so you're looking for that perfect book.

...but where do you start, with so many to choose from? Let me help! Here are specially curated lists I've pulled together of Usborne books I can personally recommend. Some are written up in blog posts, others will be soon. Have questions about any of the books? Shoot me a line! I would love to help you find that perfect book.  Books marked with ** are titles I've blogged about.

I have arranged my lists primarily by age group - but these age groups naturally overlap depending on a kid's abilities and interests, so it's not foolproof. I'd recommend checking out the list above or below the age group you're looking for.

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multi-age picture books

I can't categorize these by age - they're good anywhere from baby through elementary!
​

• ** ​Animally (see blog post)
  • hardcover picture book ($11.99)
• ** ​Anne of Green Gables (see blog post)
  • padded hardcover picture book ($9.99)
• ** Can I Join Your Club? (see blog post)
  • hardcover picture book ($12.99)
• ** Cordelia (see blog post)
  • paperback ($6.99) or hardcover ($12.99)
  • matching plush available ($14.99)
• ** ​Jonathan James and the Whatif Monster (see blog post)
  • ​paperback ($6.99)
  • matching plush available ($12.99)
• ** Kitty Kat, Kitty Kat, Where Have You Been? - London (see blog post)
  • hardcover picture book (hardcover, $9.99)
  • also available: Kitty Kat in Paris ($9.99)

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babies

• ​Baby's Very First Bus Book​
  • board book with wheels ($8.99)
• Baby's Very First Slide and See Animals
  • board book with tactile elements ($14.99)
  • also available: four other themes in the series
• Learn Colors with Little Red Penguin
  • simple flap book ($7.99)
  • also available: Numbers, Shapes, Words, Collection of 4
• ** My First 100 Words (see blog post)
  • tiny board book collection ($12.99)
  • also available: Farm Animal World, I Can Count, Wild Animal World
• ** That's Not My Dragon (see "that's not my..." blog post)
  • board book with textures ($9.99)
  • also available: 38 other books in the series!

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toddlers

• ** Shine-a-Light books (see blog post)
  • hardcover ($12.99)
  • 13 books in the series!
• ​Wind-up Train Book
  • board book with stories and 4 tracks ($29.99, includes train)
  • also available: bus, pirate ship, plane, race cars, tractor
• ​Muddle and Match
  • board books with three flippable sections per page ($8.99)
  • 6 books in the series!
• ** Big Pig on a Dig and other phonics readers (see blog post)
  • paperback ($6.99 each)
  • also available: Phonics Readers Complete Library Collection ($69.99 for 20 books with hard cardboard case)
• ** Choose Your Own Journey (see blog post)
  • out of stock - due back April 2017
  • hardcover ($11.99)
• ​Colorful World: Forest
  • board book ($5.99)
  • also available: Farm, Mountain, Sea
• My First Keyboard Book
  • hardcover with working keyboard attached ($18.99)
  • also available: Big Keyboard Book, My First Christmas Keyboard Book

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early elementary

• ​10 Ten-Minute Stories
  • Combined volume of short illustrated stories ($14.99)
  • also available: 10 More Ten-Minute Stories, Five-Minute Stories
• Billie B. Brown and Hey Jack
  • Short chapter books (4 chapters) for beginning readers ($4.99 each)
  • Billie B. Brown series includes 15 books ($59.99 for whole collection)
  • Hey Jack series includes 15 books ($59.99 for whole collection)
  • also available: coloring books and backpacks!
• Cinderella (Peek Inside a Fairy Tale)
  • Board book with flaps and cut-outs ($14.99)
  • also available: Beauty and the Beast, Little Red Riding Hood
• ​** Complete Book of Farmyard Tales (see blog post)
  • Combined volume of 20 short dual-reader stories ($24.99)
    • CD of audio recording of all stories included!
  • also available in the dual-reader series: fairy tales, princess stories
• ** The Curious Case of the Missing Mammoth (see blog post)
  • Hardcover picture book with flaps ($16.99)
  • also available: Teddy the little mammoth plush! ($12.99)
• ​First Sticker Book: Trains
  • ​Paperback book of scenes and 150 stickers to add to the scenes ($6.99)
  • also available: lots and lots of sticker books!
• ​Lift-the-Flap Math
  • board book with flaps ($13.99)
  • also available: hard to summarize - there are tons of lift-the-flap books!
• ​Look Inside a Castle
  • Board book with flaps ($14.99)
  • also available in the "look inside" series: 8 more themes, including airports, computers, jungles, food...
• ​** Nibbles the Book Monster (see blog post)
  • Hardcover picture book with multi-layered flaps ($16.99)
  • also available: Nibbles plush! ($12.99)
• ** Wipe Clean First Letters (see blog post)
  • Dry erase book with marker included ($7.99)
  • also available: there are so many in this series! Letters, numbers, mazes, dot-to-dot, drawing, etc! 
• Wipe Clean Alphabet Cards
  • Collection of dry erase cards with marker included ($9.99)
  • also available: numbers, doodles, activities

