By MICHELE F. MIHALJEVICH
Indiana Correspondent

NEW ALBANY, Ind. — Even though technology has presented a variety of new ways to read, books will never completely go out of style, a southern Indiana book seller believes.

“To sit down with your preschooler, cuddle up and read a book, feeling the textures – you can’t get that on a computer,” said Wendy Kennedy, an independent consultant with Usborne & More Books, a publisher of children’s books for all ages.. She also distributes books from Kane/Miller Book Publishers, which also publishes children’s books.

“A lot of our books are touchy-feely books. There’s something about holding a book in your hands and reading it.”

Usborne is a direct sales company, similar to Tupperware or The Pampered Chef, and offers sales through home parties, fundraisers and corporate, school and library events, Kennedy said.

“Any place we can promote literacy, we try to promote it,” she said. “The books are designed to have some kind of educational value. They’re educational and entertaining.”

Usborne’s line of books include several that are agriculture-related, including tractors, farming and farm animals.

For example, there is a wind-up tractor book and a farm animals lift-flap book.

The company also has cooking books, resource books such as historical and scientific encyclopedias and math books, and coffee table books, Kennedy said.

“We’re strong in nonfiction. We can definitely capture the market on that. We have quite a few books on animals and we have a series on horses,” she said.

There are about 8,000 independent consultants nationwide, Kennedy said. “We’re working to get more consultants out in rural America.

There are so many communities that haven’t heard of us. It’s a great homeschooling resource. It’s a wonderful, rewarding opportunity. It’s a family-oriented company, and the startup costs are low.

“I’m busier now than I’ve ever been. As the economy has gone down, people are going back to the basics,” she observed.
Kennedy was a certified public account and stay-at-home mom before she brought home an Usborne catalog. Her children wrote a wish list worth $700.

“I started with the company thinking I could then get the company discount,” she said. “I wasn’t planning to build a business.” She’s been with the company 11 years.

Usborne books are published and distributed in the United States by Educational Development Corp. The company purchased Kane/Miller last year.

For more information, visit Kennedy’s website at www.usborne4you.com or contact her via phone at 812-968-4613 or e-mail wendykennedy@myubam.com