Books for Pre-Readers: Sticker Books

I have a 2 year old and a 4 year old, both of whom are pre-readers.  So, what kinds of books do I get for them?  This is part one in a series.

First - Sticker books.  These are great for kids of all ages, but we have some great ones for pre-readers and early readers.

These make great gifts!  Usborne sticker books are goo-free books, so there's no stress about keeping stickers off of furniture, clothes, windows, walls, etc.  And they are tons of fun for a low price!  Most of the sticker books are under $10, a lot of them under $8!  I have a stash of these in my gift closet for those times when you need a quick gift.  We have some sticker books for older children as well, but I'm going to focus on younger children today. We love these!

Sticker Dressing Books - Sticker Dolly Dressing for girls:

Sticker Dolly Dressing Dream Jobs

Or Sticker Dressing books for boys:

Sticker Dressing Warriors

And we have some great learning sticker books too!  

Usborne Shapes Sticker Book

Usborne Time For School Sticker Book

Usborne 1-2-3 Sticker Book

And some great interest-geared sticker books:

Usborne Sticker Books Trucks

Usborne First Sticker Book Zoo

Usborne First Sticker Book Princesses

Usborne Build A Picture Trains, Trucks, and Tractors Sticker Book

Usborne Build Your Own Planes Sticker Book

The First Experiences books and sticker books are great for gently introducing children to new experiences that may otherwise be scary.  They are sweet and gentle and great preparation.  

Going to the Doctor Sticker Book

If you need to keep a child busy and quiet for a little bit, this is my go-to book.  We love the non-sticker versions of these books.  They are great for pre-readers because if they know or are learning their numbers, the "things to spot" have words or pictures, so a non-reader can do this independently.  Add in the stickers, and well, you have a lot of quiet fun on your hands :)  These are great to keep in the car for waiting rooms, phone calls, etc.  

1001 Things to Spot on the Farm Sticker Book

This is not even close to an exhaustive list of sticker books.  Usborne has TONS to choose from!  I tried to show a few of the types of Sticker Books we have, and if it looks like the type of book your child would like, look it up and see what other kinds we have available.  Or, if you need a more detailed recommendation, let me know!  Make a comment or shoot me a message and I will give a personalized recommendation for you! 

Things You Should Know...

This is a kind of FAQs about catalog and website notations on the Usborne books and products.  This will help you navigate the listings better :)

IL  - Internet Linked - You will see this on so many of our books.  But what does that mean?  What that means is that Usborne has its own site (Usborne Quicklinks), that then has lists of the Internet Linked books.  Choose your book and page and it will give you lists of safe links for your kids to do more research on a topic that piqued their interest.

First Encyclopedia of the Human Body

C/V - Combined Volume - You will see this on a lot of books too.  This means that this book has several volumes bound together - Ted and Friends has 12 of the Phonics readers in it, though you can buy them separately.  The Big Book of Things to Spot has five of the "1001 ** to Spot" books.  The Usborne Encyclopedia of World History has 5 time periods in one volume.  Why is this important?  Because it is usually at a substantial savings over buying the books separately.  Usborne may not even sell the books separately anymore, but the C/V notation means that you are still getting a bang for your buck.

H, L, FL, P, BD - Hardback, Library, Flex, Paperback, Board Book - The types of binding.  Most are self-explanatory.  Library has a sealed, cloth-type finish on the cover for durability.  This is the most expensive type of binding.  Flex cover is not a hardback, but sturdier than a paperback.
There are some other notations you'll find in there, but those are the most common.

Baby's Very First Touchy-Feely Animals Book

I hope that helps you navigate through the catalog and website better!

**Disclaimer - The links on this page go to my personal UBAM consultant page.  I receive a commission from sales on that site, but your price remains the same.  I am an Usborne consultant to help contribute to my family.**

Why Usborne? Part 2

So, yesterday I told you why to buy Usborne books.  Today I'd like to expound a little on why to host a party or sell the books yourself.

