UBAM offers 22 different Wipe-Clean books two combo packs "Getting Ready for School" and "Starting School" plus one amazing collection.  Wipe-Clean books are sturdy and durable.  With the accompanying dry-erase marker, your kids can use these activity books over and over and over!  My favorite thing about these books is that they aren't consumable!  When my 5 year old outgrows his, I can easily pass them along to his little sister.  These are perfect for when you need to occupy the kids in a waiting room or while traveling.  Prices start at $7.99. 

I have three kids in three very different developmental stages.  As a good friend pointed out while I was pregnant with my third: "You're going to have an infant, a toddler, and a teenager at the same time.  That's, like, the three hardest stages and you're going to have them all at once."  Yeah, thanks for that, Captain Obvious. Of course life can be hard.  Sometimes I want to cry or throw things or move out, but mostly I manage.  I try not only to survive, but to thrive on this continuum of change I call my life.
My oldest is 15, hyperactive, and we definitely medicate that nonsense.  With medication he is so much more engaged, responsive, and productive.  He can focus with deliberation on his school work and daily living activities.  As described by many of his former teachers, he is a "veracious" reader.  He is current working on a couple of Usborne series - The Debt and The Phoenix Files.   My husband and I have the opposite problem of most parents, we have to make our son stop reading.  Sometimes he reads so much it interferes with his responsibilities and with our together-time. 
Our second son is 5 and quite the opposite of a veracious reader.  He is what you might refer to "reluctant".  Essentially, ​he has very little interest in books at all.  It's just not his thing.  He doesn't like to read or be read to very much at all...which is why I was so surprised after I ordered my first book from Usborne, because my little man LOVED it!  He carried it around with him, wanted to read it multiple times a day, and even started taking it to bed with him.  It was amazing.  There is something special about Usborne books, I swear!  They are just BETTER!  I just realized too, that some of the few favorites he has had over the years are also Usborne/Kane Miller titles, like Everyone Poops and the Touchy-Feely Jungle. 
Our youngest is a "sweet" girl of 2,5 years.  She has been a book lover for her entire little life.  I often find her parked in front ​of our bookshelves, books spread out all over the floor, as she quietly reads one after another.  Naturally our home library has expanded to include books with princesses and ballerinas - you know, the essentials for a girl in her 2's.  I am grateful that her interest in reading helps to engage her big brother.  I included a picture of her sitting with her best, good friend having a late-night reading session.  Us mamas were there, too, sipping on wine and sharing our fantastical plans for "when our kids no longer live with us".  Just kidding.  No I'm not. 
So while it is sometimes a struggle to maintain sanity while mothering, I have a ton of support from family and wine-drinking friends.  Plus I know I can always pawn my kids off on to some good books, and not feel guilty about it in the least!​

A Kane Miller published short story of young Marc and his inability to fall asleep.  Not to worry, though, his mother gladly helps by offering all sorts of super silly solutions.  This would be great for nap or bedtime, or when traveling to a new place.  Offered at $5.99 USD paperback 

Find more Kane Miller titles here​