Frugal reading and library sharing

My budget was cut this year, so I really need to ensure my purchasing choices are as solid as possible.  It was already tough to buy board books, picture books, beginning chapter books, nonfiction books, juvenile fiction and teen fiction on my skinny budget.  Now it's excruciating. 

I depend on a few publications for reviews on the new releases, but lately, they haven't been accurate (as far as Im concerned).  I realize that publishers are trying to sell their books, but I can't afford to buy a book that sits on the shelf ignored, even if the critics loved it.  (For example, Guantanamo Boy or What You Wish For: Stories and Poems for Darfur.)  Or worse, one that totally sucks.  I can rattle off several books that I feel guilty buying because they were a complete waste of money.

My wish list is loooooooooooooong, and at times I get overwhelmed at all of the books that sounds good.  I needed a way to narrow it down.  Since the only way to truly judge a book fairly is to read it, I found a way to do that. 

With a huge thanks to Galesburg Public Library, Ive been whittling down my choices by reading the books on my wish list that they already own.  Its been especially helpful with picture books.  Sadly, it's easy to write a lousy children's book.  I'm trying to weed out the ones we already own.  If I finish the book and I'm lukewarm about it, it's off the list.  The teen choices are a bit more complicated.  There are some that are fabulous, but I know will never circulate here. 

Here's what Ive been reading lately.
Awesome Picture Books (will buy soon)
How Do You Get a Mouse to Smile by Grubman (cute storytime book, easy rhymes)
Hugless Douglass by Melling (another good storytime book and very adorable)
If All the Animals Came Inside by Pinder (funny with good illustrations)

Good Picture Books
Home for Bird by Stead (very cute story about the search for a wooden bird's home)
Chloe Instead by Player (story about having a little sister who is not what she expected)
Blue Chicken by Freedman (a chicken spills paint and turns the drawing of the farm different colors)
Building with Dad by Nevius (great for fathers and sons, plus construction equipment!)
Monsters Eat Whiny Children by Kaplan (a bit long for storytime, but cute)
Say Hello to Zorro by Goodrich (a dog's routine is upset when a pug named Zorro shows up in the house)
Scrambled States of American by Keller (good for slightly older kids, with lots of facts about the states)
Neville by Juster (sweet story about a boy who moves to a new neighborhood and has to make friends)

Not Buying These Picture Books
Mississippi Morning by VanderZee (a book about the KKK.  This book, and the next one, fall into the no man's land of picture books--the ones with 3-6 paragraphs on each page.  They're way too long and complicated for anyone younger than 5, but too short and little kid-like for those in early grade school.  Plus, I'm not sure that I believe the story in this one.) 
Buffalo Are Back by George (about the buffalo's resurgence after near extinction.  Great story, too long.)

Good Young Adult
Dragonswood by Carey (Fantasy about a girl who is part dragon.  Decent)
Team Human by Larbalestier (I wasn't thrilled with this one.  Would have been popular right when the Twilight craze hit, but now it feels dated and too juvenile to me.)
Bunheads by Flack (describes the physically and emotionally grueling life of a ballerina)
A Monster Calls by Ness (dark, compelling story about a boy dealing with his mother's cancer)

Not Buying These Teen Books
Tender Morsels by Lanagan (couldnt even get through the first ten pages and it doesnt help that the book started with two people having sex in a hayloft)
Boy on Cinnamon Street by Stone (too stylized, boring)