Getting Started

So what, do you ask, does it take to start as an Usborne Consultant?

So glad you wanted to know! Do let me tell you.

1. A little bit of time. A matter of a few hours every week. Maybe 30 minutes a day.

• Thinking even that amount of Me Time is too much to give up? I did too. But consider that it's easy to multitask. My team leader sometimes calls me when she's taking her daughter for a walk. Maybe you'll find a contact while you're sitting at ballet practice. It blends into your life.

2. A passion and respect for the books.

• Because without that, it's just work.
• Haven't seen the books? Or, haven't seen enough of them to decide if they are passion- and respect-worthy? I'd be glad to show off my collection any day of the week. I love my collection. I'm proud of it. I WANT to show it to you.

3. $129 U.S. Dollars plus sales tax

• Same as my cable bill each month. Actually less. But you pay it once and you get the kit to keep forever and ever. Even if you decide the company is not for you, you get to keep it all. And by all, I mean:
• 22 top selling and most popular titles, including the phonics reader Ted and Friends with CD, a combined volume practically worth the price of admission itself. Not to mention a full-size vividly illustrated Geography Encyclopedia, toddler and baby board books, engaging school age and middle-grade fiction, and several wildly popular sticker and activity books. Plus more.
• All the supplies and info you'll need to get started: catalogs, order forms, flyers, and access to a full-service website with training, support, and ideas to help your business grow.
• If $130 is out of your price-range (and I certainly had to mull it over myself; it's not an inconsiderable amount), there is also a $69 smaller starter kit.

Take that, DK

Just sayin.'

February Goodies

It's cold outside. It's Tuesday. Half the world and their mother is sick with the flu.

So let's talk about something delightful. Cheap books!

Below are the Customer Specials for February. Buy $40 worth of books and you are eligible to get up to three of the below titles at highly discounted prices.

"Telling the Time" by Heather Amery is especially delightful. We actually found a copy of this at the Minneapolis Central Library not too long ago. (Yaaay for the library!) "Telling the Time" is illustrated by the delightful Stephen Cartwright, who makes the whole world feel like a happy little farm in rural England. Everyone in his world is charmingly plump and has pink cheeks. It's just a happy place. The clock hands move, so the little ones have fun changing the time on each page. It's great for any kid's library, and it's only $6 in February!

"Playtime Baby" is a good one for infants and toddlers - the little baby is attached by a ribbon and you can fit him into a play scene on each page! That one is only $4 and it'll probably keep your child busy long enough for you to actually - maybe - get something done around your house. Or just sit still in the quiet for a few blessed minutes.

"Arrival"

Gonna dive into this one today:

Details:
$6.99
Publisher: Kane Miller
Usborne Books & More. Phoenix Files, Book 1, Arrival

I've heard great things. A team leader at one of our Usborne meetings really raved about it a few months ago. She was so adamant that it was fantastic that I just have to try it. I was likened to the Hunger Games - maybe a little bit of tough stuff, so not for those faint-of-heart eight year olds or over-sensitive adolescents. (Of which I was one, for sure.) Specifications on the website say it's for 14 and over, so there you go.

Watch for a review in the next couple of days!

My Animal World

This is one of our favorites. It's like a puzzle and a book in one. Actually it's a puzzle and 15 books in one.

Details:
$18.99
Publisher: Kane Miller
Usborne Books & More. My Animal World

We love to take out all the books, read each one, and then put it back in it's place like a puzzle. The story in each book is very simple - Spencer can practically read them himself at this point. "I am a shark. I live in the ocean. My baby is called a pup. I eat fish. I swish. Swish!" The format of each book is the same so they can intuitively pick one up and read it by themselves, even without being able to read.

It's durable - it survived being kicked around Spencer's room for a few months. The binding of one of the little books got a little mangled, so it's not bullet-proof, but for the most part it's sturdy.

Mostly I just love how it's such a deal; so many books AND considered a toy. So glad we have this in our collection!

**Update:
I just saw that this book is going to be a customer special in March! If you buy over $40 in Usborne titles, you would be able to get "My Animal World" for only $8.00!!