So why host a party?
1.  Great hostess benefits!  I am constantly impressed with how much people can earn when they host a party.  Baseline party starts at $200,where you earn $30 in free books, at $350, you start earning half-price books on top of the free books.  Plus there are booking incentives, etc.  For guesstimating, we typically say a book averages $10.  Some are more, some less.  But when you figure that way, it's easy to see how quickly it adds up!  10 people buy 2 books and you're at the baseline show, earning free books.

So why sell Usborne?
1.  To earn books for your own library!  The Home Office constantly has challenges that allow you to earn books and merchandise, book fairs allow you to earn free books and a commission, plus all those unused hostess and customer rewards.  I've added to our library very cheaply over the years, and I really just do this for fun!

2.  Flexibility - Usborne's minimum sales requirement to stay active is $25.  Not per week, not per month, Per Year.  Which is pretty much what I buy for one kid's birthday.  Usborne is a family-friendly company and they don't want you to stress if something comes up and you can't make your sales quotient that month.  No big deal, pick it up when you can.

3.  Consultant Incentives - I mentioned earlier that you can earn free books and merchandise pretty much every month with sales, but did I mention the trips?  This year, the incentive trip is IRELAND.  Seriously.  I wish this was more than a hobby because Ireland is on my bucket list.

4.  Core Values - If you read yesterday's post. I talked about their replacement policy, and today I mentioned their family-friendliness.  This is a company that loves their customers.  A few years ago, right after I joined, we launched a book series called Conspiracy 365 (still for sale, highly recommend it).  The books are in a similar style to the show 24, but instead of each book/episode being an hour, each book covered a month.  One book came out a month, and you could sign up for auto-delivery, etc.  It was awesome.  The book was such a HUGE success, that Usborne actually pulled it out of the box stores and only sold it through consultants, because it's not about profits, it's about people!  They wanted us to get the benefits of this amazing success.

If you want information about joining my team, let me know.  I will be real with you, I won't be a used car salesman.  This is a great company to work for, but it may not be for you, and that's ok!

If you want to host a party (online or in person), let me know!  My schedule can be a little crazy with these 4 blessings I have, but I am sure we can find a day that works!

Why Usborne? Part 1

So, why should you buy Usborne books?  I'll be the first to admit that we have shelves and shelves of books, not all of them Usborne, so what's so special about these books?

1.  Physical Quality - Usborne books are made very well.  Usborne wants your kids to love on the books.  They know their books become favorites, so they make them well to stand up to all the 'love' they will get.  Their board books are extra thick because those babies and toddlers like to chew, throw, stand, bend, and more!  These books will stand up to some major abuse!  And if they don't, see number 2. :)

2.  Lifetime guarantee.  Usborne knows your kids will love these books.  They want you to let them love these books, not hide them reverently on a shelf for occasional viewing.  They will replace a damaged book with no questions asked for free within the first 30 days of purchase.  Oooops! The dog chewed up the book on day 31?  Junior attempted to help his new favorite book swim in the toilet on day 57?  No problem.  Usborne will replace any book still in publication for half price.  If they make it, you can get a replacement.  So let those kids enjoy these books!

3.  Literary Quality - Usborne has been doing this a long time.  They don't make so-so books.  The baby books are engaging, with textures, colors, pictures that will keep the most wiggly toddler engaged (at least for a few moments!).  The Pre-K and early readers are fun and help build reading confidence.  The older readers and non-fiction beginners help foster your child's natural curiosity.  The reference books help build knowledge while keeping the boring factor to a minimum (lots of pictures, diagrams, cut-aways and small portions of text).  And for those reluctant young teen readers, we have some fantastic suspense series that I love (and may have indulged in a few times myself!).

4.  Content Quality - similar to the previous one, but a little more specific.  There's no 'junk' in these books.  You don't need to preview these books before your kids read them.  Nothing questionable, no embarrassing questions are going to come up later.  These are good books that I feel comfortable letting my kids read, carte blanche.  (Note: some books deal with fantasy elements, some are suspense.  You may not want your kids reading about some of the topics for more personal reasons, but there are no surprises in these books.  The suspense books were a particular favorite of mine because they got the blood pumping without all of the gore and violence of adult books).

5.  Price - A lot of times, Direct Sales products are more expensive than their in-store counterparts.  Since Usborne sells some of their books in box stores, their prices are competitive, no overspending here!

