June Usborne Reader

The Usborne Reader Volume I| Issue #3| June 2006
How many of you participated in TV Turn Off Week back in April?  My family did (for the most part), and I was surprised by how hard it was for the kids (ages 2 & 5).  I have never thought that we were big TV-watchers.  But, judging by the loud complaints from hubby and kids, we might not all be on the same page. That tells me we have some work to do this summer.          It's time to discover the big wide world–starting with our own backyard.  So, we've registered our yard as an official campsite in the National Wildlife Federation's "Great American Backyard Campout" on June 24th. My husband, Jimmy, will be in charge of the official campout since I'll be at UBAH's national convention in Tulsa.  But I'm sure we'll have lots of practice campouts and plenty of other outdoor adventures leading up to it.  Find out how you can participate at www.backyardcampout.org.         Speaking of the Usborne convention later this month, Peter Usborne usually graces us with his presence and bestows upon us all kinds of inspiration (he's truly a remarkable person, read more about him below).  One of the main reasons he flies in from London each year is to get some of our ideas for future Usborne titles and hear the feedback we receive from our customers.  Anything you'd like me to pass on to him?          I can't wait to come back from convention with a new catalog and lots of new books to show you!  If you haven't had a chance to check out the new titles released in April, swing by my website at www.RaiseReaders.com.  While you're there, be sure to look at the internet-only specials and sign up for the monthly drawing for $50 in books.  April's winner was Deborah Henderlong; and May's winner was Bridgette Campoverde.  Congratulations ladies!         Another winner! My nephew Julian recently earned more than $100 in books for himself after completing a Reach for the Stars read-a-thon. Find out more about Julian's reading success story and Usborne's awesome reading incentive fundraiser.         Join me for some summer fun at my Ready, Set, Summer! party on Friday, June 16th.  We'll have make-and-take crafts for Father's Day, science experiments, ice cream sandwiches and lots, lots more!  Read on for more summer ideas, an introduction to Peter Usborne, and a book review from Usborne reader Elise Pailthorpe.  Please send your book reviews, ideas and feedback to me at RaiseReaders@yahoo.com. Happy reading! Jennifer Jennifer MacAdam-Miller, Independent Educational Consultant Visit my website at www.RaiseReaders.com
Do you love Usborne books and want to share them with children? Would helping to promote literacy be meaningful to you? Do you want a job (or a hobby) that can work around your family's needs? Learn more about what an Usborne Books at Home business can offer you! Click here for more info on the Usborne Opportunity!	What could you do with $100 (or more!) in free books? Get a jump-start on summer: *Rainy day projects *Summer reading *Nature guides *Ten Terrific Weeks summer bridge curriculums *Reward your kids for a great school year with fun books that will help them retain and build upon the skills they learned in school *Encourage your struggling reader to follow his interests and discover that he can read to learn (and enjoy it, too) *Build up a birthday party gift stash *Donate some–or all–of your free books to your favorite charity serving children (I have a few suggestions). Contact Jennifer at 314-965-8176 or RaiseReaders@yahoo.com to book your home show today!  Too busy for a home show?  Try a catalog show or e-show with the same great rewards.  Ask me how!
Usborne Reader's Review by Elise Pailthorpe              When Jennifer asked me to write a book review for her newsletter, I was more than happy to do it.  But I knew the hard part would be choosing which Usborne book to write about. I narrowed it down to just a few.         In 2004, when our daughter, Evelyn, was 2, her Daddy had to go to Africa for a year.  We purchased the Usborne Children’s Picture Atlas so she could learn all about the places her Daddy would visit. People were impressed that Evelyn knew that Ethiopia and Djibouti were in Africa and that her Daddy was working there.        Our bedtime routine has always included a few stories. We have always begun by reading the title, and the names of the author and illustrator. Evelyn can’t read yet, but when we pick up one of her Usborne Farmyard Tales, and read the title, she yells out, “written by Heather Amery and Stephen Cartwright!” Evelyn’s Daddy was very tired one night and thought he would shorten story time by skipping a page or two while reading The Runaway Tractor. Do you think she caught it? You betcha! Evelyn knows each book page by page, and loves listening to them over and over and over and…          Bugs and Slugs is another book that we love reading. Like most 4 year olds, Evelyn is very curious about little creatures she sees creeping and crawling about.         How do you explain the difference between a centipede and a millipede? What is an aphid? How does a fly walk upside down? How do flies taste things they land on? How does a spider keep from getting stuck in its own web? Why are worms and ladybugs good for your gardens?         Evelyn has learned the answers to all of these questions by reading Bugs and Slugs. The illustrations are so vivid; it’s as if the bugs are real! Judy Tatchell, the author, does such a great job of putting into words what most children want to know about bugs. Evelyn loves lifting the flaps to find the surprises on each page.          Every one of our Usborne books has stood the test of time and of a curious 4 year old. We love seeing Evelyn’s face light up when we bring a new Usborne book home, and we know it will be another one we read over and over and over and….Evelyn’s excitement about reading keeps us on our toes and reminds us that the quality of books she is exposed to is so very important. This is why we choose to read Usborne books in our home and encourage other families to do the same. Elise Pailthorpe and her family are new to the St. Louis area, but no strangers to Usborne Books.  After working for 19 years at a preschool in Virginia (and sponsoring many Usborne bookfairs), Elise moved to Kirkwood in January of 2006 and joined the staff of the Webster-Kirkwood YMCA's Before and After Care and Summer Camp programs.  Welcome to St. Louis Pailthorpe family! Submit your idea for a book review written by you, your child or the whole family.  You will receive your choice of $25 in Usborne books upon pubilcation.  Send your ideas or questions to RaiseReaders@yahoo.com. June 2006 Ready, Set, Summer! Friday, June 16th 4 p.m. - 7 p.m. Jennifer's house 804 E. Essex Ave. Glendale, MO 63122  Get set for summer with fun ideas from Usborne Books, Pampered Chef, and Discovery Toys.  