Dear Gaila,
I have a 2nd grader and a 5th grader who are participating in your amazing and fantastic Readathon! Their reading has already improved in just these two week, but I need more books for them!!! I know you published a list of free online books, but I like my children to read real, old fashioned, non-online, paper books. Where can I find these books in Israel?
Mother of Readathon Champions
Dear M. of R.C.,
What an excellent question! Thank you for pointing this out to me. Finding non-online English books to read when you live in a non-English speaking environment isn't easy. Here are 13 ways you can get books at decent prices in Israel:
1. Libraries- this might seem obvious. Libraries are growing and expanding over the years throughout Israel. Many libraries have decent English sections you and your children can take out. Moreover, often libraries sell used books at cheap prices!
2. Second hand book stores - you can find many treasures there! Check out some book stores in downtown Jerusalem.
3. Ask your child's English teacher! English teachers often have a hoard they are happy to lend out.
4. Every year AACI has a yard sale. They also have books available all year long.
5. The yearly Book Swap in Mitzpe Nevo is always a good oppurtunity to stack up ahead of time.
6. Readathon book sale! Every year we hold a super cheap book sale at the Awards Ceremony (That will be on February 27th this year).
7. AEL books in Jerusalem.
8. Wizkids can also send you English books.
9. Check out Tov LaDa'at for English books - specifically for Hebrew speakers, or weak readers.
10. Talk to me! I have access to lots of books everywhere - I can probably lend you good books. Contact me to figure out a way to get it to you.
These next 3 ways might give you access to non-online books, but they are only possible due to today's online access:
11. The Book Depository - new books, not unreasonably priced. Usually takes 2-3 weeks for the books to come.
12. Ebay! You can find lots of used books and ship them over.
13. AbeBooks is a site that sells used books.
These are the places I know about, mainly in the Jerusalem area or online. Maybe other readers from up north or down south know of more good places to get non-online books.
Keep up the reading!
Gaila
Gaila has almost 40 year of experience teaching and runs A.H.A.V.A., a non-profit to promote English literacy. Would you like to ask Gaila a question? Email us at ahava.org@gmail.com or send us a message. Look out for more Dear Gaila columns