6.  Customer rewards - Buying from a consultant can earn you customer rewards, like half-price specials!

7.  Earn free books - You know the pitch - You can host a party or sign up as a consultant to earn free books.  And having looked into several Direct Sales companies, and being a former consultant of one, our rewards are fantastic.  I signed up to build my library inexpensively, and I ended up falling in love with the books and doing, well, this!  I love helping people find great books!

Bilingual 7 year old

Can I get a recommendation on a book for a coworker's daughter. She will be 7 in September, in first grade and is bilingual.

Usborne has a great selection of Spanish books! Our fiction book section by Kane Miller (a sub-company of Usborne), publishes the best fiction books in the world!  What Usborne is for non-fiction and early reading, Kane Miller is for fiction.  The Kane Miller authors are from literally all over the world.  In fact, a page in the catalog is devoted to a list of the countries where the authors are from!

My personal recommendations are:

El Castillo Misterioso/Mystery Castle

La Isla Fantastica/ Fantastic Island

Both of these books are in Spanish and English and are suggested for age 7 and up.  

Some Kane Miller recommendations:

On My Way to Buy Eggs

Marta y la Bicicleta

Pescadito

Hope that helps!

**Disclaimer - The links on this page go to my personal UBAM consultant page.  I receive a commission on any sales made on that site, but your price stays the same. Being an Usborne consultant is a small way I support my family. **

3 year old girl

What can you recommend for a 3yr old?

Now, I happen to know that this 3-year-old is a little girl, so I'm going to focus on that for right now, though some of the choices could be for either boy or girl.

My second favorite Usborne set (behind Farmyard Tales) is the Pipkin Poster Picture books.  Oh, how we love Pip!  Pipkin is a little penguin who asks BIG questions.  And these are questions that your kids have probably asked too!  These books have beautiful illustrations and tell the story of Pip finding the answer to his big question.  At the end, there is a big fold-out poster to illustrate the answer!

How Big is a Million?

The poster has a million stars!  Probably our favorite poster!

How Big Was a Dinosaur?

The poster shows the sizes of different dinosaurs and also compares them to things of today!

How Deep is the Sea?

Where do Baby Animals Come From? (And Baby People too)

Every preschooler asks!  We got this one when we were expecting Baby #4.  Very sweet, age-appropriate book.  

We also love these Story books.  They have beautiful illustrations and the pages have just the right amount of words for little attention spans.  These are combined volumes, which means there are multiple stories in one book.  A great bang for your buck!

Usborne Stories for Little Girls

Usborne Classic Stories for Little Children

And some other Picture Story Books:

Usborne Animal Stories for Little Children

Usborne Stories from Around the World for Little Children

Usborne Stories for Little Boys

These are adorable clothbound books with classic stories, rewritten for young listeners.  I love the binding, it seems classic and special :)

Usborne Big Book of Little Stories

And some other special books:

Usborne Fairy Tales for Bedtime

Animal Stories for Bedtime

The Usborne Children's Bible Stories

And since we're on the topic of fairy tales, what little girl doesn't love a good fairy tale?

The Usborne Fairy Tale Treasury

The Usborne Book of Fairy Tales

The Usborne Book of Princess Stories

These are both in the same style as Farmyard Tales, perfect for a Preschooler who will be learning to read!

And every little girl loves stickers!  I love the Sticker Dolly Dressing series.  The stickers are goo-free stickers, which means that when (not if, I have 4 kids, so I'm well-versed in sticker removal) they end up on furniture, windows, walls, floor, etc, they are easily removed and don't leave a residue!  They have a SDD for whatever your little girl is into - Back to School, Ballerina, Bridesmaids, Fairies, Action, and lots more! 

Sticker Dolly Dressing Princesses

There are also some Sticker Dressing books for boys - Extreme Sports, Knights, Pirates, etc!

I hope this helps!

