Wednesday, May 4, 2011

Yesterday's Classics


We love old books in our house. We have one bookshelf devoted solely to old school books and vintage readers. Whenever possible, we enjoy scouring book sales for another treasured classic. But many vintage titles are out of print and virtually impossible to find in decent condition. Every now and then we have stumbled onto one book in a series and then cannot track down the missing volumes.

Thanks to Yesterday's Classics, many of these out of print treasures are making it back into the hearts and minds of children. They have taken hundreds of vintage children's books and reprinted them with improvements in format and grammar to appeal to today's reader without losing any of original's charm. If you wanted to purchase a printed copy of every title they carry, you'd spend (are you sitting down?)....$2495.75. Plus whatever it costs you to buy shelves to hold all those volumes!

What if you could purchase such a library for a fraction of that cost? Given the popularity and convenience of E-readers, Yesterday's Classics has made all their books available in Ereader format. Would you believe that you can purchase the Yesterday's Classics Ebook Package of 225 Titles for only $99.95?!? That's less than 50 cents per volume (you can't even get books that cheap at most library sales or Goodwill!). You can even download a title for free to see what you think. Read for yourself all the details of this amazing offer (scroll down and look for the two blue rectangles for your free download).

While you might possibly be able to track down some of these books free online, the time it would take and the difficulty in reading those versions is just not worth it in my opinion. The difference between a document found free online and the formatted version from Yesterday's Classics is unbelievable. Print size is customizable, the Table of Contents is fully linked and you can easily bookmark or highlight information within the document. Yesterday's Classics library is a great way to own 225 titles without the dilemma of where to store them (or figuring out how to take them with you on long car trips or vacations). The convenience and excellent quality of the format make this a very worthwhile investment.

What Will You Get in the Ebook Package?
When you purchase the Yesterday's Classics Ebook Package, you will immediately have access to all 225 books. Notable features of this collection include:
  • Volumes in 22 genres (e.g. Bible, American History, Ancient History, World History, Geography, Geology, English/Language/Grammar, Science and Nature Studies, Poetry, Literature, Fables and Fairy Tales, Mythology, Christmas Stories and more)
  • Books appropriate for a variety of ages (4 years to adult)
  • Books with original illustrations
  • Table of Contents linked to page numbers
  • Without Digital Rights Management (download files to as many devices as you own)
  • Helpful Guide to E-reader devices and software
  • Guide to downloading and transferring files to E-reader devices
  • List of books with description and cover thumbnail
  • Lists of books by level, genre, author and title
  • If you own both EPUB and Kindle devices, you can purchase and download one format and e-mail the company to receive the download links for the other format (no extra charge)
Better than a Physical Book
As much as I love the feel of a book in my hand and the look of books on a shelf, you cannot enlarge the print in a traditional book. As I'm aging and approaching the stage of bifocals, it was an incredible benefit to have volumes of books I could read on my computer with the ability to adjust the size of print and also to have hyperlinked table of contents to quickly resume where I'd left off. Not to mention the convenience of multiple volumes on various topics to interest the whole family--all at my fingertips.

Never Lose Another Book
If your family is like ours, sometimes books mysteriously disappear. Or perhaps a book you know you own didn't get shelved correctly and you just cannot find it when you need it. With the Yesterday's Classics collection on an E-reader or your desktop, the possibility of "losing" books is eliminated. Knowing exactly where the books are that we want to use has been a HUGE bonus in our family! Plus reading off the computer, it's easier for kids to follow along than if we were sitting around a copy of the book (and illustrations are bigger as well). We can even print off the pages with illustrations if my children want to color while they listen.

Company Support
Besides the very helpful, and informative articles included with your purchase, the company offers exceptional support by e-mail. The downloads are conveniently provided in 13 manageable files or as individual titles. Those with high speed internet should have no difficulty downloading the file groups. Those with slower connections may prefer to download books one at a time. If you have any difficulty, the company is very helpful and responsive to any questions or concerns you may have while downloading your product.

Our Experience
My 13 year old son was the first to sample the books. Being a history lover, he decided to start with the world history selections. And my 11 year old daughter has been reading Charles and Mary Lamb's Tales from Shakespeare and loving it. My younger children (4, 6, 8) have been learning about countries around the world and there are numerous titles in this collection about children in other countries to enhance our studies.