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late elementary

• 100 Paper Spaceships to Fold and Fly
  • pad of 100 spaceships to tear off and fold - patterns included ($7.99)
  • also available: planes, dragons, and birds!
• ​Coding for Beginners
  • manual to learn coding with a free platform called Scratch ($14.99)
  • also available: Coding for Beginners using Python 
• Cut and Color Playbook: Cities
  • create multi-layered scenes by coloring elements and cutting as directed ($12.99)
  • also available: Cut & Color Seasons
• ​Illustrated Stories from Aesop
  • combined volume of over 30 illustrated fables ($19.99)
  • also available: a range of topics, including Greek myths, Shakespeare, Animal Stories, etc.
• ​** See Inside How Things Work (see blog post)
  • board book with flaps ($14.99)
  • also available: lots of other flap books with varying complexity
• Tell Me a Story
  • paperback book with thick pages, full of creative writing ideas ($11.99)
  • also available: Paint Me a Picture
• ** The Usborne Outdoor Book (see blog post)
  • spiral bound hardcover book of ideas for outdoor activities ($9.99)

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middle school - activities/nonfiction

• ** Architect Academy (see blog post)
  • interactive activity book with math and engineering tasks ($12.99)
  • also available: astronaut, engineer, vet
• ​Encyclopedia of World History
  • paperback illustrated encyclopedia of world events ($19.99)
  • also available: a variety of encyclopedias of science and history
• The Usborne Complete Book of Art Ideas
  • hardcover spiral bound book of famous paintings and artistic techniques ($19.99)
• The Usborne Complete Shakespeare
  • hardcover book of illustrated prose summaries of Shakespeare's 37 plays ($24.99)

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middle/high school fiction

Some of these novels are hard to place, as kids at this level have such a varied ability and interest level. So I'm lumping them together!
​

• Conspiracy 365
  • ​series of adventure/thriller novels about a boy on the run from mysterious criminals (paperback, $4.99 each)
  • books range between 680 and 820 Lexile level; each book averages 180 pages
  • also available: the complete collection
• The Last Thirteen
  • series of fantasy/adventure novels about a group of teens fighting against an ancient prophesy (paperback, $5.99 each)
  • books average 730 Lexile and are around 224 pages
• ** The Mystery of the Clockwork Sparrow (see blog post)
  • mystery set in a newfangled London department store in the early 1900s (paperback, $6.99)
  • 940 Lexile level, 320 pages
  • also available: The Mystery of the Jeweled Moth
• ** The Phoenix Files​ (see blog post)
  • ​series of fantasy/science fiction novels about a mysterious town in Australia and the end of the world... (paperback, $6.99 each)
  • books range between 660 and 800 Lexile level and average 330 pages
    

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high school and beyond - coloring books

• We have a wide variety of detailed coloring books! A few favorites:
  • Literary Quotes to Color ($6.99)
  • ​Art to Color ($6.99)
  • Japanese Patterns to Color ($5.99)
  • Mandalas to Color ($5.99)