I am excited to tell you about a new family tradition that we just started: MOMMY BOOKSTORE! My kids adore books and being read to, but my son is a very reluctant reader when it comes to him reading aloud on his own. We used to have a battle every time he had to read for homework. Tears, whining, moping. AY AY AY!!!!
Lately things have been looking up. HALLELUJAH! The first big change started when I bought the Very First Reading Set from Usborne Books & More. (I am one of their Independent Consultants.) They begin as dual readers and break down the sounds that are learned by book. Because there is a part for a kid to read and a part for an adult to read, the books are able to be easy enough for the child to find success but still have an actual story since an adult is contributing. All of the sudden reading aloud was FUN for him. He loves reading with us at night, and now he could contribute and feel great about his own reading. This set was a TOTAL GAME CHANGER for us. If you want to learn more about it and see my son and I demonstrate it in action then you can check out this YouTube video.
The second big change was when I started doing a “Mommy Bookstore” as a reading incentive. I have a massive stash of books that the kids haven’t seen yet because I am a bit of a children’s literature junkie. (More on building your own stash below.) I decided that instead of giving them to them randomly I wanted to make them earn them. And what better way to earn a book than with reading?! And what better REWARD is there for reading than a new book that the child is then excited to . . . you guessed it . . . READ?! I printed out a page of black and while book images, and every time he read a book aloud to someone he got to color one in. When the strip is filled he can visit the “Mommy Bookstore!” The page of books has four rows on it. Right now we are starting with one row at a time to get his confidence and excitement up about earning books from “Mommy Bookstore.” Eventually we will work up to two rows, and so on and so forth.
(YOU CAN DOWNLOAD THE BOOK PAGE HERE)
Of course, we couldn’t leave out Little Miss, so she gets to color one in whenever a book is read to her before bedtime. That way they each potentially fill up about one a week from weeknight reading.
Next I simply grab books from my stash and throw them on the shelves we have in our living room or on the stairs so they are “on display.” The kids hand in their “book tickets” and get to choose one book! The rest go back into the box for another bookstore day.
Happy, excited little readers. It make both my mother heart and my teacher heart happy!
Now, let’s talk about HOW in the world I get all of these books. First of all, I’ll be frank: this is kindof my thing, so it is a place that I choose to spend money. As a first year teacher I ended up with a MUCH larger classroom library than my mentor teacher who had been teaching for 20 years! I adore reading, and I am particularly obsessed with children’s literature. You can sneak a peek at our family’s children’s book library HERE and at my son’s dedicated closet reading nook HERE. My favorite class in college was Children’s Literature. It’s just my thing. I secretly dream of writing a children’s book or two someday. We will see. 🙂
THERE ARE PLENTY OF CHEAP WAYS TO GET BOOKS, so don’t be discouraged and think I just have a ton of money. (I don’t!) Here are three great ways to collect books for your own “Mommy Bookstore.” Here are my top three ideas:
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USBORNE BOOKS & MORE: THROW A PARTY WITH ME OR JOIN MY TEAM
I am an Usborne Book & More Independent Consultant, and I am SUCH a fan of these books! They were my favorite books to use in my classroom as a teacher, and they are my favorite books now as a mom! They are sturdy, high quality hardback books. They are beautifully illustrated. The nonfiction books CAN’T be beat, and the Kane Miller fiction books are amazing at teaching kids great social skills. You can see my love for Usborne books in videos that I have made talking about the different genres and showing inside of books on my YouTube channel, or you can read blog posts about my favorites in my READING ROCKS archives.
