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the magic of reading aloud

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“You may have tangible wealth untold:
Caskets of jewels and coffers of gold.
Richer than I you can never be —
I had a mother who read to me.”
– Strickland Gillilan

the read aloud handbook by jim treleaseAmy of Usborne Books recently sent me The Read-Aloud Handbook by Jim Trelease. I am completely enamored. If I didn’t have a million things on my plate (Seriously. I have so many big projects on my plate this week that my husband actually told me, “Don’t worry about the house or the laundry or anything like that.”), I’m certain I would have read it all in one sitting.

The book essentially “explains how reading aloud awakens children’s imaginations and improves their language skills.” It also includes a listing of 1,000 books that are great for reading aloud by age/grade and theme.

Anyway, the small snippets that I have managed to inhale so far, have reminded me – inspired me – to be even more diligent about reading aloud.

If you’re looking for wonderful, captivating, interactive books to share with your kids, you need to check out Usborne. The books are educational, but not boring-educational. They’re educational the way books should be – colorful, engaging, fun. I recently spent some time looking through the catalog and I think I want all of them.

But if I had to narrow it down, I think I’d add these 6 books to my “Usborne wishlist”:

see inside your body usborne books how big is a million usborne books 100 things for little children to do on a trip first thousand words in spanish sticker book usborneart sticker book usborne books vacation things to make and do usborne books

Usborne Books make great gifts too because almost all of them have a “hands-on” component (stick stickers, lift flaps, touch textures, use magnets, cook recipes, etc.). Any kid is sure to be delighted by the wonder of learning with these books around the house.

Another cool thing about buying Usborne Books through this eShow is that you’re buying from another mom. Amy Meyer is the seller behind that particular site and she is the proud mama of two kids. She resides in the Twin Cities area and is passionate about literacy. She is also able to help get you started if YOU want to start an Usborne Books business of your own.

YOUR TURN: Check out the Usborne catalog. Which books spark your interest?

WIN IT! One winner will receive a copy of The Read-Aloud Handbook by Jim Trelease, plus $25 to spend on Usborne Books. To enter, leave any topic-related comment on this post prior to Tuesday, September 8th at 11:59 p.m. (Don’t forget to follow the rules…all generic comments like “Enter me!,” “Love it,” and “Cool stuff!” will be disqualified.).

*UPDATE* The winner is #25 Kerrie Mayans. Congratulations!

Comments

  1. I have an extra copy of inside your body. I’ve been wanting to find a good home for it. If you still don’t have it is there a way to mail it to ya?

    • You are so kind! I actually have a copy of that book now (and it’s one of the books we kept when we moved into our RV). :)

  4. Our boys would like
    1001 Pirate things to spot.
    Anything Dinosaur and anything w/ hands-on. Our oldest wants to learn the string tricks like the cradle and so on.

  8. My kids love the read-along CDs that come with a couple of the thick Usborne books. They’ll pop in a CD and read right along with it. And then they’ll ask me to read it to them again. And again. And again. And again. :)

  9. I hosted an Usborne book party at my house, or at least, someone else hosted it using my house. The catalogs were amazing! I was drooling over everything. It’s a great line.

  11. I think the big book of fantasy quests would really catch my son’s attention. I love to read aloud to him. It is a daily part of our homeschooling.

  14. I would love to read 1001 Things To Spot At Christmas (1001 Things to Spot) to my daughter. We have great fun with I Spy type books.

  16. My daughter is taking her first year of Spanish. I would definitely be interested in any of the Spanish books they carry.

  17. The first title that caught my eye on website was 1001 Things To Spot At Christmas. I always try to shop early so the holidays aren’t so hectic and I plan on adding this book to the presents on hand. Thank you for the contest!

  20. I LOVE Usborne books. We have several that are both educational as well as fun for the kids. I’d pick the “Make Believe Pirate Set” and the “Knights Handbook”. Thanks so much!

  21. We love Usborne books! My older son particularly likes the puzzle adventure books, like the Agent Arthur series, and my younger son likes the easy-read books like “Knights” and “Castles.”