**Disclaimer - The links on this page go to my personal UBAM consultant page.  I receive a commission on any sales made on that site, but your price stays the same. Being an Usborne consultant is a small way I support my family. **

 

Readers, Fairy Tales, and American History

Can you recommend something for ages three to five who are learning to read? Also, I have had children requesting fairy tales (I would read them aloud) Our third grader could use some books on Native Americans, the Revolutionary War, or the Wild West to supplement school.

Another sweet friend sent this request in.  I talked some about readers yesterday, but I'll add some more to that.  We love the Ted and Friends Phonics collection.  It's similar to the Very First Reading Set, but without the obvious parent-child collaboration.  Instead of letting the child exclusively work on learned phenomes (letter sounds), the Ted and Friends only emphasizes certain letter sounds.  The Combined Volume (CV notation) means there are several books in one, and you get a great deal since it's bound into one book!
Ted and Friends has 12 of the 16 Phonics Readers.  This is the same illustrator as Farmyard Tales, so you know it's a favorite at our house :)

Now onto Fairy Tales.  The Usborne Illustrated Stories are phenomenal.  Beautiful illustrations and any collection of stories you can think of.  These are great as read-alouds, but as you get more confident readers, they will enjoy curling up with these books. Here are the Fairy Tale specific books:

Usborne Illustrated Grimm's Fairy Tales

Usborne Illustrated Fairy Tales

Usborne Illustrated Classics for Girls

Usborne Illustrated Classics for Boys

If Usborne has a fault, it is the lack of early American history material.  Lots of modern history, lots of ancient history, not a lot of American history.  This is one that I've used:

Who Were the First North Americans?

A little easy on the reading level, but the material is good.  The Internet Links are also helpful - you know they're safe, so no worries about what 'interesting' things he may find while researching.

Hope that helps!  

**Disclaimer - The links on this page go to my personal UBAM consultant page.  I receive a commission from sales on that site, but your price remains the same.  I am an Usborne consultant to help contribute to my family.**

Elementary Reference

What are some good books to have on hand for the early years of homeschooling (pre-k through 6th or so)? Books with good general information, that can be used with a variety of curriculum and homeschooling styles?

Having a well-stocked library is the key to the love of reading and learning.  Kids are naturally curious about the world around them, so having good reference materials makes learning fun!

The Children's Encyclopedia is a favorite in our house.  We have used it as an integral part of 2 years of curriculum, but it's also been a good reference book just for fun.  It is very well loved in our house! I recommend the large version.  The smaller version is cheaper, but this book is used a LOT and I really like having the larger print version.

The Usborne Children's Encyclopedia New Edition

Every kid has trouble spots.  But rather than make them do boring practice, make it fun!  It's as simple as laminated cards and a wipe-off marker.  We have Brain Puzzles, Logic Puzzles (both are good for improving concentration), Math Puzzles, Word Puzzles, French, Tricky Words to Spell, and Grammar and Punctuation

Another of my very favorite resources is the Learning Palette.  The base is sturdy and you can buy card sets as your kids grow.  (PS, This set is pricey, but it's a great reason to have a Book Party, the Usborne hostess rewards are awesome!).  You can get cards for math and phonics, all different levels.  These are self-grading, so kids can do them on their own!  

Learning Palette

There are also some great math facts practice with the Wrap-ups, also self grading!  Great tools for extra math practice that aren't worksheets.

Learning Wrap-Ups

Now we have reading.  Teaching or helping kids learn to read is a daunting task.  Usborne makes it fun and easy.  I'm going to give you a couple of different options, you can choose depending on your needs.  

First option is a reading program, something to teach your kids to read.  Usborne has two great Reading Programs.  The Very First Reading Program comes with 15 books that progressively walk through the phenomes.  The books start with a lot of parent reading, with just a few words that the child can confidently read.  As you progress through, the child reads more and more.  It also comes with a parent guide.  These are great books that we use in our homeschool.  Fun, engaging stories that help build reading confidence systematically.  

There is also a Start to Read Pack with stickers, activity book and poster and 8 paperbacks from the Very First Reading Set.  There's also a free website to practice the first stages of reading - teachyourmonstertoread.com 

The First Reading Program is the next step with great stories that get progressively harder.  Fun stories with great illustrations.  It also comes with a Parent's Guide to help you through.  

