants etc. and invited families to help themselves. We were concerned about the children (many from new immigrant families) who weren't properly clothed for the cold winter, making outdoor recess a problem.

We did it on a "pay what you like" basis, as a school fundraiser, but only to avoid any potential stigma.

We also tied it to environmental awareness that was happening at the school - emphasizing the Reuse part of Reduce/Reuse/Recycle. If you celebrate Earth Day or something similar near your Spring Festival, perhaps that would work for you too.

[WC_hapamama]

Our elementary school does a book exchange a few times a year. You can bring in books you want to trade in the week before the date, and you're given tickets (1 per picture book, 2 per chapter book) to use on the day of the exchange.

On the day of the exchange (usually after school) they lay out the books on the lunch tables, according to type, and you pick out what you want, then hand the tickets and books over to the cashier.

[ollyoxenfree]

The ticketing system sounds very organized. Does that mean that you can only get a book if you've brought one in? Is there another way to participate if you don't have any to donate?

[Thalia the Muse]

I like the book exchange idea -- we just donate books to DD's classroom, stuff she's outgrown. They always need more books!

[Girlprof]

We had a book exchange last year and it seemed to work quite well. You could bring in as many books as you wanted to. I think the goal was to get extra books and that didn't seem to be a problem. That way, everyone could take home 3-4 books, even people who didn't bring any in. Maybe someone was keeping a tally of how many books they had total?

[cyncyn]

DDs school has an ongoing book swap. There is a table in the lobby and a hand lettered sign. That's it. It's on the honor system and I'm sure no one minds if someone takes a book without leaving one. It is a k-12 charter so there are books of all levels. Too bad dd will not give up a single book, even a baby picture book. She loves her books. She is invited to a birthday party that is having a book swap instead of gifts and we will have to buy a book to swap since she can't bear to let one go.

[JL83]

Originally Posted by ollyoxenfree

The ticketing system sounds very organized. Does that mean that you can only get a book if you've brought one in? Is there another way to participate if you don't have any to donate?

How about simply asking for people to donate books. Then giving each kid 10 tickets (or some other number which seems to work out for the number of books donated). Have picture books cost 1 ticked, early readers cost 2, and chapter books cost 3. That way all the kids could take home the same number of books regardless of how many they brought in.

And encourage parents to donate lots if they have them.

[spalaura]

I love these ideas. I live in an area with a wide range of income, so an exchange might be beneficial to many. Thanks!