  23. A lot of these books are excellent for preschool. One of them I saw was In the Castle. This looks to be at a good level with a lot of pictures and a lot to talk about when reading aloud.

  24. we love Usborne Books! Got some great flash cards too last book fair!

    thanks for sponsoring this.

    2kidsblogger(at)gmail(dot)com

  25. I think this is a great idea for a book… I am a firm believer that reading to your children is a great idea and would love to see the ‘proof!’

  26. I like this: Fat Cat On a Mat
    Series: Easy Words to Read

    All the books in this series would be great for my classroom.

  28. my girls keep checking the princess book that our library carries. I like the puzzel ones too. I think my girls would like the fairy one

  29. We’d really enjoy “See Inside Castles” over here. My son’s all about looking into things to see the way they work, and castles fit into that (with the drawbridge and other moving parts). Thanks for the fun giveaway! I’ve wanted this read-aloud handbook for a while.
    Megret

  30. I am terrible with knowing names of publishers. I think one of the families I used to babysit for had the castle puzzle book under the Knights and Castles category.
    Right now I have been focused on finding/borrowing/choosing/buying books that will help develop my sons reading. I immediately went to check out their readers selection. I am very intrigued by their Young Readers fiction set. It has some of the classics in there it looks like.
    My kids also love all types of look and find books which i see they have too. :) great site!

  31. I’ve always loved Usborne books, they have the best stuff! We read aloud every night before bed — the kids and I love to snuggle and read.

  32. when my older kids when they were younger, I read aloud to them a lot. now we all read aloud to the younger ones. and all my kids love books and reading, and I’m so glad!!

  33. Since I’m starting to teach my oldest to read, the phonics ones look great, especially the one called the fat cat on a mat :)

  34. I enjoy reading out loud to my younger two kids. My teens won’t let me read to them any more :)

  35. I think the Decorating T-Shirts Kid Kit looks pretty cool, it would be fun to have my daughter and her friends make their own shirts. I think they’d be pretty proud of themselves.

  36. As a homeschool mom, I’ve used many Usborne books in the past. I found so many new ones on the website I want to add to our collection! My kids love all the information and bright colorful illustrations in these books.

  37. I love the selection of pirate books. My son is so into pirates, he would all those pirate books.

  39. So many fantastic books. My son would love the See Inside Dinosaurs, as well as any of the 1001 Things to Find books. The Christmas one looks neat!

    I’ve heard fantastic things about the Read-Aloud Handbook, too.

  42. We love Usborne books! My son has “That’s not my monster”, which is great! They have a whole line of “that’s not my… ” books and I would get more of those!

  44. What a great give away. I have toyed with the idea of becoming an Usborne consultant for months. Their books look fantastic. I saw them in person at a stall at a fair one day and was hooked. I have a feeling I’d spend more than I’d make. The quality seems wonderful.

  45. The Usbourne books always look so great. I tried looking a bit older this time, and was interested in the Ballerina Dreams series…there are some good looking ones there. Thanks for having such a timely giveaway with BTS upon us! And for telling the world about Trelease–reading aloud is one of the best things you can do with your kids…not just for their education, but for the family time it garners

  48. I would love to get 1001 Things to Spot in the Sea. My little guy just loves fish. Thanks for the giveaway.

  49. I love the book There’s a Mouse About the House. It is adorable and a lot of fun to have the mouse poke through the little slots to the next page.

  50. I think the Sticker Dolly Dressing Ballerinas book would be fun to read and interact with. My daughter is getting into dancing and likes to twirl around.

  54. My son likes bugs, so I think he would like the Creepy Crawlies LTF. One of my mom’s groups is having an Usborne party, maybe I’ll go.

  56. We read daily however I’d love to learn how to really make it educational and fun for my little one. He already enjoys it but if I can enhance our reading time that would be an extra, extra bonus!

  59. Wow! This is a really great company – it was hard to choose just one book, but I think that my daughter would be most interested in the “What’s Happening Series” and the book titled “At the Zoo.” The read aloud book also sounds like a great resource for parents. Thanks for sharing this!