Here are two GREAT way to get Usborne books FREE or DEEPLY DISCOUNTED:
- Throw a party with me! I am sure you have been invited to a FB party or a home party. Well, I keep mine short and sweet and I give great prizes. You can earn LOTS of free and super discounted books as a reward for hosting an Usborne Books & More party with me, and if you book a with me I can also offer you a bonus coupon for 65% off of a COLLECTION!! (Any collection valued at $99 or less.) AMAZING deal! I would LOVE to work together on a party!! Email me at bombshellbling@gmail.com if you are interested in learning more about what that would entail or in scheduling something! I will not pressure you, but I WILL be excited to hear from you! 🙂
- JOIN MY TEAM! As an Usborne Books & More Independent Consultant I get a discount all of the time and have access to all sorts of bonuses for free books, as well as hostess rewards and discounts when I throw my own parties, not to mention the income that I get for my family! IN THE MONTH OF SEPTEMBER YOU CAN JOIN USBORNE BOOKS & MORE FOR AS LITTLE AS $25!!! Email me for more details at bombshellbling@gmail.com. I will not pressure you, and I would love to answer any questions that you may have about the biz.
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SCHOLASTIC BOOK ORDERS
You know those newsprint book orders your kid’s teacher sends home each month? Well, not only do kids love them, but they do have some really great deals in there! Not all parents love the cartoon books that feel like advertising (one reason I love Usborne – none of that), but there is almost always a 99 cent book and the paperback books are very cheap, especially in sets! Paperback books are not as sturdy, but kids don’t really care. (As long as you are ok with stapling and taping them back together once they are used to the point of falling apart. We have many a taped book!) 🙂 I usually let me son look at the book orders and circle everything he wants. Then I ignore the gimicky books with toys and fuzzy pens include and pic several books that he liked and buy them. He is surprised when he gets the order, and now that I am doing Mommy Bookstore I tell his teachers I will pick them up so he doesn’t see them until they pop up in Mommy Bookstore. So fun!
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BOOK OF THE MONTH CLUBS
Do you remember those CD clubs where you could get a ton of CDs upfront for $1 and then you were committed to buy a certain number of regular CDs in order to quit the club? I totally got sucked into so many of those in high school and college! Now I have switched over to things like the Disney Movie Club, but there are also clubs around the web for books! We don’t belong to any, but you can Google it and have books arrive at your door each month. I am thinking of starting one using Usborne books. Anyone interested?
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THRIFT STORES
The most budget friendly option would be thrift stores and library used book sales. There you can get books CRAZY cheap. They will be used books, so they won’t be shiny and new, but they are books for a steal! (The Goodwill near us has books for as low as a quarter a pop!)
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That was a lot of information to take in, so how about a fun giveaway?! Let’s get your own Mommy Bookstore kick started with a collection of five of our family’s favorite picture books! (They are not all Usborne, FYI.) Enter below using the Rafflecopter Widget. The giveaway will end Wednesday, September 9 at midnight EST.
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Jess says
September 3, 2015 at 1:59 pmTodd and I tried something similar this summer. To keep our kids excited about reading, we incorporated a reading challenge into our family using cute printables I found here: http://www.howdoesshe.com/summer-reading-star-kit-now-with-new-bingo-cards/
One of the coupons was for a brand-new book that they each got to pick out, and we just got a box of Usborne books delivered to our door, containing their prizes! They were really excited about “earning” their coupons, and then redeeming them like money for a new book! But I like your Mommy Bookstore idea so much, and I think that I’ll try that as an alternative next summer, so that maybe every coupon is for a small book, and then the golden ticket is for a shiny new big book, or something like that. I’ll tweak it to see what works for us, but I LOVE this idea! Thanks for sharing!!
Sarah Westover McKenna says
September 3, 2015 at 4:50 pmLove it!
Nicole Sender says
September 3, 2015 at 2:25 pmGoodnight Moon
Eloise Wilkin’s Poems to read to the very young
Noah’s Noisy Zoo
Marilyn says
September 3, 2015 at 2:56 pmThank you for this generous giveaway.
Marilyn
Marilyn says
September 3, 2015 at 2:58 pmMy favorite picture books are The Little Puppy, and most of the Golden Books.
Marilyn
Laura says
September 3, 2015 at 8:36 pmIn my home? Well right now Luke loves Find the Puppy, Goodnight Moon, and Hippos Go Berserk. But my favorite is Paper Bag Princess!
