Hey there friends!



Generally when I do a giveaway on Rafflecopter, I just announce the winner through the rafflecopter widget and I email the winner to get the prize to them. I wanted to announce that a winner has been picked for the Marlow and the Monster book (it is Melanie J and she has been emailed).

BUT I feel like you are all winners on this one because there is a sweet deal on Amazon right now where you can ALL download the Kindle version of Marlow and the Monster for FREE!! Just click here to go download your free copy!

Hey all! I recently mentioned that I love books, especially children's books! And one of my favorite companies to buy them from is Usborne. Usborne is an international company and have prints from other countries and cultures. Many of their specials are books that have won awards internationally. And recently my sister-in-law became an independant consultant for them! These books are fantastic, and she sent me a few to review. I am so excited to tell you about them!!

Let me just tell you about each one.

See Inside Your Body

From Ashley: "The See Inside the Body book is one in several 'see inside' books that are designed to spark children's curiosity in a variety of different topics (Space, Ships, Science, Dinosaurs, math, planet earth, world war II, Famous Buildings, Ancient Rome, Ancient Egypt, How Things Work.) They have short paragraphs of information that are easier to remember then if they were just reading a book. There is also a similar series called look inside which are also very fun."

What we thought:
Solace (age 9): It is a simplified version of your body. Kids could learn why they should take care of their body and what's inside their body.
Ender (age 8): I think it looks like mini x-rays in color and that makes it really fun learning for kids.
Armour (age 6) I want to be a doctor when I grow up and this book helps me know what I can do when I'm a doctor.
Mom (Beckee, age undisclosed): This is a great book with "over 50 flaps to lift." The kids like to lift the flaps and it has lots of fun facts about inside the body. My husband is a radiologist (meaning the MD/doctor that reads the scans/x-rays) so his job is all about studying the body. The kids love to read about anything they feel is "about dad's work." So, this was the perfect "See Inside" book for my family! And I would note that it is really well made, so although we have read it a number of times, so far none of the flaps are wearing or ripping off .

Wipe Clean 123

From Ashley: Each page has objects to trace that help develop coordination for drawing letters and numbers. so they are practicing those motions while having fun drawing other objects.

What we thought:
Kindle (age 4): I like to write my numbers over and over in the book. And it just wipes off to do again!

Mom: We have a lot of "Wipe off" type book that are supposed to be written in then erased and re-written in. Many of them don't really erase and are not good for rewriting on. This book is so much better! Kindle was able to write and rewrite in her book over and over. She is in Pre-K this year and we do "Mommy School" for her Pre K. She has been using it to practice writien her numbers and tracing her shapes for a couple weeks now, over and over!! It is GREAT!

That's Not My Plane

From Ashley: There are tons of "that's not my...." books. Anything kids are interested in is probably there. They have other great touchy-feely books as well. Animal Hide and Seek is one of my baby's favorites. It has many fuzzy things on each page. All the chicks on a page are touchable and the cow and the puppy and the pig (not just one thing touchable per page)

What we thought:
Mom: OK, I have to tell you all that this is the favorite book of all the kids even though it is geared to the younger ones. Everest (my 18 month old) Love, LOVES this book and asks for his "plane" all the time. He will listen to this book over and over and will sit on my lap reading it for hours. We also own the "That's not my Princess" book which has been Kindle's favorite book for a number of years. I plan to buy more of the "That's Not my..." books and highly, HIGHLY recommend them!

Huckleberry Finn

From Ashley: Huckleberry Finn actually just went out of print, but we have lots of chapter books for the older kids and series books. Conspiracy 365 is one that is being made into a movie.

What we thought:
Solace: It is an easy to read book, but better for older kids (Ender adds-it makes more sense for older kids). Older kids can understand it better.
Mom: This is like an easy read version of a classic story. It is written in a way that I think my 6-year-old could read it and would like it whereas the original Huckleberry Finn might be a bit above his reading level at this point. Great way to introduce your kids to some of the classic stories.


Usborne is an international company and have prints from other countries and cultures. Many of their specials are books that have won awards internationally.

SPECIALS

Here is my favorite part of these books-that I can get these awesome books at a GREAT price (You all know I love a great deal!!) There are always Specials going on. They have internet only specials and then they have customer specials for every $40 you spend. The internet specials do count toward the $40 to get other great discounts.

