Our Family’s FAVORITE Children’s Books!

I am so excited to tell you about my family’s FAVORITE children’s books today.

Ever since my teaching days, about a decade ago, I have adored Usborne books.  I got my hands on some Usborne non-fiction books for my classroom and noticed how my third grade kids who were reluctant readers were drawn to these books.  ESPECIALLY the little boys.  They are just so COOL!  SO full of great illustrations, photos, and information.  Now, as a mother, I use them even more.  I am obsessed with them.  Don’t believe me?  When I started thinking about becoming an Usborne Books & More Independent Consultant as part of my little online world of business I decided to go through the house and gather up all of the Usborne books that I had bought either for my classroom or my children.  Here is the proof:

I freaking LOVE these books!!!!  To be fair, I freaking love MOST books, but these are truly my fav non-fiction kid books by far. Let me prove to you that I’m a true book lover whose opinion you can trust, and not just a blogger trying to make a buck.  😉

I am a total bookworm and always have been.  As a little girl I used to sneak flashlights under the covers and read into the wee small hours of the morning.  When my mom got wise to the reason I was always sleep deprived and took away my flashlight, I just started cracking the door a sliver and squinting in my bed to try to use that light to read.  Haha.  This trend carried on into my college years when I carried a book with me in my purse at all times and read it whenever I was in line or waiting for something to start.  (Sadly, my phone is usually my go-to in those situations now . . . I should really work on that!)  My favorite class in my major (elementary ed) was the children’s lit class because we were required to read so many books!  As a teacher, I spent the summers reading book after book after book — some children’s lit and some adult lit.  I collected a MASSIVE library of books for my classroom using my own pennies and book order points.  (I would max out the rewards with my own money in September and January when the book order points were the highest and then use the points for the rest of the year to get free books!  Great tip from my student teaching adviser.)  Then I would read all of the most popular novels and picture books, and at least one book from each series that I had in my classroom, so that I would be familiar enough with them to know what to recommend for each student, taking into account their reading level and personal interests.  Reading is my jam, man.  LOVE.

These days my classroom library resides in my home.  Let’s take a gander at my serious personal problems, shall we?  97% of these are from my teaching days, although now that my kids are in school and bringing home book orders my old habits are sneaking back in with a vengeance . . . (Addicted to book buying much?!)

The main home of my picture book library, the closet reading nook in my son’s Dr. Seuss bedroom.  Of course, he also has books stashed other places in the room as well . . .

We can’t forget about my daughter’s reading corner, now can we?

Or the holiday picture books . . .

Of course, some books have migrated to the main floor . . .

I was thrilled to find my mom’s picture books in the basement as well!

Just in case you still don’t believe me that I’m a true, blue children’s lit lover, I would also like to mention that I don’t have my chapter book collection out since my kids are so little.  I went to look at my collection in the crawl space and discovered that I have ELEVEN boxes STUFFED with chapter books, from early readers to teen lit.  ELEVEN.  I have some serious personal problems, my friends . . . 😉

Check out what else I spotted down there!  My overflowing box of kid holiday themed clothing and accessories (more serious personal problems) stuffed into an Usborne box of the past.  I’m a true blue believer, my friends.  🙂

So, anyway . . . I decided that it was pretty much a no brainer for me to choose to become an Usborne Books & More Independent Consultant.  I am SO EXCITED about it!  I feel like for the last few years I have been focusing on my creative side, but now my kids are getting a little older and more curious and eager to read and learn, my teacher side is starting to bloom again!  It makes me smile.  The bug has bitten me once more, and it’s time to put all of these books to use and to incorporate more teaching and kid crafts and activities into my life.

Let me clarify one thing: I am not turning this into a kid craft and learning blog, and I am not starting a new blog.  I am simply going to be incorporating more things like this into what I am already doing.  I will continue to flood you with baby headbands, jewelry, s’mores recipes, and Halloween decor.  I will just add a few more kid-friendly fun and learning ideas into the mix.  🙂  I AM EXCITED!

Now let’s talk more specifically about Usborne books.  As we established, I had quite a collection in my home prior to becoming an Independent Consultant . . .

Then I joined the Usborne team and got the consultant kit at a screaming deal . . .

The final Usborne collection is just one towering pile of joy, is it not??  I can’t WAIT to add more books to it!!

