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Culling Bookshelves: Can we talk Usborne?
- This topic has 7 replies, 7 voices, and was last updated 14 years, 4 months ago by
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When I was a newbie homeschooler, I thought a library of Usborne books were standared issue equipment. But in recent years, I am just not so sure. They look beautiful. There are a few titles that my kids love…like the Book of World History which is a frequent favorite during read-or-rest time. But, as “houseofchaos” wrote in another post “they’re like reading in attention deficit disorder mode for me” LOL!! I totally agree!
Usborne Books lack the story to hang all those facts upon. However, they have beautiful photos and prolific illustrations that are appealing. I can’t bear to read them aloud, and so never do. Most just sit on the shelves, with a few exceptions that are pulled out on occasion by a curious child.
So what is a CMer to do when bookshelf space is short? Do I have permission to let at least some of these Usborne books go…and still be a respectable homeschool mom?
What conclusions have other come to about the Usborn series? Are they twaddle? Are they reference books/ Are they useful? What do you think?I too had Usborne and DK books on my shelves, and occasionally they were looked at – however as new things and better books/living books came into our household I started donating those others. We kept a few animal ones that my daughters were fond of, but there were so many better alternatives for us out there. I did not get rid of them all at once, just one or two now and then – it is incredibly hard for me to give away books because I love them all – but I know that sometimes I must. I always feel that even though the books were not blessing our family, someone would make good use of them and that made it easier to part with them. By the way I have never regretted it either, so hope that helps.
I would say keep the handful that your kids actually pull out and use, but if you don’t have space for the ones that just sit there and look pretty, pass them along…and DON’T FEEL GUILTY! There is nothing wrong with not keeping books that you aren’t really using, no matter how great the may have seemed when you bought them. It may just be that there is someone else out there who really will be able to use and appreciate them more than you are, and will probably be really blessed to be able to aquire them secondhand!
My personal opinion on Usborne type books is that they are good as “reference” type books, but I wouldn’t use them as a main ‘lesson’ book since there isn’t much story to read from them. We have some of the science/nature ones that we do like to refer to on occasion for the pictures and diagrams. But I don’t see them being used for much more than that here.
Jen
Sorry-I wrote a post, but I thought it might have sounded a little negative. So I deleted it all. I was just agreeing with the others about not feeling bad about getting rid of books that aren’t working for your family.
I have been having the same feelings about the Usborne books. Luckily I’m just starting out, so I haven’t bought a whole bunch. Like you said, the pictures are gorgeous, but I can’t stand reading them and actually don’t feel like the info is very complete. I gotta agree with everyone else, get rid of them to make room for better stuff – try to sell them because I’m sure a lot of people would like to buy them. Unless they are reading this post, that is.
Don’t know much about Usborne books….
But wanted to say that if you aren’t going to sell them – you might want to donate them to Book Sameritan. They donate books to homeschooling families that need books.
(Shameless plug, as they have provided books to us)
What conclusions have other come to about the Usborn series? Are they twaddle? Are they reference books/ Are they useful? What do you think?
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