11 Clever Ways to Display and Store Children’s Books

I think the plate rack idea sounds brilliant for magazines, and even a lot of cookbooks (which can also be slim).

But was there a mistake at the start of section 1? Didn't you mean 'talking about books on Houzz can be tricky, because designers and decorators see books simply as items with which to decorate, and object to organising them in ways which makes them easy to find, use and love'? Glad to see that all of the ways illustrated in this article follow a bibliophile's tendency - making books easy to appreciate in themselves - rather than as background to an aesthetic vision . . .

I love those bunk bed stairs! great use of space

Another popular book rail idea I saw on a homeschooling site is to install lengths of vinyl guttering on the walls of kids' rooms. There are so many ways to display books, but the basic idea is to arrange them with the covers visible because kids are more likely to be interested in them and choose them to read that way, as opposed to having to pull them off traditional bookshelves where only the spines are showing.

For the past 16 years our family's literature-based homeschooling lifestyle has been centered around reading good books together. I still read aloud to my now-17-year-old daughter. If I don't, she misses the snuggling on the couch and the joy of sharing a good book together. Reading together has been a huge part of the precious relationship we've shared since she was little. We will both graduate this year from homeschooling in June, but her love of good literature (including the critical skills to discern good from not-so-good literature!) is a foundation stone in her life. She writes poetry and novels of her own now, and journals every single day -- hasn't missed a day in something like 6 years, she tells me.

I can't stress enough how important it is that parents read to their children! A child who grows up with poor reading skills is pretty helpless as an adult in this world.

Thank you Becky for these ideas. Your story about memorizing your favorite books reminded me of my oldest, who will be 30 in March. He pretty much taught himself to read when he was 3. It started with recognizing store logos and exit signs, then one day he sat down with a book and was just determined to learn to read it. By the time he was 4, he could read just about anything. Spooked out one of his preschool teachers, who had never dealt with a young child who could read like he could. I'll never forget standing in the checkout line at the grocery store with him at age 4 and realizing the "National Enquirer" was right at his eye level. On the cover was a doctored-up photo and the caption read, "Woman Gives Birth to Amazing Fish Boy!" All I could think was, "How will I EVER explain this to him?!" LOL!