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In Justine Larbalestier’s book How to Ditch Your Fairy almost everyone who lives in the fictional city of New Avalon has their own personal fairy. Charlie the main character has a parking fairy that she is trying to ditch, hence the title. Meanwhile Charlie’s best friend Rochelle has a clothes shopping fairy who miraculously makes Rochelle always find clothes that fit, look great on her and are marked down – of course.

Justine’s fantastic young adult novel rings true to me. I have an aunt who most certainly has a parking fairy because wherever the destination she can always find a spot to park right outside or pretty close. She has had that knack for as long as I can remember. I also know friends who I know must have shopping fairies and more accurately thrifting fairies. Some of my friends can go to an op shop and find the most amazing things – designer clothes, jewellery and the cutest and coolest of things. I don’t generally have that fairy, actually really rarely do I have that fairy, except for one lucky day recently at an op shop in Newport….

I found, in pristine condition, four gorgeous little Tell-a-Tale books. Here are some photos of Little Red Hen, Jim Jump, Chicken Little and Little Bear and the Beautiful Kite…

The colours in the illustrations are not done justice by these photos.

Jim Jump is my favourite as it’s about a silly foal who jumps over all the animals in the farmyard, annoying them no end. One day the other animals dare him to jump a stream and he falls in. Not deterred he just decides to try it again.

Book Affair in Carlton has moved, not very far, just to the other side of Elgin Street. It’s a fantastic new shop over three levels and the children’s books are in a little nook below the stairs in the basement.

There was still a lot of children’s books to unpack when I went in but I did find one gem that I love. It is a shaped board book called The Wonderful Colourful Butterfly. I can’t tell you much about the author, Gottfried Herold or the illustrator Hajo Blank because the little info I have found is in German.

The book is shaped like a butterfly and I can’t help but laugh everytime I open the book. Each page is a different butterfly illustrated comically, each with a human like face and the best expressions. My favorite is The Blue, pictured below.

The author writes some text on the back of the book about a butterfly’s life cycle from caterpillar, to cocoon, to flying around the garden.

There is a little bit lost in the translation from German to English I think.  The last paragraph is very cute…

‘Without butterflies, we would probably be the poorer, for it’s beauty is no more than a gentle breath.

Beauty, however, makes the world a little warmer, more liveable and miraculous.’

Further to our first Borrowed and Thrifted post last week, I thought I would share some of my methods for buying secondhand books…

I do not consider myself an expert on thrifting books online - by any stretch - but reading blogs like Vintage Kids’ Books My Kid Loves provides so much inspiration for finding vintage or out-of-print books. My experience has been that there are only so many titles I can keep in my head (or on a list) for next time I’m at a secondhand bookshop or sale. So these are some ways I’ve been using to make the most of the internet to find secondhand books, instead of relying on my brain cells…

1) Using Ebay for buying secondhand books

If I know a book is out of print or hard to find, I do a quick search on Ebay. Usually the book will not currently be available, but I use my original keyword search to set up a saved search. You can do this for a particular title or for an author. I use the email facility so that Ebay sends me an email when a book I’m looking for comes up for auction. I’ve found some great picture books via Ebay, and recently I’ve picked up a few for 99 cents - one was even signed by the author! My saved search was the reason I found these books and became the only bidder.

Fairly obviously for regular users of Ebay, once you find a book you want to purchase, you can also view the seller’s other items. Often sellers of children’s books - whether they are doing a home clean-out or operating on a bigger scale - have multiple picture books, so it’s worth having a look at their other books and potentially ’save’ some money with combined shipping.

2) Australian online secondhand book sites

I also use Books and Collectibles, which is an Australian-based online secondhand bookstore. From what I can tell, their database includes numerous vendors, so by searching their site, you are searching the databases of many stores at once. Compared to some other online secondhand bookstores, the books here generally seem to be reasonably priced.

I have just discovered that you can click on ‘Add Your Wants‘ on this site, and you will then be emailed if the book you are searching becomes available at one of the vendors.

There is a secondhand bookstore specialising in children’s books here in Melbourne called Nanny’s Web, and I have found some lovely books there.

3) International sites for sourcing secondhand books online

I have also used are Abebooks, which sources books from sellers around the world, and I particularly like the way you can filter searches on this site. 

Are there any other book thrifters out there? What are your tips for sourcing secondhand books - either online or in person? We’d love to hear your thoughts!

When people - especially non-book people - visit my house for the first time, they invariably say, ‘Wow, so many books!’ And then if they make it to our playroom or Rowan’s room, they say, ‘Gosh, more books!’

I love buying new books. There’s something special about selecting a new book, making it yours and finding a spot for it on your shelf.

But I also love borrowing books from our library, and over the last few years I have increasingly had lots of fun buying thrifted or secondhand books. To help give a framework for sharing our favourite ‘non-new’ finds, Lou and I have decided to start a new semi-regular themed post, ‘Borrowed and Thrifted’. We hope you like it.

A couple of years ago I discovered a GREAT thing about our library, which is the online process of putting books on reserve. Often when I’m on the internet, trundling around all the gorgeous blogs, I find a book that sounds like one I need to read. I just hop straight across to our online library catalogue without leaving my chair. Our library has several branches, and if a book is on loan or at a different branch, the system allows you to put the book on reserve through the online catalogue. When the book comes in to my branch, I get an email, and then all I have to do is go to the reserve shelf, and grab the book(s) with my name on them. It’s so efficient, I can be in and out of the library in about 2 minutes. I do love browsing the shelves of the library too, but when I’m short of time, this (free!) system is much appreciated.

I found this treasure at the library recently: What the Sky Knows by Nina Bourke and illustrated by Stella Danalis.

I want to know what the sky knows
How to be blue
Or grey
Or pink
How to make clouds …

Sparse text and abstract collage illustrations characterise this picture book by Australians Nina Bourke and Stella Danalis. I love how the narrative gets you to think about what it means to be the sky with all the responsibilities it entails. But I especially love the mixed media artwork because I always try to expose Rowan to different styles of illustration in the books we read.

The illustrations themselves ask as many questions as the text: fish with legs and wings, flying carpets and ladders to the moon. The concise text does not mean that this is a book purely for younger readers; there is lots of room for discussion in this book and older children would be able to engage with questions about the illustrator’s interpretation of the author’s words, and would be able to use the illustrative style as inspiration for their own artwork.

In the next post in this series I’m planning to list some ways I go about tracking down secondhand books online… Stay tuned!