How is your nephew, Jacob doing? Is he home? What a little fighter he is.
Re: books. We scour yard sales, used bookstores, eBay, and bargain bins for books. The kids just love having the books without worrying about the due dates. They love the Redwall series and got tired of having to wait for the books to come to our library and being on the ILL waiting list. So eBay has been a great source.
BTW, the Redwall series by Brian Jacques is wonderful for the 9 and up crowd. They're about honor, valor, sacrifice. Great stuff. My children stay up all night to read the books. Actually, so do I.
I also scour tag sales for used books, and thrift stores. Another good online source for books is half.com, booksamillion.com, and powells.com. And thanks for your suggestions on the childrens books. I have a place set aside for my nieces and nephews when they come to visit, lots and lots of books for them to read. I'm always looking for good books to add to the collection. (And I've been know to stay up many a night reading...)