Children learn by taking in bits of information and storing them. They do this all through their adolescent years. When they reach puberty they begin to take this information, sort it, and think critically with it. They take what they know, add more information to it to draw conclusions, problem solve or create new ideas.  borne Books
   

      You can think of this informational base as a "ball of clay." As the child grows he or she is adding to their ball of clay. The unfortunate fact is that most high school and college students have not taken in enough information bits in their early years to give them a large enough ball of clay or informational base to do the work required of them in high school and college. Most college professors assume they are teaching to students with large informational balls of clay. Children should be given a steady diet of non-fiction reading material to help them build up their informational base.

         Usborne Books are designed to relay information to the child in the way they learn it. Our books have large beautiful illustrations with little chunks of information around them. The illustrations and the factual text give the child the information in a straight forward, easy to understand way.

         A lot of children are not reading enough, not reading well, not retaining what they read and are not reading enough non-fiction. The only way to get past the awkward beginnings in reading is to read a lot.

Practice, practice, practice.

         They will get past the awkward beginning of sounding out words to the smooth absorption of information, feeling, and thought, with lots of reading. Usborne non-fiction books are fun, exciting and informational. The large illustrations give clues to the text. Even a poor reader can gather a lot of information from an Usborne book. The pictures, located directly under or over the easy-to-understand text, help create an emotional response to the information. This response, whether it is happy, sad, etc., helps a child retain the information.

A parent should not leave their child's education (which often shapes their futures) to the school systems. No matter how good the school system is, there are many factors that come into play that the parent is more aware of and able to address. A child's learning style: audio, visual, or kinesthetic, their attention spans and how much information they have stored already all affect their learning. Teachers will change every year, but a parent is the only constant in a child's school career.

Jump into your child's educational process at an early age. Make sure they read well and read often. Build an extensive library for your child with plenty of Usborne Books. Include in their library non-fiction, fiction and practical "How To's." Have the books available; don't wait until they ask for one.

• Readers often write well because they have read good literature.
• Readers have a better vocabulary because they are exposed to more words.
• Reading stimulates the mind.
• Reading entertains without dulling the mind like television and video games.