How do feel about used children's books?

[anomaly13]

I personally think any used book is great, as long as it is in decent condition. Yesterday DH let me know he is not a fan of used books for the kids or library books. Specifically he was upset that I brought books home from the doctor's office, the doctor lets the kids pick 2 books each time they come for a well child check, or maybe any time they visit but we have only gone for well child checks. The books are in the waiting room an a large shelf, I have never seen kids reading them as they wait for their appointment, they are usually more interested in all the toys whcih I am a little grossed out by tbh.

So do you clean you used books? how? what about library books?

[east carolina]

DS has lots of used books, and hand-me down books as well. I buy lots of used books for myself as well and I never thought that used books are not appropriate for kids. I can't really think of a reason why it should bother me.

I buy clothing second hand, both for me and DS. DS probably has more second hand clothes than new ones.

What specifically bothers your DH about it?

[Jessy1019]

No problem to me.

We don't generally borrow library books because I'm terrible about remembering to return them (and anything I read, I like to keep). But I'd happily buy used books or take any that were given to us.

[sbgrace]

We have lots of used books here. We also do library books.

Since your husband is concerned about germs (right?) maybe you could "quarantine" used books for a week. That should let anything die. Stuff can't live without a host. It so much cheaper to do used.

[Thalia the Muse]

Wow, that's a new one on me! I don't suppose it would help him to hear that germs are highly, highly unlikely to survive long on dry paper? How's he going to feel when they go to school and use shared textbooks? (Assuming you plan on schooling -- and if not, I can't imagine HOW much homeschooling would cost if you couldn't use the library and had to limit yourself to buying new books ...)

Life without the library and the used book store would be unlivable for me!

[anomaly13]

Well we already do have lots of used books, most of them infact (once a month the library has a huge sale of all kinds of books for pennies). And used clothes too. I think maybe he was just grossed out at the thought of dirty, germy, books from the doctor's where kids are "always" sick, though not ours. I will have to bring that germs can't survive as pp said and the fact that we already have them as well as the fact that we can afford them. Just had to make sure I wasn't the only one who didn't have a problem with giving the kids used books

[Thalia the Muse]

Oh, he just objected to the doctor's office ones? I can see how that would make you a little squirmy if you thought about it too much.

[ollyoxenfree]

We have lots of used books here.

If he's really worried about germs, you might try to wrap the book and place it in the freezer for a week or so.

I wouldn't advise this for a collector's item (e.g. first edition), but for a kid's book that you don't intend to keep forever, it would be fine.

[crl]

We love the library and have no problem with used books. If it is just the doctor's office ones, what about speading them out in the sun? Doesn't that kill most germs? (Plus, as someone already pointed out dry paper isn't a very good environment for germs anyway.)

Catherine

[umsami]

Last Christmas, a friend of my Mom's got us a huge box of children's books from the school library where she works (they had a book sale). What a treat! There was stuff from the 50s through 80s... and tons of classics.

We just sprayed them with Lysol and called it a day.

Best. Gift. Ever. We have had hundreds of hours of enjoyment from them... and she told my Mom she got the whole lot (probably 30 books) for $10.00.


On a side note, a classmate of one of my kids is in an isolation ward after a bone marrow transplant. Her Dad told us that one of the things she could easily have was stuff made out of paper because germs didn't tend to live on it.

[betterparent]

other people read/touch books in a book store too!

[A&A]

I worry about bedbugs in used (and library) books, because they can live in books.

[MorgnsGrl]

The only time I've ever cleaned a book was by erasing pencil marks or wiping off a shiny cover that had fingerprints on it, and I've probably handled thousands, if not tens of thousands, of used books in my lifetime.

Your DH would be more reasonable to suggest avoiding well-child visits at the doctor's office than to suggest a ban on used books, if it's germs and illness he's worried about.

As far as I'm concerned, the only thing better than a cheaply purchased used book is a free used book!

[alaskaberry]

We love used books at our house. As long as there's no mold, mildew, etc, they're good to go.

[FreeRangeMama]

Dh works at a library and he often gets a stack of discards. Often they are donations to the library that they cannot use for whatever reason. I feel very fortunate because I love used books. I love thinking about all the children who have had those same stories read to them at bedtime through the years as I snuggle in with my kids to read them their bedtime stories. I love when they have little notes written in the cover like, "to Sally, happy 5th birthday. 1968" or whatever. We will sometimes imagine who "Sally" is and what her life was like. Or make up a story of how the book came to us, where it has lived, who read it before we did. It is so fun to hear what the kids come up with! It is one of my favourite things at book time!

I also love used books (or anything used really) because I love the the item has had a life of its own before we came along. I love that we can pass it on when we don't need it anymore. That we are only part of its story. And of course the environmental aspect is a great thing too. Nothing wasted. I can't imagine NOT having used books. They have so much value

[mamadelbosque]

If we didnt do used/library books we wouldn't have books... I'm constatly getting new books from the goodwill - there kid books are just 10 cents which makes them highly affordable We're building up quite a collection of little critter & berenstein bear books thanks to them

[elisent]

I can see how doctor's office books might worry someone, but I don't worry about used books in general. I'm a huge bookworm and so are my kids so if we bought them all new we'd go bankrupt. As a teen I would easily read a paperback or two a day (homeschooled, so plenty of time to do that.)

I think the only times I think twice about used books is when I remember watching a large cockroach crawl out from between the pages of my cousin's closed Bible in Sunday school. She had a huge problem with them at her house and I guess one had been hiding in there.

[sapphire_chan]

Unless there was a separate waiting room for sick and well kids, I wouldn't get the books that had been sitting in the waiting room.

That said, they're probably fine. Pop them in the freezer overnight so they stop squicking your dh out and move on with life.

[east carolina]

I wouldn't feel worried about taking a book from a doctor's waiting room, even if it was the waiting room for sick kids. Okay, I'm no scientist, but I think that it's not very common to get a disease from handling a book touched by a sick person. There is no guarantee that a new book in a bookstore hasn't been touched by dirty hands either. I guess unless the book is obviously gross looking, I don't see books as cesspools of germs. I read magazines in waiting rooms and I've never thought of that as a health hazard.

Plus, we read books at home when we're sick. Used library books simply don't skeeve me out.

[Mama Shifra]

I just started volunteering in a children's hospital, and the librarian there told me that while they clean book covers that are loaned out, they do not clean the pages as "germs don't live very long on paper."