Celebrating Picture Book Month

Today is the start of Picture Book Month.  As you probably can guess by my frequent book reviews, reading updates, and blog posts, I am a huge fan of picture books.  I will most definitely be celebrating Picture Book Month.  Yay!  Having the realization that Picture Book Month protocol may not be clear and we may need guidance for how to celebrate, I’ve come up with ten ideas to celebrate Picture Month Book in your classroom, in your home, on your own, or with others. 

1. Read lots of picture books.  Make a goal of reading at least one picture book a day or one new picture book each week.

2. Visit your local libraries. Pull picture books off the shelf and discover new authors and illustrators!  Ask the librarian for assistance in find the right book for your and your child/students.

3. Find your favorite picture books from when you were a child.  My husband recently found his two favorite childhood picture books online.  Thanks to the selling power of Amazon, he found Disney Classic Button Soup.  It was such a pleasure to see Nana reading Button Soup to our Lil Guy.  (The Big Guy was listening too!)

4. Visit book blogs that are celebrating Picture Book Month.  There are so many amazing book blogs out there that may cater to your picture book tastes.   You can easily blog hop from one book blog to another just by checking for ‘blogs I follow’ links.

5. Check out past Caldecott winners.  The Caldecott medal is given to picture books by a committee that recognizes excellence in story and illustrations.  Click HERE for the official Caldecott website with a lits of previous winners and honor books.

6. Stock up on picture books as gifts for birthdays, holidays, or give them as children (or adults) just because.  I love giving (and receiving) books as gifts. Work a book into a themed gift! (Give sporting goods plus a book about a favorite character playing sports.)

7. Visit a local book store.  Book stores are one of my true vices.  I love seeing the full book shelves and new books ready to be discovered.  I also love used book stores where I can grab a stack of picture books from the clearance section for a steal.  Try local indie book stores for unique local reads!

8. Participate in PiBoIdMo.  Picture Book Idea Month was started by Tara at Writing For Kids.  You can sign up on her blog.  The idea is simple.  Get your ideas for picture books out of your head and into notebooks, onto paper, write, sketch, and get organized.  If you are the writing type, check out herideas along with the other participants HERE.

9. Reread your favorite picture books.  Grab those favorites off the shelves.  Enjoy them or look at them critically for a new perspective.  Use fun voices for the characters or read a book in the dark with only a flashlight.  (Kids love that!)  Try reading book for younger students to an older audience and see their reaction!

10. Join a reading community.  Connect with other readers of picture books online at GoodReads or on twitter.  Check for your favorite author or illustrator’s website.  Go to story time with your children or encourage older students to share non-fiction picture books in the classroom.  (It’s worth it, I promise!) 

Overall, have fun and enjoy picture books.   

Have a great Picture Book Month and for more information, 

visit Picture Book Month Blog HERE.   

Anyone else planning to celebrate 

Picture Book Month?

Friends and Family

When readers connect books to their own lives it deepens understanding.  Young readers enjoy stories with friends and family, little adventures and discoveries, and daily life.  Children might even like it better when there is just a little bit of magic and make believe gluing together all the friends, adventures, and daily life.  For preschoolers reading books about childhood troubles may help teach about problem solving, expressing one’s self, and being a good friend.  These are important lessons and great for opening discussion with children.  Here are two books that offer such discussion starters for ages 3 to 8.

Monty and Milli, The Totally Amazing Magic Trick by Tracy Corderoy and Tim Warnes is a picture book about a brother and sister mouse.  Monty is the older brother who is into space, dinosaurs, artwork, and reading.  Milli is the younger sister who is annoyingly into pretty much anything that Monty likes.  Monty seems like a pretty patient mouse until it’s time for his birthday and he gets a totally amazing magic set.  The magic set is clearly for big kids only and Milli doesn’t take this well. 

The book is cute and the story is very believable for siblings.  I appreciated that the story showed the sibling both getting along and having problems.  The illustrations were very colorful with a bit of sparkle on some of the pages.  (I know some people are anti-sparkle in books but this was done in moderation and added to the magic.)  The scenes showing the mice’s home is really adorable, I even spotted a Lego-mini head in one of the illustrations.   (I like hidden Easter eggs like this for older readers.)

I think both younger and older siblings would really be able to relate to the story in this book.  If you have a young one who is into magic, there are a lot of little bits of magic throughout the book that they would enjoy too.   Recommended for ages 3 to 8, read alouds, big siblings, little siblings, and children who have an interest in magic.

Flabbersmashed about You by Rachel Vail, illustrated by Yumi Heo  is part of a series of books about Katie Honors.  Katie is a sweet and sensitive little girl (maybe preschool or kindergarten aged).  She has a best friend but feels betrayed when her friend chooses to play with (gasp!) a boy at recess time.  *spoilers* Katie feels very hurt and wants to yell at her friend.  Instead Katie blurts out that she feels flabersmashed!  She also unfortunately karate chops the friends hands apart in anger.  Another friend, a shy quiet girl comes and takes Katie’s hand dissipating the situation.

