Do you have a love of children’s literature, but have no idea where to begin with a system for organizing said children’s books? That was me at one point, too. As a former elementary educator, mother of three, and reading enthusiast I have a very difficult time ever saying ‘no’ to new books. While this is usually a good thing, there are times when the book clutter gets overwhelming within our home. When the adults are overwhelmed with book clutter, there is a very high likelihood that the children are, too. When books are easily accessible and visible, the act of picking up a book to read comes naturally.

In this blog I will share three simple tips for keeping your books organized and accessible. While this is geared towards children’s books, many of the principles can be applied to young adult and adult books as well.

This post contains Amazon Affiliate links, which means I make a small commission for books purchased through the links shared below.

Sort by Season

You know all of those adorable holiday children’s books sprinkled in with your favorite bedtime stories? Pull them off the book shelf they are currently on and get ready to sort and store them away for the appropriate season. Developing a storage system that works in your home will allow you to not only keep track of those treasured holiday books, but it also keeps your littlest readers interested and excited about reading! There are few things more magical than seeing their eyes light up with excitement as you pull out books they haven’t seen in almost a year. They will be busy flipping the pages, narrating the stories, or even reading the words themselves while you can sit back and revel in the magic of the moment.

Organize children’s books by season within your home by first identifying a system that works for your space and book needs. There are so many ways to approach this. I use a large latching tote and keep the whole year within it, organized by the seasons of the year. I don’t have any fancy dividers or anything, I just keep the books grouped together by season and/or holiday in the order they come throughout the year. This tote sits on a shelf in our storage room. You could designate a special shelf in an available closet or perhaps you decide to store the books with the home decor you own for each season. Whatever method you feel works for you, try it out and if it doesn’t work, try another option!

Rotate Books

Similar to organizing the children’s books by season, you can also rotate the books to keep your readers interested and to avoid burnout from reading the same book over and over again…we all know that one book. One simple way to get started is to move books to different locations in your home. Think about where you read the most, flip those books with books from another room that maybe don’t get read quite as much. This approach doesn’t involve storing books away, but instead changing how they are presented within your spaces. Maybe you have space to keep a bin on a shelf or in a closet that stores ‘extra’ books you can rotate in, just be sure to pull books out whenever you add a book to avoid getting overwhelmed with book clutter! Oh, and that one book that you loathe reading at bedtime because it is SO long, you have my permission to move it to a different room or retire it to the closet for a while.

Display Books 

Build book displays into your decor and sprinkle the books throughout your home. Reading doesn’t just need to happen at bedtime, it can happen anytime and anywhere throughout the day. Place a basket with seasonal books on the floor next to the fire place or next to a couch or comfy chair on a table. In your child’s bedroom you could place a cute bin or basket next to a chair or their bed. There are many display shelves are also a great option if you have the space. Keeping books contained within a system helps protect the books, makes them easy to access and promote reading, and also helps maintain organization. If you can display your children’s books with the covers facing out, that promotes early readers to lean into their interests and curiosity when they likely cannot read the titles. There are many shelving systems that promote this type of book organization, this one is on my wishlist.

Places you might display books that you didn’t think of:

• Back of seats in the car so kids can access them when driving. In our family each child has 2-3 books in the vehicle at all times. 
• Dining room or kitchen area. Reading to your kids while they snack or eat lunch can be a great way to keep everyone seated at the table while enjoying their food.
• Potty training? Keep a book or two in the bathroom! Maybe they are bathtub books like these for easy sanitizing.
• Diaper bag…because you never know when you will have a few minutes to fill! Rather than pulling out a phone, open up a book.

Check out 12 children’s books to promote agriculture literacy in our earliest learners HERE.

Are you looking for some fresh book ideas? Check out my entire Amazon List of recommend reads for children ages birth-middle school HERE.

In summary:

1. Sort and store by season and/or holiday.
2. Rotate books throughout your home. Have a designated location to store ‘extra’ books.
3. Display books around your home in a variety of locations with fun baskets, bins, and shelves!

Happy Reading!

Emily