best #BackToSchool books ever :: star wars workbook review + giveaway

  A few years ago my husband told me about a friend of his who was opening a bookshop in Athens, Ga. My husband grew up in the area and we both attended college at the University of Georgia (GO DAWGS!), so we still go back fairly often. But it wasn’t until just last month we managed to have a few spare hours and I decided to peek into Janet’s shop. Wow! I had no idea what we were missing. For starters, it smells like books. I know that sounds crazy to those of you who don’t understand but I love the smell of books. (Tell me that at least a few of you are nodding your head in agreement). The shelves at Avid Bookshop are lined with both best sellers and underdogs, with recommendations and comments about certain books scattered around by employees. There were two people working that day, and they were just happy people. As customers came in, they greeted them like old friends (many of them were) and I have to admit that I eavesdropped a bit while they were chatting. “Oh,” I thought, “these are my people!” They live and breathe books.

As we ambled to the back of the shop, we found a little kid nook. There was a just-right chair (not too big, not too little; not to hard, not too squishy), with plenty of room for me and at least a few of my tiny humans. There is also an area decorated like a giant hot air balloon with space for kids (or maybe dogs too?) to get comfy and dive into whatever story strikes their fancy. (Although I doubt many dogs are reading “War and Peace”). After we read a few books, I left my little two and went to search for my big two. They were, not surprisingly, drooling over the Origami Yoda books. My kids are huge Star Wars fans.

After my big kids negotiated how much I would spend on books versus how much they would spend, I went back to the big chair to find this. Be still my heart. I just love the two of them, pouring over stories they can’t yet read.

A few minutes after they finished these books, he wandered off to find something else and found a display of Star Wars workbooks. “These say 5-6, Mommy! That’s me! Can I have this? Please, please, please….” After a quick flip through the pages I was impressed by how much information was covered. The ABC and Phonics book started with just letters and sounds but progressed to short and long sounds as well as diagraphs, sight words, and plenty of practice spaces. The Math workbook begins with simple tracing of numbers 1 through 20 and a game to play with each number. But it also has counting exercises, more/fewer, simple addition and subtraction, and word problems.

Since we started school a few weeks ago, every morning he’s been eager to start working. Currently, these are the only books I’m using with him and he’s already sounding out a lot of words and reading some (super) short stories. Overall, I’m incredibly impressed with the quality of these books, but even more so by how much fun they are!

Star Wars Workbooks :: $8.95 each

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A SIMPLE giveaway!
One reader will get TWO Star Wars Workbooks: Kindergarten Phonics & ABCs and Kindergarten Math Skills!
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