[terib Posts: 9 Status: Offline]

I may be in the wrong section, but here goes...
Does anyone have a suggestion of how to read recent picture story books without having to buy them??  My library has very few books from the last 10 years!
I just can't afford to keep buying!
Thank y'all so much.
Teri

[dinalapomy101 Posts: 1,875 Status: Offline Happy writing to all! WWW]

Does your library have a service that lets you order books from other neighboring branches?
If you have a nearby bookstore, you could browse new titles, write them down, then try to find a nearby library that owns them?

[hilary-smart Posts: 13 Status: Offline I love kids' books!]

I'm in the UK and e.g. Cbeebies (TV) do a bedtime story segment with various celebrities reading a different bedtime story each night. Might there be something like that where you live?

[andracill Posts: 5,701 Status: Offline Worlds within...screaming to get out! WWW]

If you have a Kindle, you could also try Kindle Unlimited. It's $10 a month, but they often have deals where you can get 3 months for $5 (and then cancel, if you want). I don't know how many picture books are available through the service, though, so you'd want to check that part out first. (It's essentially like a library -- for the monthly fee, you can read as many Kindle Unlimited books as you like. But that's why you'd need to be sure they have picture books that work for your purposes.)

[Vijaya Posts: 7,168 Status: Offline Encourage WWW]

I've seen lots of teacher websites reading PBs on youtube, so that's another option--I just typed in picture book readaloud and lots of websites came up. Good luck!

[David Wright Posts: 1,016 Status: Offline Tell me that again.]

A lot of libraries have accounts on cloudlibrary which have ebook versions of old and new picture books -- you borrow them just like a regular book, you just need a phone or tablet to read them (cloud library has cancelled the desktop version of their software)

I'd ask your local librarian(s).

[Debbie Vilardi Posts: 7,004 Status: Offline Language is so cool! WWW]

There are two other online programs libraries use as I recall. Check with your librarians or reference desk. And if you have specific books in mind, you may well find them read aloud online. as said above. I've also read picture books in Kohls and my local bookstore. The B & N has chairs and PBs are quick reads. Hard to really study one but not to read a few. And maybe you can see what libraries in neighboring areas have. Drive to another town for the day and just read.

[dewsanddamps Posts: 2,302 Status: Offline]

These are all good suggestions. Adding that you might tell your local librarian what your problem is and just ask if they have thoughts. For example, our library allows five interlibrary loans per month (it's a free service), but it's not impossible that for a writer a librarian might cheat on that a little . Or they might not realize how shabby their collection has gotten and might order some new PBs. I know at our library patron requests carry a great deal of weight--so a librarian could be lobbying for more PB money for two years, but once a patron says something the money might magically appear.
 

[dkshumaker Posts: 1,448 Status: Offline WWW]

Does your library have a "Suggest A Title" option? I suggest books for them to buy all the time and they buy most of them.

[JulieM Posts: 986 Status: Offline WWW]

Great suggestions. One more is to volunteer to review picture books with an organisation in your region. I volunteered with Children's Book Council of Australia for 5 years and received 12 lovely new books every year. Besides being a great education and writing practice for me, I got to keep those books I couldn't bear to part with, and passed the rest on to local schools, charity organisations and little libraries (in the street).
These days I am fortunate to log into my library and borrow e-picture books. As they are cheaper to buy, they are often recent additions.

[Michael Sussman Posts: 184 Status: Offline WWW]

You've received some great advice.
You can also search YouTube for "picture books read aloud."
Or enter the title of a picture book you're interested in. I just entered my recent PB--"Duckworth, the Difficult Child--and found ten videos of it! All illegal (infringement of copyright) of course, but whatcha gonna do? 

[lrzajac Posts: 86 Status: Offline I write science as a story, sprinkled with art WWW]

Join NetGalley. It's free. You can read online books before they're published, but you'll have to write reviews as well.    https://www.netgalley.com 

[jojocookie Posts: 368 Status: Offline WWW]

worldcat.org

openlibrary.org

You just need to set up your account. But they're free.