Ashley says: "The one discount I am most excited about is the Encyclopedia of World History IL C/V hard cover for $16 regularly $39.99. Their encyclopedias are very colorful and well done. They also have That's Not My Dolly for $4 right now!

How to Buy these AWESOME products

If you are interested in buying these books, checking out the special or finding other awesome items from Usborne, please order from Ashley! She set up a "party" for Beckee's Deals readers to purchase through. Once you go to the website here, just click on the Beckee's Deals link then you can continue shopping from there. After you click on the party, you can find a link to the Specials on the left side of the page under the "Categories" heading.

By way of disclosure, I was provided the 4 books above free of charge for the purpose of this review. I received no other compensation for this post and as always, all opinions expressed are my own (and my kids since they helped).

I should also disclose that if you do buy through the party event I could potentially get party hosting benefits. If you want to purchase and do not want to go through the event that is not a problem, but please buy it from Ashley and help out my sister in law! That would be awesome!!

I love to read. I really do. I especially love children's books. I LOVE them.

Many of you know that I was a drama teacher as a career (in a previous life before kids). But you probably don't know that my minor was is reading. That's right, reading. When I found out I had to have a minor for my degree, I looked around and discovered that with a reading minor I got to study lots and lots of children's books and tactics to teach them. SCORE!!

So, I have read a lot of children's books in my day. And as I said. I love them! I am always excited to discover new children's books which is why I was SO excited to be contacted by author Sharon Cramer to review (and give away) her new book Marlow and the Monster.

First, let me tell you about the Author and the book, then I will tell you what I thought and tell you how you can enter to win your own copy!!

Who is Sharon Cramer?

Sharon Cramer is the author/illustrator of the award winning children's series called Cougar Cub Tales. She has also written and released a full length novel and is currently working on another YA title, due for release in December! She owns Talking Bird Books, and is an indie published author. Marlow and the Monster is here newest children's book release.
She is also so great to work with! So nice-she signed our copy of the book with inscription to my 5 kiddos! They LOVE that!!
What is Marlow and the Monster about?

Marlow and the Monster is about a boy, Marlow who has a monster pestering him nightly in his room. His parents do not see the monster and (as we all say to our kids) they are always telling him there are no monsters! One night Marlow gets so fed up that he brings the monster into his 4-year-old sister's room. She is scared at first, but ultimately, she helps him figure out what to do with his monster!

What did I think?

And as a mom, I am always glad to find a book that can help a child deal with a problem. We have a lot of monster problems at this house, especially with my oldest son and his VERY active imagination. As a younger child, he had a different monster in his room every night. And to him, his monsters were every bit as real as Marlow's monster is to him. As parents we just told him things like "Well, talk to the monster and try to be his friend then he won't seem so scary." We wanted to give him strategies to deal with his monsters. I love that this book also gives the child (Marlow) a way to deal with his monster. And I especially love that it is his little sister that helps him find a way to deal with the monster. That really made my Kindle (my 4 year old girl) happy! The story is sweet and gives children a way to think about dealing with their monsters that should make them less scared.

Without giving away the whole story, I will say that my only criticism of the book is that I felt there was a transition missing from the second to last page to the last page. I can make the leap in my head, but it just feels like there is a transition missing. The point is made that the problem is solved, but I just felt there was a leap there like I missed something.

One more fantastic thing I want talk about is the illustrations. They are fabulous! Just look at this page where Marlow brings the monster into his sister's room:

Isn't it fantastic?!  To quote the info I was sent, Cramer said that the book is "My first trip onto the wild side!" It is illustrated with quill pen and ink and the only splash of color is the monster because "Only the children can see him."

Where can you get Marlow and the Monster?

You can get the book on the Talking Bird Website here or you can find the Kindle eReader edition and hardback copy on Amazon (just click the links to get to them). (The Kindle eReader edition is only $.99!!!)

Can you win a copy?!