  60. I am eyeing the Fairy Making Book from Usbourne Books. I love what they have to offer – we don’t own any but I always look at them! Fantastic.

  61. That book sounds amazing! I might have to check it out! Right now there are so many books we love to read, but “Chicka Chicka Boom Boom” is a favorite in our house right now.

  62. My daughter and I love to read together. We have quite a few Usborne books and I like that they have such a wide range of book topics for different age groups.

  65. We love the 1001 Things to Spot series — they make great books for car trips. I’d get the 2 we’re missing, Puzzle Car Race, Going to School, and a couple board books illustrated by Stephen Cartwright (we love his families).

  67. The books that spark my interests are: Why Should I Keep Fit? and I Can Draw Animals.

    Thanks for the giveaway!

  68. Wow, the Usborne books look fantastic. They have a huge variety: princesses, trucks, puppies, dragons, stickers, and more. I don’t know if I could pick only six. :D

  69. I kind of like the see inside your body book. They all look great!
    I like…
    50 things to draw and paint
    East of the Sun, West of the Moon
    Going to the Doctor Sticker Book
    Illustrated Classics for Girls
    Knights
    I could probably go on and on! Great website!

  70. Since I have always love children’s books, I could have a field day with Usborne Books. Some of my picks are: A Squirrel’s Tale, That’s Not My Monkey,
    Curly the Pig and Unique Monique. Thanks for this chance…..Cindi

  71. We love books and with school starting my youngest is to read 15 min every night.I also have one that loves me to read to him.

  72. Usborne books are very high quality books. We have enjoyed them for some time now and are just eager to buy more as our twins get older.

  74. We have several of the Usbourne baby and toddler books but my son would love the Pirate Things to Make & Do Kid Kit.

  77. My son would love Dinosaurs Next Door. I like that they are less traditional than the scholastic books.

  78. So many of our books are Usborne! Such quality books! Sonlight (homeschool) curriculum uses their books a lot!

  80. As a librarian and a new mom I just can not get enough books. I just love them. I am vaguely familiar with these books and I would lovbe to have one.

  85. I am just now getting to read to Lily and I am loving it. Sure she eats most of the books while I try to read them to her but its a start.

    I love the idea behind these products.

  86. We love the Usborne books because my 2nd grader is SO into science. I can’t get him to read chapter books like other kids his age but he soaks up non-fiction like nothing. We have gotten him a couple over the past year and I think it would be a great Christmas present for him to get him some more.

  88. First let me say… I love the quote! Aren’t Usborne books the best? We own a couple and they are fantastic. I would love this read-aloud handbook and my qst grader would love the “I Can Draw” books from Usborne.

  90. My son would love this:

    1001 Things To Spot At Christmas
    Series: 1001 Things to Spot
    Author: Frith, Alex

  91. I browsed the Usborne Catalog and Big Pig On A Dig looks like a perfect book for my Kindergartner, with easy words he can handle.

  92. I too like so many!! It was hard to decide on one. I would surely choose the Curly the Pig
    Series: Farmyard Tales Board Books
    Author: Heather Amery and Stephen Cartwright. We have a farm animal section at the zoo and my daughter loves it. Doesn’t hurt to give the old swine some positive attention with all the awful flu too! :)

  93. I consider The Read Aloud Handbook one of my all time favorite “parenting” books. I picked up my copy about a year before I became a parent at a book signing/ lecture event he did in our town. Love it!

  94. I’ve been eyeing up that How Big is a Million book too! The penguin is adorable and it sounds just delightful.

  95. How cool! I wish I’d had “100 Things for little children to do on a trip” last weekend lol :)

  97. Oh, how we love Usborne books. My sister-in-law has been a distributor for many years. I always request the books for my kids’ birthday and Christmas gifts.

    Our favorites are the Farmyard Tales.

  98. I just signed up to “sell” Usborne books. Not really as a business, but to add to our book collection and there are so many of their books that I love. They were having a great deal for signing up that I just couldn’t pass it by. I will have to look at the Read Aloud Handbook.

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