This free event will include sidewalk chalk drawing, make-and-take crafts for Father's Day, science experiments, ice cream sandwiches, amazing toys, and cooking demonstrations with an emphasis on making fruit & veggies appealing to kids.  Come join the fun!  RSVP to Jennifer at 314-965-8176.Heart of Webster Sidewalk Sale Saturday, June 17th 8 a.m. - 4 p.m. UBAH National Convention June 22-25 Tulsa, OK Great American Backyard Campout Saturday, June 24 Reading Rewards by Laura Faulkingham         Julian just got a box of books he earned by doing an Usborne "Reach for the Stars" fundraiser for his school. Let me just say "Wow!"  How exciting!  Look at all the books he earned!         If any kids you know ever get the opportunity to participate in one of these Usborne fundraisers you should most definitely encourage them to do it. All he had to do was read for 300 minutes (and in-school reading counts, so he was set up to win from the start). With the generous sponsorship of many family members and friends, Julian raised about $200–half of which he got to spend on books just for him. The other half gets divided into books for the classroom and cash for the classroom, so it's a great win-win situation for everyone. I'm so impressed by how this fundraiser worked (and that's a completely unbiased comment, even though the Usborne consultant who arranged this event happens to be my sister). And I'm equally impressed by my formerly reluctant reader's enthusiasm for his new books (do you notice that most of the books are kind of "brainy" books? Woo hoo! That's my boy!)        Look at my happy reader.  I'm so proud!     Julian was one of three students to participate in a Reach for the Stars reading incentive fundraiser benefiting Tutoring with Montessori Insights.  Collectively, they read for more than 900 minutes and turned in about $375 in pledges.        Reach for the Stars is a great way to raise funds for your school, church, or any other organization.  It works beautifully as a community service project (with the cash and/or books donated to charity), reinforces reading as a fun and worthwhile endeavor, and rewards kids for reading with more books to read!         Any group of kids (and/or parents) can do a Reach for the Stars fundraiser: playgroups, homeschool groups, summer camps, vacation bible schools, scout troops, best friends with a cause ….  Ask me how to get started! Ten Terrific Weeks: Summer School at Home      The school year is winding down to a close. Thoughts are turning to summer vacation–and getting ready for next school year!  Many parents worry that a summer spent goofing around will mean spending fall trying to catch up to grade level again.      Several years ago, two Usborne consultants who had heard this concern from many customers came up with a solution: Ten Terrific Weeks! Reading Adventure Programs.  These themed sets of books come with a curriculum that provides reading assignments, topics for discussion and related activities, along with shopping lists for supplies and food (if applicable).  The daily activities are age-appropriate, interactive ideas that make learning fun and generally take less than an hour each day (although you can certainly do more)–so there's still time for goofing off! Summer Fun with Usborne  A few ideas for pairing books with summertime activities: Outdoor Exploration     Rainy Day Sunshine           Restless Travelers   Meet Peter Usborne Peter Usborne came to book publishing with a background as the founding publisher of "Private Eye," a successful British satirical magazine.  I had the pleasure of meeting him in Tulsa at the Usborne Books convention in June of 2005.  He spoke about how he wound up publishing what have become the world's leading educational children's books. "My wife announced that she was pregnant, and suddenly, it seemed the only thing worth doing in life was doing books for children," he said. With a loan of  200,000 pounds from his former boss, he set off to start his own company; and in 1973, he founded Usborne Publishing.  Usborne Books are now written by a 70 member staff, and illustrated by hundreds of artists in London.   Peter describes his company as "partly a business, but not primarily a business."  Rather, it is a guild of craftsmen dedicated to Peter's vision and the unchanging values of Usborne books. More from Peter:     "The remarkable success of Usborne Books derives from the simple idea that it is possible, without any sacrifice of quality, to produce non-fiction books as interesting and entertaining as television, magazines and comics — media that most children instinctively prefer. We compete with those "friendly" media in a number of ways, many of them unique to Usborne Publishing.     "First, and most important, we spend an enormous amount of time and money producing every one of our books. These huge investments are essential for researching, visualizing and illustrating often very difficult subjects, such as computers, biology or typography, in a really simple, stylish and appealing way without losing detail or accuracy. We can only afford to do books in this laborious way because we persuade dozens of publishers overseas to share cost with us in return for the right to publish our books in their own languages.     "The sale of our books overseas is now so widespread that it is probably quite difficult to go on holiday anywhere in the world without bumping into an Usborne book. Apart from time and money, we use a number of other ingredients to make our books appealing to children: humor whenever possible; a remarkably wide variety of illustration styles, increasingly including photography, a very high ratio of pictures to text; short magazine-like paperback formats; tremendous detail; and a totally clear, simple but unpatronising text. We never, never talk down to children.     "The growth in the sales of Usborne books in the last few years has been quite remarkable, helped, we believe, by a rapidly increasing concern among parents to support the education of their children by providing stimulating and interesting books at home. It is becoming more and more widely accepted that the presence-and ownership-of books at home is one of the key factors linked to success at school. Many more teachers now accept that parents can, and should, play an important role in helping with children's education.     "Meanwhile, we continually experiment with new directions and media. But whatever we do, we always try to stick to our first principle: Finding out can and should be fun." Fried chicken, deviled eggs, and … Usborne Books?  Invite Usborne Books to your church picnic, company picnic or other group event!  We'll provide fun arts & crafts, science experiments, or storytime for the kids; and an opportunity for parents to stock up on summer reading material and activities to keep children happily engaged in learning.  A portion of the proceeds can go to your organization or a favorite charity in the form of books or cash.