Crafty, resourceful solution needed

[Matt'sMom]

I need to find something that will work as a durable book cover for my DS's school books... that will last more than a couple of weeks without being torn to shreds.

Any ideas???

How about the clear, polyester book covers used for archival purposes? I purchase these to use for preserving my antique and vintage book collections... but they could just as easily be used on text books too. They are very inexpensive (cheaper than book sox, even), and hold up extremely well while providing excellent protection. A lot of libraries use just this sort of cover to protect their books too. Minimum purchases tend to be in quantities of 25... but you could certainly share among other students/parents, or donate any 'extras' to your child's classroom.

http://www.shopbrodart.com/site_pages/bjc/

 

[blackforest]

How about covering them with several layers at one time? I used to do this in school. Work on covering them with 3-4 (2-3) layers of brown paper bags (if they still exist!). That way one one is tattered, tear off a layer and a fresh one is revealed. Unless it is a big, gaping tear there should enough layers to last for a while!

 

[NotUrsula]

I'm a librarian, and I was going to send you to Brodart, too. Those are professional acid-free polyester library covers that we use on our books, and unless you take a knife to them, nothing is going to tear them. DS' school also banned the socks, so I brought some of the professional covers home from the office and put them on DS' books. They are still as lovely and shiny as the day they were issued, LOL.

One thing to note when using these: Library covers assume that you are preserving a book jacket, so the covers have a hinged white backing paper that is meant to hold the jacket inside the clear plastic. When using them for schoolbooks, I have the kids either draw some artwork on the liner to identify the book, or I have them put some colorful gift wrap paper or cut-down posters inside the sleeve before putting it on the book. That personalizes it and means that you needn't remove the white backing paper if you don't want to. (It's harder to apply the cover neatly to an unjacketed book if the backing is removed.)

To put them on in a secure manner, you'll also want to buy a roll of 2" clear book tape, regular packing tape is too thin and brittle to hold up.