Books can be placed in small-medium baskets throughout the house to encourage reading wherever the child is: parents can read to their child at any time, and books provide a distraction from boredom when adults are talking. We have books in each bedroom, the den, and the great room. The baskets make for easy pickup when guests come with little warning.

I used to keep some of the books in sturdy canvas tote bags (LL Bean type) on the floor. It's tidy enough for everyday, and it's easy to move books from one place to another. Most books were in a bookcase, but the current favorites were in a tote. Easy to change which books were where at any time.

didn't have anything unusual but did make the children's bookcases low to the ground for easy access. also, if i had had the room when kids were toddlers, i would have put some books on display showing there covers. there was a comfy beanbag nearby for impromptu reading.

Book tree

I love the picture you have and think having some special books up high is nice. Kids love to grab a book they can easily see which isn't realistic for displaying all the time I've found. So we do bins of books then pull out the bin and put books on floor when reading. We have books in bedrooms, living room and playroom. It seems to work

Having the books on display (and easily reached by the child) is important to encourage reading. I love the book tree idea, but there are other ideas like benches with comfy pillows and book storage underneath, window seating with books underneath, etc. Whatever you do, give books a place of honor in the child's room so they know how important reading is now and into the future.

The public library. ;)

Patricia Colwell brings in the important point: Storage, above a child's head, means he/she won't see them. Not creative, but I rather see them stacked in rattan baskets, at a child's level, than used as decor where the child has no access. That way, they can find their own way to things that interest them.

We all read and in our house we put in a "library".

As a teacher...and mother of 4... the floppy, soft-cover books are so hard to keep neat. I have found the most functional, reading-encouraging meathod is to have several small baskets the width of the book in which books are filed front to back (so you tip foreward to see the one behind it, etc). I note several baskets so that each can hold a book of a certain size- one for the tall rectangular, one for the wide and short, etc. If you are a parent, you'll have noticed there are 3-4 basic sizes these books seem to come in. After that, any type of shelf which the CHILD can easily reach and return books too, along with a bookEND so theya re able to arrange them neatly- nothing is more frustrating to a child putting a book back and "they all keep falling!" Once those goals are met, you can look at cutesy ideas which will support them.

I mostly used milk crate type containers & let the kids flip through them. I like some of the ideas at this site. http://spongekids.com/creative-book-storage-ideas-for-kids/

One of the best value children's book displays I've found are white rain gutters attached to walls!

I used a vintage Little Tykes My Size Barbie Dollhouse