Angela Slate says
September 3, 2015 at 10:16 pmI love Usborne Books too! We homeschool and have been collecting Usborne Books for about 14 years. I’m marking your blog so I can find it again!
Sarah Westover McKenna says
September 4, 2015 at 8:08 amExcellent! Have you ever thought about becoming a consultant? This month (September) there is a deal to join up for $25! It doesn’t come with books – only the consultant online tools and credentials, but it would be PERFECT for someone with a collection, even if you just sign up for the discount! 🙂 It’s a pretty easy way to build your collection and make a little $$$! Or we could throw a FB party together! 🙂 No pressure – just throwing those things out there. Let me know if you have questions! bombshellbling@gmail.com 🙂 Thanks for entering the giveaway!
Tia Stokes says
September 4, 2015 at 12:49 amWe have several of the Southwestern Kids books and my boys devour them! They love to be read to as well and I like the idea of this bookstore to encourage them to get in on the action. We just read one from the library called superhero ABC and my older kids thought it was hilarious! We might have to own it now.
Sandra says
September 4, 2015 at 4:22 amI love the whole Ladybug Girl series, the whole Fly Guy series and a book I’ve held onto since I was a kid called The Clown Arounds.
Alina says
September 4, 2015 at 6:07 amThe three top books at our house lately are –
How much I love you
Goodnight Moon
Green Eggs and Ham
Rebekah L says
September 4, 2015 at 10:51 amThe Day the Crayons Quit, All the Pinkalicious books, No David
Sarah Elyce says
September 4, 2015 at 12:11 pmI love: On the Night You Were Born, Waddle, and Gallop.
Rachel says
September 4, 2015 at 3:11 pmThis is the cutest idea ever. Great idea, Mom! I can totally picture your kids ooohing and aaaahing over the books on display and having the hardest time choosing just one.
Noah loves to read, as you know. Right now his favorites are the Bernstein Bears (which he just discovered at the library), Big Book of Big Sea Creatures, and Cat in the Hat. I actually despise Cat in the Hat for some reason, and I try to hide it. 😉
Sarah Westover McKenna says
September 5, 2015 at 6:10 pmHaha. You weirdo. It’s a classic!
Sean says
September 5, 2015 at 8:02 amThe Very Hungry Caterpillar
Same, Same But Different
Whoever You Are
Crystal says
September 5, 2015 at 6:22 pmI just bought a new bookshelf in my office just for kids books since I have so many.
I have The Very Hungry Caterpillar, Chicka Chicka Boom Boom, Brown Bear What Do You See?
Elizabeth Dye says
September 8, 2015 at 2:45 pmAgh! I JUST had an Usborne FB party last Thursday! Did NOT get the 65% off offer of a set. Dang! Wish I would have seen your post first! Love the books and had $411.00 worth of books on my wish list. Maybe next year I can become a consultant. Things are two busy with two littles at the moment. Oh… And my great grandmother comes from a long line of McKenna’s. 😉
Elizabeth Dye says
September 8, 2015 at 2:50 pm*TOO busy!
Sarah Westover McKenna says
September 8, 2015 at 4:08 pmLet me know if you want to join my team or throw another party down the road! 🙂
Amanda Chav says
September 9, 2015 at 8:58 pmWe are moving out of the strictly picture book phase but we still love LLama Llama Red Pajama, What the Ladybug Heard, and any of the Berenstain Bear books.
Bridgett says
September 9, 2015 at 10:26 pmBooks are my thing too! What a great idea to use my stash as an incentive, I am going to do that. I love Usborne!
Sarah Westover McKenna says
September 10, 2015 at 9:22 amUsborne rocks! 🙂 Let me know if you ever want to throw a party together! 🙂
Sarena @ Teal Inspiration says
September 20, 2015 at 4:29 pmWhat a fun (and educational) idea! Thanks for sharing and for linking up with us at the #HomeMattersParty!