Here's an easy and inexpensive way to create bookcases that are great for kids (especially the young ones): Use rain gutters as your shelves.The Raising Olives blog features a tutorial for this popular project, which can encourage children to read more.
Rain gutters are sturdy and take only a short time to install. A big plus is the total cost for a few shelves is probably around $20. With the book fronts facing out, kids are more likely to read more—and they can get and put away the books themselves.
You can see the step-by-step instructions in the blog post below. (An even cheaper idea which requires no sawing is to use Ikea $4 spice racks, but the gutters give you a more custom wall-to-wall look.)
Rain Gutter Book Shelves: Tutorial | Raising Olives via Rob O'Daniel