Re-stocking a teens bookshelf cheaply

Mr_Toad

I'd start with the local market.

There's an excellent bookstall on the one near near me and he has a wonderfully simple pricing policy.

If you can bend it then it's 50p, if you can't it's £1

lostinrates

bluenoseam wrote: »

Time for the typical techie scumbag to come in - why not try to pick up an e-reader, you can pick up thousands of free books for them almost at will! But if you're dedicated to the printed word try places like Gumtree as well.

I'd like to caveat this with the caution that a lot of free books will do little to improve his standard of reading/attention to detail or appreciation of literature. But many classics are available for free on line and you don't even need a e reader, I used to read them on my laptop.

One of the nice things about the suggestion above of borrowing from friends/family is that when the books are returned it gives opportunity to discuss them.....incorporating the appreciation into life, and also to get from those who have read them suggestions of what they liked.

Deanied

Put a post on freecyle.

deva

Do you have a local http://www.book-cycle.org ?

Completely free, no registering and a positive community presence.

At our local one you can take three books each day and donate money, time or books in return.

barbarawright

Most libraries will have books for sale

good_advice

Hi, I would invest in a kindle and download free books from - Daily free books web page.

pukkamum

We use this site http://www.greenmetropolis.com/ all paperbacks are £3.75 and you can sell books too, my younger son sells his on there and uses the money to buy more so almost like a free service.

pixo

Charity shops!

I only borrow from librarys now.. to much clutter in my house to add books into the mix... but when I did buy books, I never brought one new. There are plenty of charity bookshops out there but regular charity shops have plenty of books in too.

skylight

http://www5.scholastic.co.uk/static/warehouse/

The have online sales several times a year and everything is £1. Next sale is 31st March.

BitterAndTwisted

He doesn't need "plenty of books to hand". He needs only one at a time. I would have thought that if his needs were explained to the school librarian they could suggest good books for him to borrow. Ditto for the public library.

I honestly think that for someone who doesn't have the greatest powers of concentration a shelf full of unread books might not be the best strategy as it could be too distracting. Dip in, don't like it, dip out after having read the first three paragraphs and then move to the next one, and then the next one. A book-club where they all read the same one and then get discussing it together could be more valuable.