12.11.2007

Buying books online just got better with Lookybook

This weekend I took my kids to the bookstore for lack of something more creative to do. I love books, and we buy a lot of books. I love bookstores, but I love Amazon more. I love getting books at a significantly lower cost. What can I say, I'm a bargain hunter. So, I admit it, we go, browse at the bookstore, take notes and then go home and order online.

It was an unusually dreary day and my kids were being unusually well behaved at the bookstore. They sat down in the aisle and just read for close to 30 minutes. Why they can’t do this at the library, I will never know. So I sat on the floor next to them and read children’s book. I make it a general rule to not buy books for myself or as a gift unless I’ve read it myself. This makes buying online difficult. Have you seen the crap out there these days that kids are reading?

As I was sitting there, I watched the kids come down the aisle and the moms, grandma and aunts looking for books for children. Here I was sitting in front of great children literature such as Curious George, Olivia, Where the Wild Things Are, Little Red Riding Hood, Goodnight Moon, Eloise, Caps for Sale, but not one, not two, but every person who came down that aisle was looking for something like Shrek, My Little Pony, Dora, Buzz Lightyear, Disney Princesses, etc. Why on Earth when there are so many fabulous books out there are our children reading books about movies or characters?

Which brings me to my point, a fellow blogger from BabyCenter pointed me to a site where you can actually read the books before you buy. It’s called Lookybook. It’s still in beta so I’m sure there are some kinks to work out, but in general you can look at the entire book and read it before you decide to buy. What a fabulous idea for those of us who want to make sure our money is going for good books. Looks like I may be able to save myself a trip to the bookstore and just go from Lookybook directly to Amazon.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I am the mother three children who were born in three years and one month. Mine are all 18 mos apart from eachother. I read that yours are 16 mos apart, go you! Everyone thought we were crazy. I wanted them close. This is the first time in all my 4.5 years of mothering that I don't have an infant AND a 20 month old. It is a little weird. You can find me and our stories at http://fromtalbotstotarget.blogspot.com

kim said...

I get so frustrated by the commercialism of the kids' book section too. (Yes, I inwardly cringe when my daughter is even given a Disney book... especially that Princess stuff!) Thankfully, my folks saved many of my childhood books and we've added them to our rotation. Can't wait to check out the site!