Pesky Poltergeists

Spencer (3) and I were brushing our teeth in the bathroom. I told him to go put his blanket on my bed. He did, and came running back. And then he said, "But what if a ghost comes and takes it?"

Um. I don't know. Take it back?

He's been talking a lot about ghosts and monsters lately. Sometimes he is upfront about knowing they are pretend. Other times he seems genuinely worried. He was fairly sure he saw a woman outside our car in the dark last night, who was a ghost. (I allowed myself to be creeped out by that for a quick moment. Think of the YA fiction possibilities!)

The imagination is going to be strong in this one. Strong and perhaps troublesome. But I'd rather he be plagued with too much imagination than not enough. It'll make his life interesting.


***Update: Apparently there's this:
Usborne Books & More. There's No Such Thing as Ghosts!
Definitely going on our shopping list!!

How do I turn my son into a voracious reader?

By exposing him to lots and lots of books, that's how!  And by reading to him as often as I can. And by reading myself. Showing by example and all that. (And I have that part covered, truly. A great time to read a few pages of a good book is when I'm standing at the stove, making dinner.)

It may be easy to expose my kid to lots of books. We go to the library all the time. (Getting the kid his own library card was a BIG EVENT.) He's got piles and piles of reading material scattered all around his (very disorganized) room. I'll bring him to Barnes and Noble with me and while he's playing with the train set, I'll pick out yet another sticker book or dot-to-dot workbook to bring home. We're fortunate because we are surrounded by plenty.

But is he surrounded by the right kind of books? Is there a wrong kind of book?

Well ... probably not. :) But there are some children's books that are better than others.

I signed on with Usborne Books And More (UBAM) in August because I immediate recognized it as a project (and business) that I could devote passion, energy and time to. And ask anyone - I regard my time as highly precious and Not To Be Wasted. So I was excited to set up as a UBAM consultant. I made a cursory effort at hosting a few shows, spreading the word among my family and friends, that sort of thing. I even put feelers out there about book fairs at preschools. But the reaction I got back was lukewarm at best. I got bummed because no one was as excited about it as I was. Then, due to personal tragedy in the family, I set it all aside for a good long time. I couldn't think about anything anymore, let alone selling things to strangers.

The personal tragedy still has daily resonance in my life. But I'm pulling out of it day by day. I was lucky enough to go to a Regional conference today for Usborne, and I really want to use it to kick-start this thing again. A second chance, if you will. I didn't exactly squander my first chance, but I certainly would have liked to establish more success, earlier on. But whatever. It is what it is.

So today I've been asking myself why I want to remain in the business, and I came up with four good reasons, of varying importance, to devote myself to this new passion.

1. Money. Cash dollars. Okay, this is the big one. Can I build up some money to start paying off those terrible horrible student loans? Maybe go so far as to quit my job? Who knows. But I can try.
2. The Books. I want those books. For my son but - yes - for myself. They are so pleasing. Just going through the new pages and seeing the unfailingly adorable illustrations is just it's own kind of joy for me. Books truly are my happy place.
3. Going off of the number 2 - Showing those books to other people. If I love them and want them for myself, and if I want to lavish them on my son so that he builds an early appreciation for literacy and stories ... well, who am I to keep that from anyone else? It's my duty to give this joy to other people. I sincerely want to to show you a book that you and your kids will love. And not for the 1. money I get or 2. books I get. But for you. For  you and your kids and the joy YOU will get from them.
4. The company gives away a pretty awesome trip every year. I could seriously use a Mediterranean Cruise, if you know what I mean.

Those are all pretty good ideas, I think.

I want to use this Blog as an intro for people who are interested to the UBAM world, because it really is delightful. I want to showcase some of my favorite books. I want to share tips and ideas I've learned from others about literacy in early childhood. I want to get the word out there and ask people if they think something like this would fit in with their family, their preschool, their church; and if so, how I can help make that happen. I want to tell funny stories about my kid and hear other people's funny stories. I want to advertise myself, market myself, grow my business, make a little bit of fun of myself and others, and ultimately be successful.

Is that asking too much? Is it asking too much that I want my son to be as crazy wild about books as I am?

I don't think so.