Does anyone have any advice on where to find a good set of encyclopedias? Of course, we’d like to buy them used — but I don’t want anything older than 2003 or 2004. The more recent, the better. We’ve been looking at World Book and Encyclopedia Britannica. Whoa…they’re expensive!

Our kids have all had research projects lately — specifically, science projects. While the internet has tons of information, we have to monitor them while they’re surfing (unfortunately), and we’d love to let them have at it on their own with encyclopedias. Plus, we’d like to know their research comes from reliable sources. (I’m also thinking this would be helpful for me writing children’s books and articles!)

Some of my husband’s favorite books growing up were his family’s set of encyclopedias — he loved browsing. You look up one subject, and you end up discovering tons of other things. I guess that’s what made him so smart. (Well, he does have his doctorate!) 😉

If any of you out there have recently bought a set of encyclopedias for a good price, where did you find them? We’re hoping to have these shipped to us by Christmas!

[Edit: We found a good price on a 2005 used World Book set. Fingers crossed it will arrive in time for Christmas.]