Getting too attached to library books?

[curiouscanadian]

What do you do when you get books from the library and your toddler gets totally hooked on them. You know, the whole read it again for the hundreth time tonight thing...

Do you end up buying a copy of the book anyway? If not, how do you deal with the fall-out when they ask for the book but it's gone back to the library??

I got the brilliant idea to borrow a few books that were on the "toddler's favorite books" thread and, well, they were a bigger hit than I'd anticipated. While I love books, I don't want to buy all the books we borrow from the library! Help me figure my way out of this!

[stik]

I'm a sucker for a kid who loves a book - if they love it that much, I buy a copy. I try to get them used.

But a lot of the time, I just renew the thing 9 or 10 times and return it when they find a different book to fall in love with. If they ask about it later, I tell them it was a library book and it had to go back, but we can keep an eye out for it and try to check it out again.

[rabbitmum]

I renew it as many times as possible, then take it back to the library and check it out again, or, if it has been reserved for somebody else, I put us on the waiting list for it (again). If we have to wait to get a favourite book back, I tell my son that somebody else is borrowing it at the moment, but we will get it back when they deliver it back to the library.

[PhotoJournMama]

We have always gotten books out of the library, as well as having a large number at home, so my DS has always known that there are certain ones that are library books and those ones have to go back. When we bring them back we get to find more to love! Have you tried to bring them back and explaining that you were just borrowing them? DS has never had a problem with it, even for the books that he loooooved. I have bought a few that we enjoyed, but nowhere close to all of them (it's a good way to try on books that you are thinking of for gifts )

[mamazee]

If one of my kids loves a book that much, I buy a copy for us to keep at home.

[elleystar]

It's generally an out of sight, out of mind thing here. There have been a number of books we have borrowed that he's gone crazy over and we've read a zillion times a day for three weeks straight. I don't renew them, they just get returned back to the library. Sometimes I can tell he's looking for one but I just tell him briefly that they belong to the library and we were just borrowing them, but can get them again another time. He always accepts the answer and happily moves on. There have been times I've worried about a potential fallout, but it has never happened yet!
I have bought one book that was dearly beloved and checked out several times, and would definitely do it again. I like to cruise abebooks.com for really inexpensive used copies, especially out of print stuff.

[kittykat2481]

Originally Posted by stik

I'm a sucker for a kid who loves a book - if they love it that much, I buy a copy. I try to get them used.

What she said.

[Boot]

Usually, with my son, the craze only lasts for a few weeks so I renew it the maximum amount of times (twice) and then take it back. Luckily, there is an automated slot that the kids love to 'feed' the books into, so this is good distraction. He has asked to get a certain book out again and then I will find it for him. Having said all that, I would definitely buy it for him if it seemed like he was going to be attached to it for a long time. That hasn't happened yet though.

[K-Mom3]

I let them check it out several times if they want to. But I do try to notice the favorite books and make a list of them. When my kids love a book I ask if it should go on the list. Then I look out for them in bookorders or add them to my Amazon wish list. When my kids have Christmas or birthday money, I ask them if they want to use their money to buy their favorite book from their list.

[JudiAU]

Depends. If I think it is a quality book I will almost always buy it. I am a huge sucker for book buying. If I don't want to spend money at that point we just check it out againa dn again. But generally, I just buy them.

(And I sneak the books back to the library when the kids aren't looking).