The USBORNE 411

After the extensive information on the Usborne Beginners series in the review of “Cowboys,” it’s quite fitting that the next two books are also from this series: one from Social Studies, the other from Science.  They’re all the same size and have the same number of pages, the glossary, the internet QuickLinks, etc.

Lucy wanted to read “Ballet.”  The book begins by explaining what ballet is, and goes on to describe and picture the people involved, the costumes, the shoes, the life of a dancer, how a show works, etc.  She was quite pleased with the photos of the good fairy and the bad fairy from a production of “The Sleeping Beauty.”  She was downright surprised when she saw the photo of little girls in a ballet class, as she really had no previous knowledge of the subject.  Of course, she now wants to take ballet.  I suspect, however, that she really just wants a tutu.  (She recently played soccer, and turned out to be in it solely for the jersey.  She had no interest in the actual game.)  She really liked the tutus, the pointe shoes, and the legwarmers.

I actually learned a lot about ballet, too.  The picture of a ballerina doing a split in the air prompted Henry to attempt the same thing while jumping on the couch.  It’s nice when books encourage kids to be more active.

“Ballet” is $4.99 in hardback and $12.99 in library binding.  Click here for more info.

Henry chose another pirate book tonight, so I sent him back for something else, and he returned with “Cowboys.”  This one is from the Usborne Beginners series; it’s a hardback with 32 full-color pages on nice coated paper.  They measure 6-1/8″x 8-3/8″.  The Beginners books are aimed at young readers; for those of you who understand how reading levels work (I don’t), they are Fountas & Pinnell Level E (mid-late first-grade reading level) and have a Spache Readability Index of 2.5+.  The series is also available in a library binding, for you librarians out there.

In layman’s terms, I guess this would mean that there are lots of pictures and very short paragraphs.  There’s a glossary of cowboy words in the back (”stirrups,” “chuck wagon,” etc.), along with instructions for pulling up four fun websites with cowboy activities.

Henry’s favorite parts were about the rodeos and when “that sheriff had a gun.”  That would be Wyatt Earp.  Lucy said her favorite was “when that horse got burned.”  OK, that was actually “cattle being branded,” but she’s only three.  She also especially liked the parts about bull-riding and stampedes.

A nice thing about this series is that they use a nice variety of cartoon-like illustrations, old paintings, and photographs (depending on the topic, of course).

Other titles in the Usborne Beginners Social Studies series include Armor, Aztecs, Ballet, Castles, China, Egyptians, Firefighters, Pirates, and Vikings.  Other subcategories in the series are Nature and Science.  There are also two paperback titles available.  ”Cowboys” is also available as part of two different sets.  All the Usborne Beginners are $4.99 for hardback and $12.99 for library binding.  Click here for more info on “Cowboys.”

“See Inside Pirate Ships” is an Usborne Flap Book and one of their 20 pirate-themed books.  Flap books are the ones that have little flaps on each page that you can lift to find out what’s underneath whatever is pictured on the flap.  (Usborne has about 14 other “See Inside” and “See Under” books.)  This book is aimed at kids 7 years old and up; the reason for that, I suppose, is because the smaller kids are more apt to rip the little flaps off.  My 3yo loves this book (which I got for the 7yo), but I have to continually remind her to be kind to it.  Her main problem is turning the pages without closing the flaps she just opened.

The book includes more than 70 flaps (printed on extra heavy paper) and is essentially a large-format board book (measuring 8.75″ x 11.125″).  Being occasionally lazy or often pressed for time, I like that each two-page spread is a separate section, so I can appease the little ones by reading one quick section.

Being a little conflicted about the interest in pirates to start with (they are, after all, really really bad guys), I like the way the book depicts most of them as ending up in watery graves, coming to unfortunate ends, etc.  The books ends with a page on sunken treasure and could potentially spark further interest in the ocean.

“See Inside Pirate Ships” is definitely a good choice for a child interested in pirates and pirate ships and is priced at $12.99.  You can get more info and/or order it by clicking here.