If you head over to Red House you'll be able to pick up an Usborne First English Dictionary for £3.99, rather than its full list price of £9.99.

• Click HERE to take a look at the Usborne First English Dictionary *

I love Usborne books, and I love dictionaries too. I have a bit of a thing for reference books in general, but dictionaries and thesauruses (or is it thesauri?!  Or just thesaurus for singular and plural?!  Perhaps I should look in my dictionary!) really do it for me.

The Usborne First English Dictionary is features pages and pages and pages of lively and funny illustrations that demonstrate the meanings of each word. Those pages contain over 2,500 words and definitions, and suggestions for alternative words too, along with example sentences to show how to use those words in the correct context, and over 700 internet links.

Single item delivery will cost you an additional £2.95, unless something else takes your fancy and your order tips into the £15 free delivery bracket.

Happy looking up words!

Marks and Sparks are selling this Bright Sparks Tell the Time book for half price - £1.25 instead of £2.50.

• Click HERE to take a look at the Bright Sparks Tell the Time book *

Although I remember learning to tell the time, it's strange to think there was a time when I couldn't do it, let alone imagine not being able to do it and not knowing what the time is.

I'm a bit of a stickler about little children learning to read analogue clocks as well as digital, it fills me with horror to think that one day analogue time telling will be an old fashioned skill - so I'm pleased to see that this Bright Sparks Tell the Time book feature both analogue and digital time telling opportunities within its pages.

The age guide says between five and seven years, but if your child is like my neice then they'll be able to handle this book before they hit five years old. There are 128 pages and not only will  it help them learn to tell the time, it also introduces days, months and seasons too; marvellous, I love books like this.

A few people have left reviews and all of them are very positive:

Absolutely excellent and very colourful, ideal for young children who are learning to tell the time

Bought this for my five (just) yr old grandson. He immediately was very interested and found it hard to stop! Great book

Set up easy enugh for first learning does both digital and traditional clocks, my son is enjoying working out what timeit is, saves him keep asking us

You can arrange to collect your Bright Sparks Tell the Time book for free from your local M&S store, which is what I'd do - paying for them to deliver it to you will cost almost twice as much as you paid for the book!

Happy learning to tell the time!

Asda are selling this cute Learn with Hello Kitty: Starting to Write book for just £2.

• Click HERE to take a look at Learn with Hello Kitty: Starting to Write*

If you have a little girl who's showing early signs of wanting to get to grips with writing, or who is getting ready for school, then this Learn with Hello Kitty: Starting to Write book is going to be great for them.

It's a simple-to-follow guide to starting to write.  It covers letter shapes, how to form them  and is linked to the Early Years Foundation Stage, so you know you'll be teaching them in the same way their school will.

It features tons of Hello Kitty reward stickers too, which always go down a storm with youngsters and will help to keep them motivated when/if they find some letters a little more tricky to get the hang of.

You can arrange to collect your Learn with Hello Kitty: Starting to Write book for free from your nearest Asda, or you can pay an additional £2.95 and have them deliver it for you.

Happy starting to write with Hello Kitty! 

Those Red House Books bargain people are selling this See Inside Your Body book for £3.99 rather than £9.99.

• Click HERE to take a look at See Inside Your Body *

If you have an inquisitive youngster in your family and suspect they may be destined for greatness as a doctor/surgeon/pathologist/physiotherapist, then you might want to consider filling out their surgical Christmas stocking with this See Inside Your Body book.

The information in the book is presented in a fun and factual way, there are over 50 flaps for them to lift up and look under - I don't know what it is that kids find so fascinating about looking underneath flaps in books, it can't be the element of surprise because that would be gone after the first reading.

There are lots of bright pictures and diagrams displaying the major organs of the body which are accompanied by a witty, clear and informative factual text.

As a certain supermarket likes to say, 'every little helps', so here's a free delivery code for you - I'm sure you don't want  to pay £2.80 for delivery do you: XMAS133.  Enter it into the promotion/discount code box before you check out.

Thanks to helen79 at HUKD

Big Questions From Little People, Answered By Some Very Big People - well, that's one heck of a title for a book, but having read about it it sounds like it's one heck of a book!

• Click HERE to take a look at Big Questions From Little People, Answered By Some Very Big People *

If you have any kind of dealings with kids at all, you'll know just how inquisitive they can be and how they'd pass the Spanish Inquisition entrance exams with flying colours - books like Big Questions From Little People, Answered By Some Very Big People satisfy the curiosity of most little inquisitors!

