Monday 8 September 2014

Back to School with a selection of brilliant new books from Usborne Publishing

The Usborne Illustrated English Dictionary - A fabulous resource!


Usborne are the go-to for fabulous and engaging books, and even if you're starting back at school - or starting school for the first time, their new range of educational titles are sure to please. 

Sumptuously illustrated and full of amazing facts and references, we took a look at two of the books from the range.

"The Usborne Illustrated English Dictionary" came just at the right time, as Charlotte is now in year 2 and at the right age for not merely taking mummy and daddy's word for it when she wants to know the meaning of a word, or indulge her curiosity!

A spread from the Dictionary showing off the fabulous inline illustrations

Packed with over 1000 illustrations with quicklinks provided through the Usborne website, it's a brilliant weighty book that they can curl up with, to look up a difficult word or spelling or just browse through. Charlotte loved using it just like that, leafing through before imparting a new piece of knowledge to my wife and I. As you'd expect from Usborne it's expertly produced and a really high quality product. 

The Usborne Children's World Atlas. A budding geographer's dream!


The second book we looked at was also very well received as both Charlotte and I love maps and finding out more about the world. "The Usborne Children's World Atlas" is again a high-quality atlas full of brilliant full-colour maps, geographical information and details. Links in the book hook up with a smartphone through a QR reader to provide even more information, a smart move to address the interest kids have in all things app-shaped. 

Gotta love that Coati and those volcanoes!

There's a huge debate on the need and necessity for books like this, but we really loved having something 'tangible' to flick through as a reference - this is what I did when I was a kid, and it seems to be something Charlotte's interested in too (we're not just 'old fashioned' for the sake of it - and the bonus of having a book-based resource like this is that children focus on the material at hand, rather than getting too distracted by playing on the computer, the tablet or the smartphone). 

That said, the quicklinks and QR codes are again a really great idea. 

Both books are available now from Usborne. Check out the Usborne Website for these and more great 'back to school' titles. 

(Kindly sent to us for review by Usborne Books)