“Books are the perfect entertainment: no commercials, no batteries, hours of enjoyment for each dollar spent. What I wonder is why everybody doesn’t carry a book around for those inevitable dead spots in life.” – Stephen King
Though I’ve been trying to be ruthless in decluttering and minimizing our belongings in our home this spring, there is one area that I just can’t/won’t downsize, and that’s our book collection.
We actually have five bookshelves. One for me and four for the girls.
As you can see. I have an agenda here. I hope that along with eating vegetables and writing thank-you notes, I can instill a passion for stories and words for all our kids. And so far, so good. We’ve been reading to the girls since they were babies and couldn’t do more besides chew on pages. Fast forward a few years and Cece’s independent reading has taken off since starting kindergarten and she can be found reading to herself or to Rosie. The girls look forward to story time every night and our trips to the library. (Even if story time frequently has moments of chaos and silliness…)
We’ve built our large book collection from various sources. Many books are from when Joe and I were young. We’ve also gotten so many fantastic FREE books from the Dolly Parton Imagination Library. We’ve been gifted many, bought a few ourselves, and we also love rotating out library books.
Another one of my favorite ways to acquire books over the years is through Usborne. The books are commonly sold through in-home or online parties. Everything I’ve bought is engaging, colorful, and interactive. The activity books we own have been a HUGE hit with the girls and have been perfect for travel, rainy days, or just breaking up the boredom. Below are a few of our favorites:
This Muddle and Match board book is a favorite as it lets the reader mix up typical character descriptions in silly and charming ways.
The wipe-clean dry erase books have been a fun way to practice numbers, letters and doodles. We own several of these and I love the reusability feature.
Of course anything with mermaids speak to us. This book illustrates simple steps to make all sorts of under-the-sea crafts. Currently in progress is an octopus mobile for the new baby!
I think sticker books will forever be a huge hit in this house. They encourage creativity and find motor skills. Plus it’s so much fun to apply stickers to your parents’ clothing when they aren’t looking.
Today, I’m excited to be partnering with a real-life friend of mine Kristina who sells Usborne to do a giveaway!
I’ll be selecting one winner to receive a $30 gift card to Usborne! All you need to do to enter is comment on this post and mention the type of book or books you know your child would enjoy! A winner will be drawn at random and contacted on Friday 4/28/17. You can also earn an additional entry by liking Kristina’s Facebook page and mentioning a book (or a few!) you would be interested in!
If you just want to get down to shopping, you can order through my current party I’m hosting here.
As always, thanks for visiting my blog and reading along. GOOD LUCK! I’m so glad to be hosting this giveaway and getting some good books to some good kids!