It features 120 questions, asked by children aged between five and 12 years old, and the answers given by well-known people: Richard Dawkins (professor and scientist) answers the question: are we all related?  And Bear Grylls reveals whether, or not, it's okay to eat a worm - I'm sure the worm would have his own opinion on Bear's answer!

Derren Brown, Jessica Ennis, Jarvis Cocker and Sir David Attenborough have also answered some of the questions asked by those little people: the answer to your question: how much does it cost? is £4.99, it should be £12.99.

Single item delivery with the Book People is, now, £2.80 - rather than paying that, just enter XMAS262 into the promotion code box in your basket before you check out, and enjoy free delivery instead.

Happy learning the answers to some big questions!

Sainsbury's Entertainment are selling copies of this Junior Illustrated Maths Dictionary for just £2.99 - The Book People and Amazon are currently selling them for £4.99 and £5.49 respectively, so Sainsbury's is definitely the place to go for this one.

• Click HERE to take a look at the Junior Illustrated Maths Dictionary *

I have a confession to make: I. LOVE. MATHS!  I adore all things numbers and am one of the few people who actually looks forward to household budget and other financial admin' - I think it's an absolute tragedy that some people are gripped by panic and fear when it comes to the big MATHS word.

This Junior Illustrated Maths Dictionary is just the thing for helping youngsters increase their Key Stage Two maths knowledge and confidence (KS2 is for school years 2, 3 and 4) and will set them on the path to mathematical greatness.

Alright, maybe 'mathematical greatness' is a bit extreme (although, you never know, perhaps you'll unleash a mathematical genius who ends up changing the world) but at least they won't want to hide under the desk whenever it's time to start messing around with numbers.

Delivery within the UK is free and orders are usually dispatched within one day; hurrah!

Thanks to nicoleisapayne at HUKD 

Mooching around the virtual bookshelves of The Book People, this morning, I came across a rather nice deal on the Horrible History of Britain and Ireland by Terry Deary - its full list price is £12.99, you can buy a copy from The Book People for just £4.99.

• Click HERE to take a look at The Horrible Histories of Britain and Ireland

My youngest son is SUCH a fan of all things Horrible History - he has the books, he watches the TV programmes and the children's quiz show based upon Terry Deary's absolutely genius series of educational history books.

Just in case you've not come across his Horrible History books before, let me tell you about them quickly:  in short, they are a series of books that reveal the gory and gruesome side of various times throughout history, from 'The Rotten Romans' to 'The Terrible Tudors', the 'Vile Victorians' right though to grim facts about living during the First and Second World Wars.

Terry Deary has, single handed, managed to capture the imaginations of children by telling them all the horrible bits of history and ignited their thirst for historical knowledge.

The Horrible History of Britain and Ireland book will furnish your child with all sorts of amazing, disgusting and horrible historical facts about the country they live in; it also comes with 'dreadful door poster' for your young historian to stick somewhere too.

Single item delivery usually costs an additional £1.95, but I have a free delivery code for you to use - simply enter OFFERSEP into the promotion code box in your basket and you won't have to pay a single penny more than £4.99 for your Horrible History of Britain and Ireland book.

Happy Horrible Histories; hurrah! 

The Book People are selling this Doodlepedia book for £3.99 - its recommended published list price is £8.99.

• Click HERE to take a look at Doodlepedia

If you're a regular PlayPennies reader then you'll already know two things about me:

1) I absolutely adore books; and

2) I'm a big fan of 'things' that have more than one function

This Doodlepedia book, by Dorling Kinglsey (you cannot go wrong with a Dorling Kinglsey book), is a doodle book, a colouring book and encyclopedia all rolled into one.  It's pages are crammed full of interesting facts and information about all sorts of everything along with pictures to colour in, photographs to look at, part-finished illustrations for your child to complete and space to just doodle.

Research has shown we often learn faster when we doodle, so the combination of an encyclopedia with a doodle/colouring book is, in my opinion, a stroke of genius from Dorling Kinglsey.

I have a free delivery code for you - single item delivery usually costs an additional £1.95 - simply enter OFFERSEP into the promotion code box in your basket to apply it, then sit back and wait for your Doodlepedia to drop onto your doormat; marvellous.

Happy doodling!

