But, we did have a different shelf at the time, a sling shelf. You have to take each book out one-at-a-time.
http://www.thingamababy.com/baby/2006/01/review_sling_bo.html

So, in light of your issues, maybe a sling shelf is a better solution even though it doesn’t hold as many books as a traditional shelf. Store any overflow out-of-reach and swap out books once in a while.

Never let misbehavior fly. Not that a toddler understands much at 14 months, but he understands disapproval, knows when Mom is sad or upset and notices that Mom immediately puts the books back on the shelf. I’d wait until they’re all on the ground, then have him help you put them back, or put them back on a higher shelf he cannot reach, then return them lower again overnight.

I have books set up like this, but he just pulls the whole shelf off. I put a bunch haphazardly in a box, and set the box on the shelf — doesn’t hold as much, nor is it as easy to find a book. But it slows down the chaos, and that means instead of just pushing the books over, makes a mess, he actually looks at the cover and starts flipping through some,

did you find a better solution to this?

What a great idea! Our entire house is this way – with only 1 kid! Why shouldn’t he be comfy in any space – and we don’t live designer lives.

I can’t wait to see if my new place has a good wall for this :)

Even having put a lot into the library, we’ve also got books in almost every room of the house, mainly separated by functions of the spaces (reference together, current favorites or ‘plan to read next’ items in the bedrooms, etc.).

We added a ‘peace corner’ to the living room, which is a small area walled off by sturdy book shelves (full of their favorite books), and floored with some of those big Costco dog beds (great for flopping on by people smaller than 5′ tall). It’s kind of a ‘Corner of Awesome’. Kids love to have a place just their size to curl up and look at books. (Only two of the four are really reading yet. But they all have crazy passions for books.) We have plaster board (not gypsum) over lathe, so anchors are tricky to figure out, but they are still doable (and done).

I like how you integrated the entire family philosophy into the Wall of Awesome. It’s a powerful message.

We have storage in various places in the house so no giant wall of awesomeness, and we kind of like tying in the brightly colored kids toys with some brightly colored storage bins and boxes, but most of our toys and games are also located on real furniture, supplemented with some cloth and plastic bins that fit just fine on regular bookshelves.

also, add us to the game playing set – we have carcasonne on our shelves too!

Laurie, so do you have any bookshelves?

LOVE those shelves. I think the “bolting to the wall” activity would nix the whole project for us, however — being nearly helpless and living in a plaster-walled nightmare — but I know who to call. I hate toys stored in the living room, but I love books and games there, and I could fill those shelves in five minutes.

Cheers!

– Laurie @ Foolery