How to organize our bookshelf?

[Katigre]

I need a way to organize DS's books so that they are easily accessible for reading.

Right now he has a wonderful book collection, but they are packed tightly together and I think there are too many in one place for him to easily browse through and read.

I saw someone mention a Montessori approach to books and I'm really open to anything.

[BarefootBetsy]

I set all the children's books upright (with the titles facing forward on top) in milk crates that fit on the bookshelves. That way my girls can pull out the crate and flip through the books easily. It also makes it very simple to swap books in and out since we have about 4 crates full (probably should get a 5th actually - rummage sales have been my friend :shifty) and I only keep two out at a time.


The crates get disorganized pretty quickly, but not nearly as quickly (or as badly) as shelves did when I kept them that way! I prefer this method also because I'm a bit of a visual perfectionist and the different sizes of children's books drive me nuts on the shelf the regular way... with the crates they're more hidden and it doesn't bother me so much. AND you can always get more crates whenever needed and just swap out like I do when space is an issue :)

[thrillofhope]

I can't remember where I saw this. I think it was on Passionate Homemaking (pretty sure). Anyway, they hung gutters on the wall at child level so that the books could be propped in them face out with titles showing (like those expensive bookshelves in schools/libraries). We're going to try that when DD gets older.

[anotherone]

We're planning on doing the same thing as DM when our kids are older. I still have a pic on my PC, saved from when I saw the idea the first time.