One of the biggest challenges families face is actually getting print books. It is definitely possible to buy a large range of used and new physical German media online, if you know what you are looking for.
It can be hard to purchase new books, as the major German booksellers such as Thalia or Dussmann do not ship to the US. Amazon.de or Amazon.com have options, although the selection is smaller on Amazon.com and shipping can be significantly more via Amazon.de than the used sellers mentioned below. The major US-based sellers for new books are Kinderbooks, which sells a curated selection of German kids books and learning materials, and GreatBookPrices, which sells many different genres and languages via Abebooks.
You can find a large selection of German used books on US-based sites including Thriftbooks, Abebooks, Germanthriftbooks.com, eBay and Facebook groups for German-speaking families in the US. Until the 2025 tariff changes, German used book reseller Medimops was often my favorite resource, due to the huge selection and reasonable shipping charges. Sadly, they stopped shipping to the US in the fall of 2025, but I’d definitely keep an eye on them as things change. There is also KinderbooksNYC, which is a subscription book rental service. I haven’t used it, but you may want to give one of their plans a try.
A little tip for used books: if you are thinking used kids books are going to be sticky and gross, I can tell you that it is definitely a risk, but one that a baby wipe usually solves. I wipe down the cover of basically every used book or library book that comes into the house and it really keeps things feeling fresh. I will even wipe down the pages of board books; just let the pages dry open to ensure they don’t dry stuck together.
And finally a note on buying DVDs: German DVDs will be region 4, which requires a region 4 DVD player (inconvenient) or an unlocked DVD player (expensive and bulky), which is not great for occasional viewing, but is worth it if you watch a lot of DVDs. For most families, using streaming to access video content is probably more convenient.
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