The Works are selling this Horrible Geography book collection for £9.99, its recommended list price is £59.90.

• Click HERE to take a look at the Horrible Geography book collection

If you have a youngster who loves asking questions about the world they live in, and likes to know things, then this Horrible Geography book collection is going to appeal to them - a LOT.

Full of interesting and gruesome facts the Horrible Geography books tell it how it is in the way that younger children love - information about 'stuff' with all the nasty, gruesome and gory bits left in!

Ten books make up the collection and the titles include:

• Violent Volcanoes
• Odious Oceans
• Stormy Weather
• Raging Rivers
• Desperate Deserts
• Freaky Peaks
• Bloomin' Rainforests
• Monster Lakes
• Earth-Shattering Earthquakes and
• Cracking Coasts

Next day delivery is usually £6.49 but you can enjoy that service for FREE by entering the code HOLIDAY into the promotion code box in your basket before you checkout and pay; fabulous!

Thanks to goonertillidie at HUKD

Those lovely folks over at The Book People are selling this See Inside Your Body book for £3.99 rather than £9.99.

• Click HERE to take a look at See Inside Your Body

Have you got an inquisitive youngster in your family?  Do you suspect you may have a budding doctor/surgeon/pathologist/physiotherapist on your hands?

If you do, then they're going to love this See Inside Your Body book.  All the information in the book is presented in a fun and factual way, there are flaps to lift too - kids always love discovering what's underneath flaps in books.

There are plenty of bright pictures and diagrams that display the major organs of the body and are accompanied by a witty, clear and informative factual text.

If this is all you order from The Book People today then you'll need to pay an additional £1.95 for delivery, but if there are other things that take your fancy and your order goes over £25 then delivery becomes free.

Happy seeing inside your body!

The Book People are selling this See Inside How Things Work book for just £3.99 instead of its usual £9.99 list price.

• Click HERE to take a look at See How Inside Things Work

This is SUCH a great book for kids (I'd rather like to have a read of it myself, if I'm honest) for various reasons.

Everyone has an inherent curiosity to see how things work on the inside and this book is packed with lots of different inventions, gadgets, gizmos and machines.

As well as interesting facts and information there are over 90 flaps to lift and reveal the internal secrets of a car engine, a submarine, escalators and all sorts.

There are links to websites with animations, games and experiments that will give your young knowledge sponge even more information.

If this is all you order from The Book People then you'll need to pay a single item delivery charge of £1.95 however, if other things take your fancy and your order total goes over £25 then delivery will be free.

Happy seeing how it works on the inside!

The Book People have reduced the price of The Story of the Olympics by a little more since the last time I wrote about it - it was £3.99 then.

It's listed as £2.99 now (instead of £9.99) and if you buy it before the close of play on Tuesday then you'll be able to drop the price to £2.69 by using the, now well worn, JULY2012 promotion code.

• Click HERE to take a look at The Story of the Olympics

So?  Did you watch the Opening Ceremony?  Did you watch the first day of the games?  Did you watch yesterday's games?  Are you going to watch the games today?!

I must confess to having Olympic fever; I have two home teams to cheer on - Team GB and Team SA - and was beside myself with joy yesterday when Lizzie Armitstead took Silver for the Women's Road Race, Becky Adlington with her Bronze in the Women's 400m Freestyle and Cameron van der Burgh bagged Gold for South Africa in the Men's 100m Breaststroke AND smashed both the Olympic and World records; HURRAH!

Anyway, back to the book - fun AND educational at the same time, The Story of the Olympics has quirky stories, features comic strip illustrations and is chock full of interesting Olympic facts.

Single item delivery with The Book People is usually £1.95 - delivery is free if you're spending over £25 - TBPFREECHAT was a working free delivery code for me until very recently, I don't know if it doesn't work now because I used it or whether it's expired; either way, it's worth a try, you may save yourself £1.95.

Happy Olympic reading and watching!

I've written about this Children's Illustrated Internet Linked Encyclopedia before, the last time was September last year, but now it's part of the WHSmith 'clearance books' section so this may well be your last chance to grab a copy - it'll set you back all of £3.39, its full price was £19.98.

• Click HERE to take a look at the Children's Illustrated Internet Linked Encyclopedia

When I was little I was a regular visitor to the local library.  I loved the kid's story book section, but I was always fascinated by the reference books section upstairs.

