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Go green with eco-friendly children's books---cheap and easy!

March 25, 2009

If you're like me, you like to go "green" but often find that is in conflict with your budget and time constraints. If you're even more like me, your family lives for books.

I recently learned about a company, Better World Books, a green company that sells eco-friendly books, for great prices and free shipping. And on top of that? They donate a portion of sales (which you can see tracked on their Web site!) to literacy groups!

It all started with an email:

If you're researching ways parents can easily green up their lifestyle or gear up for baby's arrival in an eco-friendly way, I hope you'll consider telling your readers about green online book reseller Better World Books. Moms and Dads can stock their kid's room or nursery's bookshelf with "Where the Wild Things Are," Paddington, etc. while at the same time:

• Diverting books from landfills (buying used is the best kind of recycling - and so far BWB has spared over 6,000 TONS from 'fills.)
• Offsetting shipping environmental costs with carbon offsets from CarbonFund.org
• Avoiding an SUV ride to the local Barnes & Noble for a "virgin pulp" new hardback     

And as if that wasn't enough, here are some other bonuses

• BWB books are up to 80% cheaper than new ones
• Shipping is free!
• Better World shares its revenues with important literacy groups like Books for Africa

So by shopping on BetterWorldBooks.com, a mom will be doing something good for the environment, teaching her children to reuse resources when possible, and helping another child somewhere in the world learn to read to boot.  A ripple of effect of good-all because she decided to ‘green'-up a bit!

First, I wanted to check out their site and see how it worked for me. They sell all sorts of books! But I focused on the children's books, which are conveniently sorted by category and age group. My kids are big fans of the Mercy Watson books by Kate DiCamillo, so I used that as my test. The site's search is very easy to use, and quickly returned a lengthy list of Mercy Watson book options.

I recently bought a Mercy Watson book at Barnes & Noble, and, with my member discount and coupon, the new one there was about a dollar less than the new one on the Better World Books site. However, when I considered the time it took to get to the store and the gas against the convenience of shopping online and getting free shipping, I figured it at least balanced out. The balance tipped when I recalled that  Better World Books donates to literacy groups (Books For Africa, NCFL, Room to Read, and WorldFund).

Next, I decided I wanted to know more about Better World Books. Again, if you're like me, you want the whole story before making a decision. So I sent a list of inquisitive questions to Better World Books, and they were happy to thoroughly answer every single question. I learned some very interesting things, including that they have used book, buy back and reuse options---among other good things to know. So read on for more information about Better World Books!