If you don't need help teaching phonics, but instead are just looking for great easy readers for young children, look no further.  My absolute favorite early readers (we love them so much, it inspired my blog name!) are the Usborne Farmyard Tales.  There are 6 different titles in the series.  They are written especially for young readers (though my 4th grader still loves to read it).  Three of the books come with CDs.  This is an undervalued rescource, in my opinion!  These stories are so good, your kids will want to listen to them all the time, but what mom has time for that?  Pop the CD in and they can read along (Note: the CD does not have page-turn sounds, but if they are semi-familiar with the stories, they can kinda follow along without the sounds).

Here is a look inside.  If you notice, the top lines are simple, the bottom lines are more complex.  The top lines alone make a whole story.  This is so a young reader can read the "whole" story all by himself!  What a confidence booster!  The bottom lines add detail to the story.  He can read it with you and take turns, he reads the top line, you read the bottom lines.  As he gains confidence, he can add the bottom lines and read the entire story by himself.  The stories are cute, the characters lovable.  And since we live on a farm, we have fallen in love the Farmyard Tales.  Our favorite is The Complete Book of Farmyard Tales, but I'll list them all for you below.

The Little Book of Train Stories (with CD)

Bible Stories

The Usborne Book of Fairy Tales

The Usborne Book of Princess Stories

I hope this helps!  Usborne has lots of reference materials, Science, Math, History, but these are my favorites that tend to be classics.  

**Disclaimer - The links on this page go to my personal UBAM consultant page.  I receive a commission on any sales made on that site, but your price stays the same. Being an Usborne consultant is a small way I support my family. **

5th Grade History

 I will have a 5th grader next year and we will be starting our second history cycle. I want to do three years instead of 4 so that 8th can be US history and civics/government. Anything I should start collecting?

My first assignment here on this little blog.  A friend of mine sent this in.  She's a fellow homeschooler, so I know education without boredom is priority.  Usborne books are phenomenal in this area.  The non-fiction books at higher levels have information broken up into lots of little word sections with big pictures (and lots of them).  This keeps the information manageable.  Does anyone else's eyes glaze over when reading long pages of boring text?  It's not just me, right?  We want kids to enjoy learning, homeschooled or not.  There is TONS of cool stuff out there to learn about, let's encourage them to learn it!

This is, of course, your basic History Encyclopedia.  This is a great reference tool.  It has the chunks of text with lots of neat pictures, including cut-aways, diagrams, illustrations, pictures.  Is it weird that my oldest likes to read it like a fiction book?  ;)

The Usborne Encyclopedia of World History

Reduced Version (Same book, smaller size)

Here's some books on Ancient History:

Usborne Romans

Usborne Greeks

Roman Britain

If you're doing Greek history, we love these Greek Myths books (link goes to more options for all ages): 

  

The Usborne Book of Greek Myths

Usborne Illustrated Guide to Greek Myths and Legends

If you are studying Shakespeare and his works in your World History tour:

Usborne Stories from Shakespeare

The Usborne World of Shakespeare

If you are doing art history along with World/US history, some great resources that cover the classics:

The Usborne Book of Famous Artists

The Usborne Book of Famous Paintings

One of our educational philosophies is to make history and geography come alive with stories, not just names, places, and dates, but real stories that kids will enjoy reading.  The True Adventure Stories are a great place to get those. Especially this Second World War or War Stories.

Did you know that 2014 commemorates the 100th anniversary of World War I?  Here are some great books to learn about both World Wars:

The Usborne Introduction to the First World War

The World Wars

More World War Books

Another fun history book that is 100% true, but more fun than boring is The Story of Inventions

You do not have to get all of these!  Some would be redundant, some may be too easy/hard.  Some may not pertain to what you're studying.  But this is a good place to start.  Usborne also carries some easier versions of classic literature that you may want to use when studying a time period - like A Tale of Two Cities when studying the French Revolution or King Arthur when studying 5th and 6th century Europe.  

I hope that helps give you some ideas!

** Disclaimer - The links in this post go to my personal UBAM consultant page.  I make a commission off sales from my site.  Your price does not change, but it buying books from my site helps to support my family.**