One of the biggest challenges families face is sourcing print books, but it is possible to buy a large range of used and new physical German media online.
My top recommendation is Bookbot, a used book reseller based in the Czech Republic. It has a $21 flat-rate fee via UPS for unlimited books. The shipping is super fast and the books I’ve purchased were all in better than stated condition. The only downside is that the selection is smaller than my next best recommendation, Medimops If I just need one specific title, I will order from Medimops, which has a per-book shipping fee, but is unfortunately much slower, taking a month or so to get my books. Other sources to check include Thriftbooks, Abebooks, Germanthriftbooks.com, eBay and Facebook groups for German-speaking families in the US.
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.
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 stick 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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