Where do I find childrens books in bulk?

February 19, 2009 5:25 AM

I am the bookmobile librarian for a small rural system in WNC. In April I will be participating in a festival for children and would like to give them each a book.

Does anyone know of a source for childrens books that I can buy in bulk for around $1- each?

posted by haikuku to Shopping (10 answers total)

Best answer: Do you know about RIF? Their coordinator's page has a vendor liquidating books at $1 per book.
posted by cosmicbandito at 5:28 AM on February 19, 2009

If anyone you know will be in the Shenandoah Valley region of Virginia during the last two weeks in March, they can check out the Green Valley Book Fair, which has warehouses full of books for sale cheaply. They have whole building devoted to children's books and usually have many copies of each title if you want to focus on a few titles rather than give everyone a different book. Since they are dealing with closeouts, overruns, and so forth there aren't a lot of "classic" children's books, but there are plenty of good ones.
posted by TedW at 5:54 AM on February 19, 2009

Goodwill is selling books by the pound again. The article says many stores across the country are participating, so maybe check your local store.
posted by Otis at 6:05 AM on February 19, 2009

First Book has been around for about 15 years collecting books and distributing to communities. They work through national partnerships and local networks to get books directly into the hands of kids. Their website has a Recipient registration section. Thank you for doing this important work!
posted by njbradburn at 6:05 AM on February 19, 2009

Bookmooch has a charity feature in which libraries can sign up and recieve donated points to get books for free. If you decide to sign up, mefi mail me and I'll donate some points to you.
posted by kimdog at 6:54 AM on February 19, 2009

Dolly Parton's Imagination Library might be just the right program for you. Earlier this week Dolly was awarded an honorary doctorate in arts & letters from the University of Tennessee, largely as a result of her work with this program.
posted by workerant at 9:17 AM on February 19, 2009

Have You tried other libraries for info? I am a network tech in al ibrary here in NY and the other libraries here are usually for helpfull to other libraries/

I bet you will have more luck asking any other libraries in your area.
posted by majortom1981 at 9:36 AM on February 19, 2009

Try Dover Press - a great source for beautiful reprints of older, more costly editions, as well as very inexpensive classics.
posted by Lynsey at 10:45 AM on February 19, 2009

2nding First Book. You probably wouldn't be able to get it setup for this round...but, if the demographic that you are serving is poor you can get free books from First Book. I worked in Central Oregon when the First Book "lab" was getting set up there.
posted by fieldtrip at 7:11 PM on February 19, 2009

Better make sure all the copyrights are pre-1985, otherwise you will be committing a felony.

http://overlawyered.com/2009/02/cpsia-and-vintage-books/
posted by daisydaisy at 1:49 AM on February 20, 2009