Reading to babies and children has a wealth of benefits that go beyond just learning new words. For example, it strengthens parent-child bonding, stimulates cognitive development, and fosters a love for reading early on. According to experts, children who are exposed to books early in life tend to develop better listening skills, enhanced concentration, and stronger comprehension abilities. Even just a few minutes of daily reading can make a huge difference in a child’s development.
I was never much of a reader as a child. In fact, I wasn’t the kind of student who’d diligently study the school syllabus or read extra books to cover the topics. To be honest, the schools in my area didn’t even have a library back then. It wasn’t until junior college that I was introduced to a world of books, and that’s when my interest in reading started to grow.
Even then, I wasn’t a strong reader in college, and to be fair, I still don’t consider myself one. But this isn’t something I want my children to inherit from me. I want both of my kids to become book lovers, and to make that happen, I knew I had to take the first step. So, I started investing in books.
“When you open a book, you open a new world”
— this resonates with me deeply, and I want my children to experience this magic too.
When my firstborn was around 4 months old, I bought him a touch-and-feel book along with a few other board books. We would read them together from time to time. When he turned 2, I got him a set of 20 books, a mix of storybooks and early learning books. And that’s how I slowly kept adding more to our collection. Now, I read to them almost every night.
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A few months back, I discovered some amazing preloved children’s book dealers and ended up shopping from two of them—one on WhatsApp and the other on Facebook. The stores are called Kiddopia and The Little Books Truck.
“Children are made readers on the laps of their parents”
— another beautiful quote that inspires me to read to my kids as much as I can.
About Kiddopia:
I came across Kiddopia on WhatsApp. Just as I joined their group, they had this massive clearance sale, where I snagged books for as low as ₹35! Isn’t that amazing? And as a cherry on top, I got 3 free books with my purchase.
Recently, they’ve also started selling toys, but I’m more focused on their wonderful collection of preloved children’s books.
Little Books Truck:
Little Books Truck is a Facebook group that sells children’s preloved books at really reasonable prices. Most of the books in our collection have come from them. They upload new books every day, each post accompanied by a lovely quote about reading.
Shop from Little Books Truck here
My experience with these vendors:
So far, my experience shopping from both vendors has been great. They allow you to keep your cart open for a while so you can add more books and have them all shipped together, which helps save on shipping costs.
The only downside I’ve noticed is that they don’t ship the very next day—they have specific shipping days. But honestly, this is something I can easily overlook given the great quality preloved children’s books at such affordable prices.
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Both vendors ensure the books are packed securely, and I’ve never received a damaged one in transit. Plus, they’re both women-owned businesses, which makes me even more excited to support and share them with others.
So, that’s where I buy good-condition preloved books for my kids, aside from some Facebook groups where moms sell their children’s books.
Now, tell me, do you read to your kids? Where do you usually get their books from? What’s your go-to place for children’s preloved books?
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