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Like most book lovers, I adore having print copies of books. The bookstore has always been one of my favorite places to go, even here in Korea. When I was in high school, I was introduced to the idea of annotating books to add thoughts, ideas, or just to note down what I’ve noticed. Until that point, I kept my books scrupulously neat and as careful as possible. After that, I went down the rabbit hole and began annotating just about anything. Luckily now, I’ve managed to find a happy medium when it comes to book annotation, in ways that allow me to make notes in and around my books in ways that don’t harm them long-term!
- Tracing Paper
This is a fairly low-tech way to annotate a book without directly writing on it. The method is simple: cut the tracing paper down to match the size of the pages, write the page number you’re annotating on the bottom of a piece, and annotate the tracing paper over the page of the book. Storage can be a little tricky, but a paperclip works just fine until you’re able to get something a little more put together. My personal favorite is when you have different colors of tracing paper and can color-code via book, genre, or whatever you choose!
2. Pilot Frixion Pens
These are some of my favorite pens to use in any situation! The purple ones are my favorite, but I use the red pens to check student work, and blue pens for book annotation. The pens themselves are erasable when exposed to heat over 60 degrees Celsius. The back of the pen has a rubber nub that easily heats the ink up, but if you want to pretend it’s magic for your kids, you can use a hairdryer and it works just as well! Frixion pens come in all colors, and the most popular colors have cartridge refills so you don’t have to buy a new pen every time your ink runs out.
3. Sticky Notes
A tried and true classic, sticky notes are the easiest way to annotate your books and keep them clean. You can use them to mark pages, parts on the page, and take notes without marking the pages themselves. If you want to go the extra mile, you can even coordinate pages in a notebook with pages in the book to take more in-depth notes about your reading. I love having a variety of sticky notes to use, in different colors, shapes, and patterns, so I found some for you guys that have that variety!
Happy Annotating!
Avery Carter 