Saturday, August 13, 2011

A Boy's Path to Reading

As a child I was an avid reader, thanks mainly in part to my father.  He read ALL the time, read aloud to me, and he instilled a love of reading in me.  I can't thank him enough for that.  I specifically remember the day he gave me his original set of Bobsey Twin books.  I was reading more of a picture book on the striped chair in the living room, and he came up to me with the Bobsey Twins books.  He said, "It's time for you to start reading books that don't have all those pictures in them."  I was mesmerized by his Bobsey Twins books.  I devoured them right away, and sought out more books to read.


My son, who is now 13, loved to be read to as a kid.  In fact he still loves it.  We read EVERY night.  He'd pick out some books, I'd pick out some books.  We probably spent 2 hours each night reading together.  He learned a ton cause he loved non-fiction books even at a young age.  We also read the Thomas the Tank Engine books and other age appropriate books.  Even when he was in the tub, he'd play, and I'd read to him.  We were constantly reading.  


When he got into early elementary where most kids are expected to start reading chapter books, he had no interest in them.  He'd still read the non-fiction books and still loved for me to read to him.  I started getting worried that I had OVER read to him!


I didn't push him, and was thrilled that he liked to glance through magazines and still read the non-fiction and still enjoyed for me to read.  I kept reading to him so he'd at least experience the chapter books he should be reading at the age he was.  He loved it!


Then, just a few years ago, I caught him in his room reading a chapter book!  It wasn't just any chapter book. It was the first book in the Conspiracy 365 series. He had heard all the hype about the book and wanted to check it out so he grabbed a copy out of my inventory.  He quickly hid it under his pillow when I walked into his room.  The next day his father caught him reading Conspiracy in the tub!  From then on that boy read chapter books!


Since then he's read just about every type of series of books he can get his hands on.  He starts with book one and reads every title in the series.  He's read the whole Narnia series, and this summer I was amazed that he read THE WHOLE Harry Potter series - read it in only about half the summer.  And guess what he's reading now. You guessed it...Moby Dick.  Tears just about whell up when I think of him reading such a classic.  For a child who I was so worried would never even read a Magic Tree House book, he's reading MOBY DICK!


So clearly I did something right.  ALL that reading aloud to him must have instilled that love of reading.  It's a wonderful gift, and I am so glad I have been able to give that to him.  That, and I do believe a little serial novel helped nudge him to read chapter books independently.

Friday, August 12, 2011

Start Your Usborne Books Business with the MORE for Less Kit!

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Do You Want More Choices?  More choices to be able to bring in an income stream to your family?  More choices in how to run your business? More choice of vacations? More choices on what you can purchase and when? 

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Try it out for your 3 month incentive period and you will be on your way to Usborne Success!
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Join my team, the Usborne Success Builders, and I will help you find Usborne Success too!

FYI - here is a list of the books that are in the MORE for LESS Kit:

100 Things for Little Children to Do on a Trip
All Star Cheerleaders, Tick Tock, Taylor
Baby's Very First Touchy Feely Animals
Big Book of Big Dinosaurs
Big Box of Cards
Brush Your Teeth, Max and Millie
Complete Book of Farmyard Tales
Conspiracy 364 - Set 1 Jan - April
Counting Rhymes
Ely Plot
Encyclopedia of Science
Everyone Poops
Find the Duck
Gobble, Gobble Mooooo Tractor Book
How Big is a Million
I Can Draw Animals
Illustrated Math Dictionary
My Sister's a Pop Star
See Inside Your Body
Sticker Dolly Dressing Movie Stars
There's a Mouse about the House
Write Your Own Story

Goodness!  It's worth it even just for the books!  That's a $380 value in books!





Cute Wedding Gifts for Your Jr. Bridesmaids and Flower Girls from Usborne Books

My husband and I just celebrated our 15th Wedding anniversary this week.  I got to thinking that the following two books would have been such a cute gift for the little members of our wedding party.  Kids love sticker books and they love to color, so these wedding themed activity books are perfect!

The Weddings Coloring Book includes 20 pages to color with wedding cakes, dresses and flowers.  This book also includes stickers that girls can use to decorate the pages.  Throw this in a cute celophane bag with crayons and tie it with pretty ribbon, and your little flower girl will be delighted!










Sticker Dolly Dressing Weddings has become a very popular title in the Sticker Dolly Dressing Series. This book came out before the Royal Wedding.  The day of the Royal Wedding, my daughter noticed right away that Kate's dress was somewhat similar to the dress on the front of Sticker Dolly Weddings.  I'm not saying her dress was designed from our book, I just think it's neat that my daughter remembered the book and noticed the resemblance.  
Girls of all ages will have fun dressing the bride as she gets ready with her friends for her special day.  

If you have ring bears or young ushers Usborne also has Sticker Dressing Knights, Soldiers and the Pirate Sticker Book.  

Happy Wedding Day!

Kristie

Thursday, August 11, 2011

New and Fun Christmas Activity Books from Usborne Books & More

I know Christmas is right around the corner, but it will be soon.  Usborne's Christmas titles are always such a huge hit that they sell out quickly so I wanted to highlight them now for you so you can get them ordered before we run out! Below is the list of my and my children's top 5 Christmas books.

1.  Usborne's Advent Calendar to Color is our favorite new title this year!  It's going to be so fun for the kids to color their scene in each day.  By Christmas their Calendar will be all done and will be a family  heirloom to treasure each Christmas hereafter.  For only $7.99, it's a steal! I would have loved one of these when I was a kid.  




















2.  Usborne's Christmas Stencil Cards are so much fun!  You can creat just about any Christmas craft item with these.  They help in making home made Christmas cards, Christmas drawing scenes, and craft that you need Christmas items for.  They also help in teaching kids how to draw these figures for the holiday season.  


One thing my kids love to do with  these is to stencil each of them on different colored paper, decorate them, and cut them out.  Then they punch a hole at the top and string curling ribbon through them to make a garland.  It's so cute to hang on the fireplace, tree or anywhere else.  We have LOTS of these garlands around our house.


3.  Christmas Sticker Dolly Dressing is one of the funnest of the Sticker Dolly Dressing series according to my daughter.  She loves to do a new book each year.  This is definitely one of Usborne's most popular Christmas activity book!   One of the reasons why she likes it so much is because it has festive scenes with holiday events and also the outdoor scenes when the dolls in the snow and ice skating.  We are in the south where it doesn't snow, so she loves to dress them with all the extra winter clothes.  I gave my daughter her first one on Thanksgiving to kick off the Christmas season!  Makes for a wonderful Christmas gift for girls to give their friends too.



4.  Illustrated Stories for Christmas is a beautiful book for your independent reader.  It's a collection of classic Christmas stories such as A Christmas Carol, The Elf and the Toymaker and Twas the Night Before Christmas.  Beautifully illustrated, this is another Usborne Christmas book that will become a family heirloom.


















5.  That's Not My Reindeer is one of Usborne's Christmas Touchy Feely books.  Each page has a different texture on it, so babies and toddler LOVE to touch each page.  They are so excited when they find their reindeer at the end of the book.  Other Christmas That's Not My's in this series include That's Not My Santa, Penguin, Angel, and Donkey.








Come back for more info on Usborne's Christmas activity books.  There's more to share!


Kristie