Bargain Books for Holiday Shopping (or for You)

So with a million things to do last night, I turned to an old time-waster — hunting for bargain books at Amazon. You can browse — and buy — for hours. How so? From the Amazon Books department, choose the tab at the right that says Bargain Books. Then in the Browse Bargain Books list to the left, select Children’s Books (or whatever you want, I suppose). You’ll get an amazing amount of stuff that also includes anything from resellers. I’ve found that you can eliminate most of these by selecting — in the left-hand column — Shipping Option: Free Super Saver Option. Now you can browse by bestselling, publication date, or cost until you get sick of it. Or you can further narrow your search by choosing age range, price, rating, and subject.

Or you can skip the whole thing and rely on some of my suggestions of books I’ve heard good things about or have enjoyed myself. Buy quickly though, because they don’t always stay on discount for long. They aren’t always closeouts, because often the books will come back to the listings later at full price. I don’t know what that’s about, but I’ve seen it happen often enough.

• The Lump of Coal, by Lemony Snicket, $5.20
  If you buy one thing from this list, make it this hilarious take on Christmas. Not to be missed — especially at this price.


• We Belong Together: A Book About Adoption and Families, by Todd Parr, $6.40
  A nice, bright picture book featuring a diverse collection of families along with sweet words about adopting.


• Move! by Steve Jenkins, $4.18
  Amazing illustrations by Steve Jenkins (duh) are the centerpiece of this picture book about how different animals move.


• Stella, Queen of the Snow, by Marie-Louise Gay, $4.08
  Funny and sweet at the same time, this is my go-to book for winter storytimes.


• Edwina, the Dinosaur Who Didn’t Know She Was Extinct, by Mo Willems, $6.80
  It’s a Mo book. Need I say more?


• South, by Patrick McDonnell, $3.50
  A wordless story of a dog that helps a bird find its way back South. I gave it as a present one year as a token to a teacher, an amazing guiding force.


• Alvin Ho: Allergic to Girls, School, and Other Scary Things, by Lenore Look, $6.40
  An early middle grade book that isn’t short on fun or meaning.


• The Talented Clementine, by Sara Pennypacker, $5.24
  Ditto for Clementine.


• Do You Doodle? or Beautiful Doodles: Over 100 Pictures to Complete and Create, $5.18
  I haven’t seen these personally, but after the look inside I bought two for my daughters.


• Frankenstein Takes the Cake, by Adam Rex, $6.40
  Funny poetry, monster-style with brilliant illustrations.


• First Light, by Rebecca Stead, $6.40
  I may have missed out on raving about When You Reach Me, but I was there at the beginning for her first wonderful book.


• Percy Jackson and the Olympians PB Boxed Set (Books 1-3), by Rick Riordan, $11.69
  Why not buy the boxed set and include...


• Heroes and Monsters of Greek Myth, $2.03
  I bought this too, hoping for more back story on all those monsters.


• Treasure Island (Kingfisher Classics), by Robert Louis Stevenson, $2.80
  I don’t know if this is the best edition of this classic, but under $3 made it worth a purchase for me.


• An Inconvenient Truth: The Crisis of Global Warming (adapted), by Al Gore, $4.41
  This is the version adapted for youth, with all the photos and charts and less of the gab.


• Faeries of Dreamdark: Blackbringer, by Laini Taylor, $7.20
  Another book of the we-knew-her-when from possible National Book Award nominee for Lips Touch. Fairy-licious.


• A Great and Terrible Beauty, by Libba Bray, $6.80
  Okay, I haven’t read it — yet. But I will when it comes in my order.


• Street Gang: The Complete History of Sesame Street, by Michael Davis, $11.18
  With the hype on Sesame Street turning forty, this seems like the perfect book to read now.

I’ve also updated my links in 105 Ways to Give a Book, for those of you ready to start your holiday shopping. The list includes books along with toy or other gift suggestions to go with the titles. I’ll be reposting them soon — along with a new list or two for 2009.

Links to material on Amazon.com contained within this post may be affiliate links for the Amazon Associates program, for which this site may receive a referral fee.