If you want to learn more about specific books or types of Usborne Books you can ALWAYS reach out to me!!  My email is bombshellbling@gmail.com, or you can catch me on FB or on a blog comment! 

Let me show you just a few of our favorites that were in the consultant starter kit.  My kids were ECSTATIC when that box arrived!!!

Just in that pic right there you can see examples of some of my fav Usborne offerings:

See Inside Your Body lift the flap book  is one of our all time favs!  My husband is in training to be a doctor, and he and my son have spent many hours pouring over that book together talking about the human body.

That’s Not My Pig is part of the series of my favorite baby touch and feel books EVER!  SO cute, SO much variety, and so STURDY!  (You saw that we have That’s Not My Princess above, among several other variations!)

We have the giant phonics reader Ted and Friends.  Lots of cute stories, and it comes with a CD.  It’s really beneficial for kids and developing readers to read along with a fluent reader such as an audio book.  Plus, they think it’s fun, especially if they get to wear headphones!

This Step-By-Step Drawing Book has been keeping my little artist very busy during the adult church meetings, and he is VERY pleased with himself for being able to create successful artwork.  Love that kid!

I had never seen the Muddle and Match series before.  I LOVE IT!!!  The kids think it’s just hilarious.  Each character is broken up into three page parts, so you can flip them and have something like a cowboy head with an alien body and pirate legs.  The best part isn’t the picture, though, it’s the funny cowboy start-alien middle-pirate ending of the story on the page at that point!  Too cute!!

100 Paper Planes to Fold & Fly was snatched up by this kid and he still hasn’t been put down.  He is currently filling a huge cardboard box with paper airplanes.  What we will do with all of them I will never know.  They other day I went upstairs and found him in his room with an elaborate paper airplane store laid out, patiently waiting for a customer.  He kills me!  🙂

The Encyclopedia of World History is currently too advanced for my peeps, but it is seriously amazing.  Dense, illustrated, and internet linked.  All of their encyclopedias are the bomb.  They are the kind of books my students used to love thumbing through in class.

The Sticker Dolly Dressing Princesses book was my daughter’s dream come true.  When a wild three year old sits and quietly works on something for over an hour you know it’s cool!  Each page has a sticker page that matches.  She has dressed her princesses for a masquerade ball, an ice skating day, and much more!  She was zooming through it so fast I had to hide it in the church bag and only bring it out on Sundays until I could buy her more sticker books!  The variety in this series for both boys and girls is pretty amazing.

Although this wasn’t in the initial consultant kit, I would be remiss if I didn’t mention the “Big Book of Big” series.  It is my son’s FAVORITE!!!!  Last year for 100s Day at school we read 100 books together.  I asked him to pick his favorite book that we read and smile with it for a picture to put on his poster.  Guess what he chose?  The Big Book of Big Bugs!  I think if I asked him today his fav would be The Big Book of Big Monsters.  He’s quite taken by that one at the moment.  So is his diva little sister, actually.  The conversations that they have had over that book crack me up.  He is all about trying to lecture her on the abilities of the monsters, but she is just into ooohing and ahhhing at the “creepy creepy PURPLE!”  (The scales.)  🙂

I could go on, but I think we can all agree that I have said enough.  😉  Longest post ever.  Yikes.  Sorry about that!  I get excited about things and tend to ramble, which you know if you have been here before.  It’s my way.  But, hey, you don’t have to take the word of the crazy, rambling book lady — take the word of one of the most famous bloggers in the world, not to mention a homeschooling mama: Ree Drummond, The Pioneer Woman.  She wrote a post just this month on why Usborne Books are her family’s FAVORITE as well!  And she’s concise!  😉  Read The Pioneer Woman’s post HERE.

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Here are two posts that break Usborne Books down in a more consise and straightforward way:

Our Family’s 9 All-Time Favorite Usborne Books

20 Incredible Activity Books for Kids of All Ages

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Sarah Westover McKenna

Sarah is the scattered creative mind behind Bombshell Bling. A former elementary school teacher and a current stay-at-home mom, she loves developing her creativity through her blog and her jewelry design business, Bombshell Bling Jewelry. Sarah is a lover of all things vintage, colorful, and BLING. She is also a sweets addict with a major obsession with s'mores.

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