Well, yes! In fact you have a chance to win a copy! One lucky Beckee's Deals reader will win a hardback copy of Marlow and the Monster. For your chance to win, just enter on the rafflecopter form below:

a Rafflecopter giveaway
Please note that the giveaway will end on 10/27 at 12:01 AM EASTERN time. That means you have until 11:01 PM on 10/26 Central time to get in entries (That is only 9:01PM here in AZ).  Please note that winners will be picked at random by Rafflecopter after the giveaway ends!  Also, Facebook is not affiliated with this giveaway and cannot be held responsible for it in any way.

And by way of disclosure, I was given a hardback copy of this book for this review and a second copy will be provided to my giveaway winner. No other compensation was received and as always all opinions expressed are my own! Good luck!

Hey all! I love books, especially children's books! And one of my favorite companies to buy them from is Usborne. And recently my sister-in-law started selling for them, so now I have an inside track to the best deals and steals they have going on! I am so super excited to share this one with you!

Usborne has these incredible bookcases for boys and girls and rocking chairs that match. They are awesome and they are on special right now. (It is a good enough deal, in fact that the boy version appears to be gone already). Comparable book cases are currently online for about $160 and right now the bookcases are only $72.34 on Usborne. WHAT!!! They are so super cute. I am thinking of getting one for my 4-year-old for Christmas (don't tell her...).

If you are interested in buying this or any other awesome items from Usborne, please order from Ashley! She set up a "party" for Beckee's Deals readers to purchase through. Once you go to the website here, just click on the Beckee's Deals link then search for "bookcase" to find this great deal!

(I should disclose that if you do buy through the party event I could potentially get party hosting benefits. If you want to purchase and do not want to go through the event that is not a problem, but please buy it from Ashley and help out my sister in law! That would be awesome!!)

This is an interesting freebie, David C Cook Christian Publishers is offering a FREE book by author Francis Chan. You can choose any of the following books: Crazy Love, Forgotten God, The Big Red Tractor, Halfway Herbert, or Ronnie Wilson’s Gift. All you have to do to get the offer is click here, and fill out the form. I knew nothing about the books so I looked them up on Amazon and ended up requesting Halfway Herbert for the kiddos!

Thanks Real Life Deals.

As I mentioned before, I LOVE to read (in all my spare time LOL). And now I will get to read and review books for free thanks to Book Sneeze. If you are a blogger that would like to read and review books they send you for free, you should go to their site and sign up. It only took me a day to get approved and I got my first book, Couples Who Pray, very quickly.

I have started reading it finally this week, adn so far it is interesting. I find I am coming from a very different perspective than the couples in the book. I grew up always being told to pray together as families and couples so we always have. This book is about couples adding praying together to their marriages. So far I would say the main downfall of the book for me is that the couples they chose to focus on are all either famous or semi famous. THere is not really a "normal joe" amoung them. But that aside, I am excited to read about how Praying together made a difference for these couples! SHoudl be an interesting wuick read and I will do a full review when I finish!

You can Read what it is about here.

FYI, it appears the books here are all faith based in some way. Just so you know before you sign up!

Do you remember when I told you about how free books really come sometimes? And about how I had been randomly selected to receive a book, "Claude and Camille: a Novel of Monet" by Stephanie Cowell from Read it Forward through Crown Publishing? Then later I also won Twelve Rooms with a View by Theresa Rebeck.

Well, friends, there is another great opportunity to win a book from Read it Forward through Crown Publishing right now.

You could win a copy of Sara J Henry's debut thriller "Learning to Swim". Just click here to apply to possibly receive this great book. You just need to fill out the form under the article and they will email you if you are randomly chosen!

I am super excited to have discovered this new site! I LOVE to read (in all my spare time LOL). And now I will get to read and review books for free thanks to Book Sneeze. If you are a blogger that would like to read and review books they send you for free, you should go to their site and sign up. It only took me a day to get approved and I just picked my first book, Couples Who Pray.

It looks REALLY interesting. Read what it is about here.

FYI, it appears the books here are all faith based in some way. Just so you know before you sign up!

Wow! Freebies 4 Mom has some great deals and ideas posted today that I was unaware of! Apparently, Barnes and Noble has a monthly "online storytime". This month the story is "Where the Wild Things Are" read by author Maurice Sendak! My kids are going to LOVE this! Check it out here.

