Usborne children's books - a World of Reading

1 - I can do better 2 - Jury's out 3 - Pretty darn good 4 - Splendiferous 5 - Awesometastic by 4 people | Log in to rate

Ranked #667 in Books, #53,613 overall

Teeny Weeny Books

I absolutely love Usborne children's books! So I've decided to become a consultant. This is my Ode to Usborne, and my plug for my business :)

Usborne Publishing has been in existence for over 30 years (founded in the UK) and is one of the world's leading children's book publishers, with translations in almost ninety languages - including a substantial list of french offerings. They have something fun and educational for children at every stage of literacy, from first word books to fiction. Many of the books in the reading programme and in other series fit very neatly into current school curriculums - in the UK and Canada for sure, and I suspect in the US and Australia as well! For example, in Canada - the grade six science curriculum has a forensic science module, and coincidentally, Usborne books has a great forensic science book that fits right into it (true criminal investigations)! I've added it to my "Titles Available on Amazon" section below, and yes, I'm in the midst of reading it myself and will be providing a review in the "My Book Reviews" section.

As I'm Canadian, here's the link to the main Canadian website: www.usbornebooksathome.ca. And a link to my personal site where I'm posting the various monthly promotions, the occasional blog, and other interesting information: Teeny Weeny Books

What are the prices like, you ask? Well, 90% of the books are under $20 - 70% are under $15 and 35% are under $10! Other questions you might have:

Q: How many titles are available?
A: Over 2000 titles are available - the majority in English, but many in French,and yes, Spanish.

Q: How many books are available in French/Spanish - and are they translations of English Usborne titles or are they completely different?
A: In French there are over 380 titles, and in Spanish there are about 80 at any given time. They are translations of English Usborne titles. See "Where you can buy the books" for a link to the online catalogue, including specific searches for French and Spanish listings!

Usborne Reading Programme 

This is what intrigued me...

Learning to read, and learning to love it - what better gift can you give a child?

The Usborne Reading Programme has over 200 titles in it, graded in seven levels and covering a wide range of subjects, both fiction and non-fiction. Learning to read is made easy through the use of phonics, repetition, and concentration on the concept of "first 100/1000 words". As well, the illustrations capture a child's imagination and help motivate them to read.

Go to my personal website and view the Usborne Reading Programme page. There I've got a couple of pictures summarizing the programme's framework at each of its levels - their basic narrative content, number of pages, words per page, sentence length, themes, grammar and vocabulary. Or you can find the same information with a bit more detail in my Usborne Reading Programme lens.

Where you can buy the books 

Some Usborne book titles are available in bookstores, like Chapters, or on Amazon, but not all of them. The best way to see what is available is to have a home show and have a consultant bring catalogues and some samples. You and your children can explore the catalogue and see the books first-hand. There are touchy-feely books, noise-making books, books with CDs, stickerbooks, puzzlebooks, encyclopaedias and much much more. If you're in Calgary, Alberta and are interested in having a home show, contact me!

Failing having a show in your home, you can explore the catalogue online at the main Usborne website(s) and put in your individual order with a consultant. The Canadian catalogue is located on www.usbornebooksathome.ca - you click on "Browse Catalogue" under Quick Links. Here's a direct link to the catalogue if you don't feel like navigating ;-) Once you are in the catalogue, you can search on a number of options, including title, series, author, illustrator, age and keywords.

As well, there is a substantial number of titles (over 400) available in French and Spanish. Again, just go to the main website and then click on "French and Spanish". Again, here's a direct link - French and Spanish.

Right now, there isn't a way to order on-line directly, but if you do want to order books, you can do so through me. I can have the books shipped anywhere in Canada.

I've put some links here to E-bay auctions and to titles available on Amazon for you to explore further.

So you don't want to host a home show, just to get hostess credits... 

Well, you have some other options:

If you don't really want to have people over to your house for a little book party, you have some other options to earn hostess credits. Here's a couple of ideas:

1. Host a "book party". Have a few friends who don't mind shopping from a catalogue? Why don't you ask a consultant to drop off some catalogues with you, and maybe even a small basket of books as samples? Have your friends look at the catalogues, and give their orders directly (call/email) to the consultant (just have them mention you as the "hostess") and you get the hostess credits!

2. Host an "e-book party". Same idea as above, except do it through email! Email your friend, have them check out the online catalogue and then have them email (or call) the consultant mentioning you as the hostess... and again, instant hostess credits...

