Book Storage

Awhile back, I posted about a great book called "The Read-Aloud Handbook" by Jim Trelease. In the book, he recommends that books be stored with the cover facing out, b/c they are more appealing to kids that way. The old-school, library way of storing them on shelves with the spines facing out does not draw kids to the books b/c they cannot see the picture on the front.

One of the suggestions he gives is to use rain gutter. It sounds odd, but hear me out. For a teacher, the space under the chalkboard is usually a waste. But put a strip of rain gutter there, and its an instant book shelf.

We decided to use rain gutter for storage in Andrew's room. There are many fancy book holders out there, but they are large bulky pieces of furniture and cost a lot sometimes. I was really pleased with how the rain gutter works, and Andrew loves putting his books away. Plus, I think it cost us less than $10. Awesome!


5 comments:

That is a great idea. When we redo Katherine's big girl room we are going to need some storage solutions and we may just steal this idea. How did you attach it to the wall? I bet you could also paint it to match a room if you wanted.

Sunday, 20 January, 2008  

I LOVE IT! Book storage is a problem here. Maybe not anymore...

Sunday, 20 January, 2008  

that IS a great idea! i could think of lots of storage options for a rain gutter....

Monday, 21 January, 2008  

loooove it...we just put darren in a big bed...i put his books in the nighstand where you can only see the binding. love your idea. will be calling you to get more details!!! thanks for sharing.

Tuesday, 22 January, 2008  

Wow - you're brilliant! Love it!

Friday, 25 January, 2008  

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