My younger ones love to be read to and they aren't phased by having me reading from a computer instead of a traditional book. The print and illustrations are much larger on the screen than they would be in a printed book so they can actually better enjoy the illustrations in this Ereader format. And these are not dry, boring texts. These are books often written directly to a child as if they are being personally addressed by the author.

Here are a few of the authors (plus a favorite illustrating duo) I was particularly excited to see included in this bundle:
  • Padraic Colum
  • Thornton Burgess
  • James Baldwin
  • M. B. Synge
  • H. E. Marshall
  • Hendrik Willem Van Loon
  • Charles Kingsley
  • John Ruskin
  • Howard Pyle
  • Ernest Thompson Seton
  • Kate Douglas Wiggin
  • Andrew Lang
  • Edith Nesbit
  • Nathaniel Hawthorne
  • Charles & Mary Lamb
  • Charlotte Yonge
  • Maud & Miska Petersham (illustrators)
  • many, many others!
If you are tackling history chronologically, you might be covering historical time periods with very few translations appropriate for children. Some of the great selections from Yesterday's Classics are simplified versions of such classic works as the Odyssey, Beowulf, Shakespeare's plays and Robinson Crusoe to name just a few.

This is just simply one of the most incredible resource packages I have ever seen and worth every penny. There are selections for ages 4 up through adult--there is truly something for everyone. You could use this collection to cover nearly all of your child's schooling without having to hunt down these classics. And $99.95 for multiple subjects is a very reasonable price tag. You can easily pay that much for just one subject, not a whole library! Grab your laptop or Ereader and just start reading, discovering, and exploring the world through history, literature and science. This is truly the ultimate home (and travel) library.

You can read what several other homeschooling families thought of the Yesterday's Classics Ebook Package here.

Who Should Purchase
  • Book collectors with shortage of shelf space
  • Book collectors who like to "read on the go"
  • Homeschoolers wanting to jump start their home library or add to an existing one
  • Travelling families who take their schooling on the road
  • Vacationers who want to keep learning while away from their home for the weekend, month or summer
  • Moms with new babies to read while they nurse
  • Those in the hospital or beridden at home
  • Missionaries in remote areas or in areas with limited english library resources
  • Anyone who enjoys classic works from the past
  • Grandparents who would like to have some quality literature available when grandchildren visit (or who may want to reminisce about books from the "good old days")
Try Before You Buy
Make sure you read the information on this incredible offer. On the promotional page, scroll down until you see the blue rectangles that say "Download FREE [epub or Kindle] File." If you like what you see and read, then take advantage of the value packed price of $99.95 for 225 books that will provide hours of enjoyment and instruction for your whole family. But hurry, this special price is only available until May 31; after that the price goes up to the normal price of $149.95.

Purchase Information
While the best value is to purchase the complete collection, any book can also be purchased individually as a printed book. Orders can be placed directly through Yesterday's Classics online or by phone, mail, e-mail, or fax. An order form is available for your convenience. You can also order through Amazon.

Yesterday's Classics catalog can be searched by subject, author or title. Starting June 1, ebook titles will also be available for purchase individually (after the current Ebook sale is over).

Take some time to browse a few subjects from Yesterday's Classics catalog:
Yesterday's Classics also provides a listing of their books used in the following curriculum:
Satisfaction Guaranteed
Yesterday's Classics strives for their customer's 100% satisfaction. If you are not completely satisfied, you can e-mail them and your purchase price will be refunded. You really have nothing to lose. This is a phenomenal product, at an unbeatable price from an exceptional company.

Contact Information
Website: www.yesterdaysclassics.com
E-mail: orders@yesterdaysclassics.com
Phone: 919-357-8824
Fax: 866-497-3729
Address: Yesterday's Classics, PO Box 3418, Chapel Hill, NC 27515

Disclaimer: We were provided a free download of the Yesterday's Classics collection for the purpose of reviewing. No other compensation was received.

4 comments:

Pebblekeeper ~ Angie said...

What a great - clear - and helpful review! I am reading quite a few this morning - and having a great time!

Jill Stanish said...

Angie, Thanks for stopping by! This was one of my favorite reviews this year.

Anonymous said...

The $100.00 sale still is on, as of this morning (when I purchased the package for Kindle).

Jill Stanish said...

Marvelous!!Thanks for the heads up Anonymous! It is definitely a wonderful investment. Hope you enjoy it as much as we are.

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