New Titles and Monthly Promotions 

for direct customers, and for home show hosts/customers

Every month, Usborne publishes new titles and offers up hostess and customer promotions, like 50% off certain titles. Any customer buying $50 or more of books is entitled to take advantage of these customer specials. I won't repeat that information here, but rather, please link to my website where I update my promotion pages monthly:
  • November Hostess and Customer Specials
  • November New Titles
  • My Blog 

    My adventures as I develop my Usborne books business

    My Blog
    I'm writing the occasional blog entries chronicling my various activities, and fun happenings as I develop my Usborne books business

    My Book Reviews 

    See what my son and I think of some of the Usborne titles...

    Early Years titles
    That's Not My...
    That's Not My Penguin
    Noisy Touchy-Feely books
    This is My Monster
    Noisy books
    Noisy Town

    ...more to come...

    Usborne titles available on Amazon 

    Some Usborne books can be found in bookstores but...

    that is only a small subset of the over 2000 titles (in English, French and Spanish) which you have access to when you contact an Usborne book consultant. Here are some of the titles available on Amazon right now.

    The Usborne Complete Book of Art Ideas (Usborne Art Ideas)

    Amazon Price: $13.59 (as of 12/02/2009) Buy Now

    Science Encyclopedia (Usborne Internet-Linked Discovery Program)

    Amazon Price: (as of 12/02/2009) Buy Now

    Usborne Sparkly Touchy-feely Fairies (Usborne Sparkly Touchy Feely)

    Amazon Price: $10.87 (as of 12/02/2009) Buy Now

    Going To School (Usborne First Experiences)

    Amazon Price: $4.99 (as of 12/02/2009) Buy Now

    Forensic Science

    Amazon Price: $8.79 (as of 12/02/2009) Buy Now

    Usborne titles on eBay 

    New and Used Usborne books

    The selection is even more limited on eBay, but sometimes you can find those rare/out-of-print titles. Here's a posting of the latest auctions on eBay.

    Loading Fetching new data from eBay now... please stand by
    eBay

    My other webpages 

    Here is a handy list of my other webpages

    I've embedded links to these elsewhere in here, but thought I'd also include them here for quick reference.
    Teeny Weeny Books on Facebook
    My Facebook product page. It links back to my main website, and to this squidoo page. I tend to put short book reviews on here for the new and reprinted titles for any given month.
    Teeny Weeny Books
    My main website - my contact info, monthly updates on customer and hostess specials, etc

    Here's what Wikipedia has to say about Usborne Publishing... 

    Usborne Publishing, often called Usborne Books, is a United Kingdom-based publisher of children's literature.

    Founded by Peter Usborne in 1973, Usborne Publishing uses an in-house team of writers, editors and designers and is translated into over 55 languages. Its sister company Usborne Books at Home a direct sales association selling to families schools and communities, was founded 25 years ago and won the Direct Sales Association Award for Innovation in 2004.

    To coincide with the 2008 National Year of Reading, Usborne created the Usborne Reading Programme with a marketing campaign to encourage beginner readers. The programme is a collection of over 150 titles graded in seven levels covering a range of subjects, both fiction and non-fiction.

    Making a range of books for all ages, fiction and non-fiction, some of Usborne's series include:

    * Touchy Feely

    * History of Britain

    * Discovery

    * Look & Say

    * First Picture Books

    * Phonics Readers

    * Farmyard Tales

    * True Stories

    * Classics Retold

    * See Inside

    * Fabulous Fiction

    * Things to Make and Do

    * Puzzle Adventures

    * Beginners

    * First Thousand Words

    * Spotter's Guides

    * Usborne Reading Programme

    Hope you liked my lens on my little business... 

    I welcome your feedback on this lens, and of course, any questions about Usborne books. I'll either get back to you with an answer one-on-one, or who knows, maybe I'll post another module here or another lens to address it (and let you know)!

    submit

    Important Note 

    The words "Usborne" and "Usborne Books at Home" and the balloon logo are the trademarks of Usborne Publishing Ltd.

    Usborne Publishing Ltd. has no connection with these pages and neither sponsors nor supports their content.

    by ChrysW

    New mum, budding mompreneur... Right now, I am on maternity leave - my son is approaching a year old and is bursting with energy. I'm hoping that my n... (more)

    Explore related pages

    Create a Lens!