The entire floor was dedicated solely to dictionaries, encyclopedias, volumes and volumes of English case law and Hansard reports and archives of the local papers going back over 100 years; seeing that amount of knowledge and information just begging to be discovered was amazing to me and when I was nowhere to be seen in the kiddies section, upstairs is where I'd always be found!

My 'thing' for reference books remains just as strong today, so when I saw this Children's Illustrated Internet Linked Encyclopedia, there really was no question as to whether I'd buy it or not; I gave a copy to my youngest son for Christmas and he regularly dips in and out of it to help him with his homework, or just because he's thought of something and wants to find out about it.

It contains spectacular illustrations, photographs and maps.  There are thousands of entries on a huge range of topics and up-to-the-minute coverage of world events, and you can jump from one entry to another and find out more with comprehensive cross-references and there are hundreds of expertly selected links that will take you to the best websites for each topic.

This is such a wonderful book; it's big and hefty (hardback too, so it's robust) and, quite frankly, I think it should be standard issue for every child starting school - I can't wax lyrical about it much more so I'll just leave you to go and buy a copy whilst you still can!

Happy internet linking and learning!

The Works are selling this Horrible Geography Book Collection for £9.99, rather than its full £59.90 price.

• Click HERE to take a look at the Horrible Geography book collection

I've written Horrible Histories twice and had to delete and replace with Geography - that's how used I am to the Horrible Histories series!  I have to say that this Horrible Geography book collection looks like it will be just as fun and informative too.

Ten books make up the collection and the titles include:

• Violent Volcanoes
• Odious Oceans
• Stormy Weather
• Raging Rivers
• Desperate Deserts
• Freaky Peaks
• Bloomin' Rainforests
• Monster Lakes
• Earth-Shattering Earthquakes and
• Cracking Coasts

If you have a youngster who loves asking questions about the world they live in, and likes to know things, then this Horrible Geography book collection is going to appeal to them - a LOT.

Full of interesting and gruesome facts the Horrible Geography books have what kids love - gore and knowledge about 'stuff'.

I've got a couple of free delivery codes for you to use too, either:  FREE12 or FREE412 so £9.99 is going to be your total outlay a Horrible Geography book collection.

Thanks to Syzable at HUKD

If you're looking for a fun way to introduce the alphabet, then you could do worse than taking a quick look at these Noddy ABC Books that come with a play mat and flash cards - Reader's Digest are selling the set for £4.99.

• Click HERE to take a look at these Noddy ABC books

"Noddy...(Noddy)...The little boy with the red and yellow car..." well that's that Noddy theme tune in my head for the rest of the day now! None of my children have ever been huge fans of Noddy, I don't know what it was about him that didn't 'do it' for them but whenever he came on TV they'd wander off and go and find something else to do or play with.

However, as they were (and still are) all bookworms I'm sure they would have found him more engaging in these Noddy ABC books - I love that there's a play mat and flash cards to integrate too, it just makes the whole learning experience a little more three dimensional, if you know what I'm getting at.

The books are wipe-clean and the entire set has been designed to keep youngsters interested whilst helping them get to grips with letters, numbers and basic spellings; I think it's fab and if I had a little one about to embark on this very fundamental bit of learning, it would already be in my shopping basket!

Thanks to saint_714 at HUKD

If you order these three Fuzzy Fun books together, you'll pay just £2.97 for them and get them delivered for free - their full retail price would be £14.97.

• Click HERE for Fuzzy Fun Counting
• Click HERE for Fuzzy Fun Colours
• Click HERE for Fuzzy Fun First Words

Hands up who remembers Fuzzy Felt?!  I had two Fuzzy Felt sets when I was a little girl and can picture them clear as day as I write this post; wow, I loved my Fuzzy Felt.

All the fuzzy felt pieces that come with each book can be safely stored away in the plastic tray/holder/container 'thing' that's built into the book cover. The book pages have simple text that will guide your child as to where they should place the fuzzy pieces on the page which is great, but if your children are anything like mine were, there'll be fuzzy pieces wherever they DECIDE to put them on the page.

Ordering the three Fuzzy Fun books together takes you over the £2.50 minimum order value to qualify for free delivery and, let's face it, one Fuzzy Fun book just isn't going to be enough.

Thanks to wishihadadonkey at HUKD

ChoicesUK win the award for my Deal of the Day - they're selling this First Questions And Answers book collection of 10 books for just £3.99, the full list price is £59.99.

