There are many places and events where you can buy cheap books, or even pick up free ones, in the Bay Area. To name a couple, Half Price Books has a booth at the Bay Area Book Festival in Berkeley that gives out free children's books. My family also loves to spend hours walking every aisle at the Big Book Sale in San Francisco's Fort Mason, hosted by Friends of San Francisco Public Library. For me, these venues are my kind of candy stores. I will be sure to write a post in the future listing all of the venues, but since most events have been cancelled due to the pandemic, I am on the hunt to find more online outlets that offer children's books at a discounted price.
I first saw The Book Bundler advertisement on my Instagram page and started casually browsing their website for a few months before I placed my first order with them. As much as I love getting new books, I'm more excited to buy used books at a bargain price!
The Book Bundler offers used books that are graded by condition - PREMIUM Used and BEATER grade. PREMIUM Used are books that are clean and may contain a previous owner's name or inscription on the inside. BEATER products are ex-library and books with noticeable use and wear that sells at steeper discounts. While new releases are not available, you'll often find older books and even rare collectibles.
I ordered 2 bundles, which came with 17 books (8 or 9 books are included in each bundle), spending a total of $55 with a promotion code that gave me free shipping (otherwise shipping to the West Coast would have cost me $7.50). I received exactly what was posted for the 2 bundles. Note, If you purchase mixed bundle boxes, book titles will be randomly selected to fill your box.
MOMMY? with paper engineering created by Matthew Reinhart, was the book that interested me the most when I first saw the bundle. Although some of the pop-ups pages were broken in a few of the books (very minor), they were easily restorable. Most of the books were in very good condition. The MOMMY? book, I would even say, was in brand new condition.
Fina, my 6 year old, was most excited about the Happy Home with paper engineered by Corina Fletcher. This book opens up into a carousel book with 4 different scenes. It is a simple rhyming story with colorful illustrations, and interactive tabs with pulls and wheels. It has become one of Fina's favorite bedtime stories. There is a slight tear at the first page, but overall, I would still rate this copy as excellent.
Another fun book Fina likes is the Monkey Pop-Ups (A Book of Colors). This is a simple story about a monkey looking for a birthday present for his friend turtle. This book is also in perfect condition.
The Troll Monster Pop-Up Book, is a fun monster story, published in 1989 (most likely no longer produced), but still a fun book to read.
There were also a few books from A. A. Milne and Beatrix Potter. These are old short story books that have simple cut outs.
Two classic Disney carousel books, The Lion King Simba's Journey and Pocahontas Play-Along, were included.
And lastly, here are the six other books from the bundles, which were two different copies of The Wizard of Oz, two about animals and two about shapes/colors and the alphabet.
We were pleasantly surprised by the quality of the books from The Book Bundler, and will definitely purchase books again from them in the future. Leave us a comment if you found this useful, thank you for reading, and happy book shopping!
Thank you for the review! I wish I had known about this when my children were young. This is perfect for my mother, an avid reader who is homebound and elderly. I usually go to second hand book stores and stock up for her, but she lives 300 miles away and this is a perfect way to continue keeping her supplied with books.