***Please note this "freebie" is actually now only being iffered to teachers in public schools-I received an email that I cannot get this freebie unless I am a teacher in a public school. Just an FYI.***
HURRY for this on! I bet it will go QUICK! Pacific Learning is offering a Free 6-Pack of books. Go here to create an account, click on the link you get in your confirmation email, and enter in your mailing information and which level of books you want.

It says they are doing this until December, but offers like this normally get so flooded they have to be pulled within hours/days, so I would order now!

Thanks Cuckoo for Coupon Deals.

You may recall that I told you here and here about FREE books I got from Read It Forward.

If you too are interested in reading advanced copies of new books, I would recommend checking out the Read It Forward website each month and signing up for a chance at getting any book that looks interesting (there are 3 new ones each month and readers are randomly selected to get them). I sign up for all the books each month and hope to get one occasionally-even if the book may or may not be one I want to read, I sign up. My husband would probably like the ones I would not...

This month's books are pictured above! They look good...

You may recall that I told you here and here about FREE books I got from Read It Forward.

If you too are interested in reading advanced copies of new books, I would recommend checking out the Read It Forward website each month and signing up for a chance at getting any book that looks interesting (there are 3 new ones each month and readers are randomly selected to get them). I sign up for all the books each month and hope to get one occasionally-even if the book may or may not be one I want to read, I sign up. My husband would probably like the ones I would not...

This month's books are pictured above! They look good...

Do you remember when I told you about how free books really come sometimes? And about how I had been randomly selected to receive a book, "Claude and Camille: a Novel of Monet" by Stephanie Cowell from Read it Forward through Crown Publishing?

Well, I got an email yesterday letting me know that I was randomly selected to get ANOTHER book! This time I will be getting Twelve Rooms with a View by Theresa Rebeck! It looks like an interesting read, and I am super excited to get it!!

If you are interested in reading advanced copies of new books, I would recommend checking out the Read It Forward website each month and signing up for a chance at getting any book that looks interesting (there are 3 new ones each month and readers are randomly selected to get them). I sign up for all the books each month and hope t get one occasionally-even if the book may or may not be one I want to read, I sign up. My husband would probably like the ones I would not...

I got emails from both Cat and Wes (my husband) about this one!

I already told you about the Summer reading program at Barnes and Noble, and the one at the Omaha Public Libraries. Well, Borders is doing one this summer as well! How exciting-my kids will LOVE this! For Borders reading program you have to read 10 books to get 1 free-they double dog dare you to do it! Go read all about it and download the form here.

I used to post a lot about possible free books from the publishers, but then I read on other blogs that those "Freebies" never come. I did not want to post things that will not come, so I stopped posting.

But I did not give up on them myself. I went back to a couple of the sites and read what they said about them, like Read it Forward through Crown Publishing. I found out that the way it works is that you apply to try to get a free advanced copy of the books they offer. (They happen to offer 3 a month) Then they will randomly select people to get the free advanced copies. Well, there are not a lot of copies, so you are lucky to get one. I love books though so I kept applying/filling out the forms for all 3 books every month since December.

A couple weeks ago I got an email saying I had been randomly selected to receive a book, "Claude and Camille: a Novel of Monet" by Stephanie Cowell. You can read about it here. I could not believe it and dared not post about it until I saw it with my own eyes. Well, friends, look what was delivered to my doorstep yesterday:

Free Books DO come sometimes!!! :)  Thank you Read it Forward, thank you! I cannot wait to begin reading it!

Well, I know it has been big news here with the young kids I teach at church that the newest Fablehaven book came out this week. So, I was looking it up and noticed that you can get it at Amazon for only $11.87! That is great for a NEW hardcover book! So, if you are looking for it, click on the Amazon link/picture in this post and you can order it from them for only $11.87!!

Right now you can download 4 Dr Seuss classic books:
* The Cat In The Hat
* Hop On Pop
* Horton Hears A Who
* Green Eggs & Ham

Here’s how:

1. Go HERE to start.

2. Once there, download the kidthing 2.0 software. (download starts automatically)

3. Go to the Store tab and enter KTCODE-NEA5RAA into the search engine and hit ENTER.

4. Add the 4 books to your cart.

5. Go to checkout and download them for FREE!

Let me know how this works out-I am not downloading them as we own them all already!

Thanks Frugal Living and Having Fun.