• Click HERE to take a look at the First Questions and Answers book collection

If you've been reading my PlayPennies posts for a while you'll know I'm something of a book fan, especially if those books are educational - this First Questions and Answers book collection most definitely fits that bill.

Kids ask questions, LOTS of them, so this First Questions and Answers book collection of 10 books is bound to appeal to most of them.  They'll find the answers to the questions that have been burning away in their minds and undoubtedly some they hadn't already thought of.

This particular First Questions and Answers book collection focuses on animals, so if you have an animal lover in your family then this is going to be ideal, and answers questions about kittens right through to why pandas are endangered.

Each book is packed with bright illustrations and has activity panels on each page, giving tips on how to extend the subject learning, and there are fun quizzes at the back too.

This is SUCH a bargain, as far as I'm concerned, I'll be surprised if it stays in stock for long.

Thanks to andywedge at HUKD

If you're looking for an atlas suitable for kids (full-blown adult atlases can be a bit much to deal with when you're small) then I suggest you take a look at this Children's World Atlas on sale at Red House Books.

Its usual price is £12.99, you can pick one up from Red House for £6.49; I have a free delivery code for you too - it's R3DFR33.

• Click HERE to have a look at the Children's World Atlas

My youngest is having to get his head around geography; a book very similar to this Children's World Atlas has helped him enormously.  If you've been a PlayPennies reader for a long time then you'll know that I bounce backwards and forwards between the UK and South Africa quite often - it's far easier to explain, to Edward, where I'm going by showing him the relevant atlas pages.

My mum and dad live in Italy and when Edward and his dad went over to stay with them last October, our version of the Children's World Atlas came in handy again.

I have cousins that live in Spain and Finland, a friend in Norway (who has a son born in the same month as Edward) along with friends in Dubai, Japan, Australia and the United States - with this many friends and family scattered all across the globe, referring to a Children's World Atlas makes seeing where everyone is in relation to each other much easier to grasp and opens up a whole host of learning opportunities too.

I've always been a fan of reference books and still prefer to look at places, with kids, in books like this Children's World Atlas, rather than online with Google Maps - I feel we need to keep books 'alive' before they fall out of favour and print forever!

Which would/do you prefer to look at with your child - a Children's World Atlas book or Google Maps on the computer?

Happy atlas page-turning!

This Human Body 3D Pop-Up book is on sale with The Book People for £3 instead of its full list price of £12.99; awesome.

• Click HERE to take a look at the Human Body 3D pop-up book

I'm currently studying anatomy which includes, in serious detail, muscle physiology and if you don't love it then, WOW, would it be heavy going what with sarcoplasm, mitochondrion and all those myofibrils!

Thankfully, this Human Body 3D pop-up book looks like it will be very informative and educational whilst being fun and engaging at the same time, because the information isn't contained in the book alone - your computer and webcam also come into play.

To quote the official blurb about the Human Body 3D pop-up book,

The incredible on-screen pop-ups allow children to get inside the body and see the way it works from all angles, while the detailed facts, stats and figures make this hardback a top learning experience

It sounds properly great to me - I think I might even buy one for myself to lighten up my anatomy revision!

A single item delivery charge of £1.95 will apply if this is all you order from The Book People - a small price to pay for such a great book, in my humble opinion.

Happy anatomy learning!

The Book People are selling these four educational Peek a Boo Penguin books for £4.99 instead of £15.96.

• Click HERE to take a peek at the Peek a Boo Penguin books

No one is ever too young to be given books and these four Peek a Boo Penguin books are just perfect for young minds to get to stuck into.  The four titles included are:

• Colour and Shape
• Numbers and Counting
• Sounds and Letters and
• Ready for Reading

Along with introducing early learning concepts, the pages of each Peek a Boo penguin book contain brightly coloured illustrations and photographs, are brightly coloured and have lots to do and discover - like a Peek a Boo penguin on each page to find.

If you're having a party for a youngster soon a few Peek a Boo Penguin book collections, split up, are well worth considering for inclusion in party bags - personally I'd rather give a young child a book to take home rather than a bit of plastic tat that costs the same and will just end up being thrown away after five minutes.

A single item delivery charge of £1.95 will apply if you only order these lovely Peek a Boo Penguin books - free delivery doesn't kick in until your order is over £15.

Happy reading!