I already had plans for a larger bookcase in my nursery, and didn’t want to take up more valuable floorspace, so I opted for floating shelves. Mine are hung up with command strips, so I didn’t even have to nail into the wall to install them.
Picture book shelves allow space for children to see the illustrations on whatever books you’re choosing to highlight at the moment, which will hopefully help the books grab your baby’s interest and make them easier to pick out for story time.
There are also tons of ideas for displays based around themes, like holidays, seasons, and events (like first days of school)! I plan on decorating and changing out my shelves based on the time of year, as someone who still loves to base my reading list on whatever season (of the year or of life) I’m currently celebrating.
Of course, even with picture book shelves, you’ll still want a place to store the books that aren’t currently being displayed. A popular item in a very small child’s nursery is cube storage, because they tend to be low to the ground and can be used for both toys and books.
Three-shelf bookcases are also a great option for children’s rooms—so long as they’re deep enough for picture books, which can be much wider than adult books!—as they’re a good height for children but also provide a lot of storage space.
Currently, I’m using a 4-cube organizer as well as a tall bookcase that we already owned (because I already have a large collection of children’s books and we’re still trying to figure out how we’re going to reorganize the rest of the books in our house). If you’re using a tall bookcase too, just remember to put books for a child’s current age and interest where they can easily reach them, so they can explore their library without your help—or climbing!
Collecting Books
Now that we’ve figured out where our books are going to go, it’s time to discuss what type of books we’re going to fill those places with. While I firmly believe anyone can enjoy any book, when building a library for a little one, picking a book for “the right age” takes more than just considering their reading comprehension level into account.
An Important Note
While talking about books to collect for little ones, I think one very important thing to note at the beginning, is that the people reading the books to the little ones need to also enjoy the books! If you hate Dr. Seuss—even if his books are cherished classic—don’t add those books to the library!
Adding books that will be a chore to read to you will make reading feel like a chore to a child too, and one of the most important tasks at this age is teaching children that books are fun and enjoyable—which is easiest done when you are having fun and enjoying the book yourself.
Sure, you may not like any book after reading it by request for the hundredth night in a row, but at least make sure you’ll like those first ten nights.
Board Books (Years 0-3)