While I do appreciate giving children a chance to express their emotions, I was frustrated at how the author chose to deal with the problem.  Research supports that emotionally, children benefit from having an emotional vocabulary to express themselves.  We also didn’t see Katie making good decisions, coming up with solutions, or thinking about others.  These are all important steps in teaching students how to deal with problems.   Overall the book also lacked diversity even though an entire classroom full of students is shown.  I would check this one out at the library, but it doesn’t seem essential for a school or personal collection.

How about you?  Have you read any good books picture books about Family or Friends lately?  Feel free to share your suggestions in the comments section below. 

Bigger Than a Breadbox Review

If you are like me, when you were a child, you understood that magic wasn’t real but part of you always wished and hoped that just a little bit of magic would happen for you.  Maybe it was reading books that had a little magic or maybe it was feeling like my life was a little too plain, but I always secretly hoped magic would touch my life.  When I was about ten years old I read a book about a girl who orders some magical concoction that allows her to sprout wings from her back.  Since then I secretly wanted wings.  I didn’t even want to fly necessarily, I just wanted the magical experience.  I imagined what I would do with wings.  Would I hide them?  Show them off?  Would it change me?  Could I still go to school?  These are such childlike thoughts and feelings.  These are just some of the thoughts that I was thinking and feeling as I read Laurel Snyder’s book, Bigger Than a Breadbox.

Rebecca has just seen her family tear apart and is stunned to find herself moving away from her father and the only home she knows.  She doesn’t want things to change, but when she is forced into this new place, she happens to find a little magic in the form of a breadbox.  The breadbox can make things appear.  All she has to do is wish and inside the breadbox she finds treats, an ipod, school supplies, gum, money, and more.  She uses this magic to make friends, please her mother, and quiet her younger brother.  Rebecca enjoys herself but, everything has consequences.  Now, she realizes that the magic may be affecting other people and it gets her into trouble too.  She tries to turn things around, but it may be too late to save her family.

Loved the concept of this book.  Loved reading it.  I have told a few people about it, and I loved that too.  This book was written for young girls like me who secretly wished and hoped for just a little magic.  I was thinking as I read it:  What would I wish for?  Who would I tell?  Would it change my life?  This book was full of thought and imagination. It was sweet and creative, exciting and touching, everything you hope for when you pick up a book.  I see it as an instant classic like Freckle Juice, The Chocolate Touch, and Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing.  I can’t wait to use this in my classroom and see how kids react to it.  Everything about the book would lend it to reading, learning, writing, and sharing.  I recommend this book without reservation to middle grades and up.  I wouldn’t be surprised to see this book continue in popularity over the years.

Teacher.Mother.Reader

I am a teacher, a mother, and a reader.  I enjoy books!  I decided to start a blog about books to chronicle reading, being a teacher, and being a mother.  I am so excited, I don't even know where to start.  I guess I will start at the beginning...

I loved growing up with books.  I guess I didn't start reading until I was well into 1st grade, but even before that I was enjoying books.  I loved listening to stories and looking at the pictures on the pages, often making stories myself.  By the time I started reading in first grade I discovered that books were a magical place to  find friends and adventures.  I was told that I would sit and read to my dolls and stay up late with a flashlight reading under covers.  I never grew out of these habits!

When I became an independent reader, the library was my favorite place.  I would get piles of books and read, read, read.  I had already read all of my books at home multiple times!  My favorite books were picture books, fairy tales, and adventure books.  

One May, just as the summer was about to begin, I fell from a tree and had a severely broken leg which required a hip to my cast.  I was basically immobile, hot, and bored since most of my friends were off running and playing.  That summer it seemed like books were my only friend.  I started a reading summer challenge at my local library and read more than ever.  I remember reading longer chapter books and discovering new genres like fantasy and even poetry.  My summer was long but it was full of books...

After that I went off to a middle school with a huge library that I tried to spend as much time in as possible.  The librarian in that library would give me wonderful suggestions and I was reading more than ever. (Oh, how I wish I had such eager students!) But, like many eager readers I didn't connect my enjoyment of reading to school or even to the books I was reading in the classroom which, as I remember, were few.

By the time I got to High School I was a closet reader.  I read at home and flew through books in the classroom when they were assigned, but I didn't really connect with anyone about reading.  I remember when I was in high school my mom suggested that I try reading one of her (very tame) historical romance novels.   I loved it!  I also discovered one shelf of books in my local library with YA novels.  Wow!  I was in heaven as I read, read, read.

So, thats it for my first post.  Before I go for now, I was wondering: What are your earliest memories of books and reading?  I had my students once write an essay about reading, asking them to recall their earliest books, memories, and reading.  Many wrote about reading on parents laps, but some could only recall reading books with their Kindergarten teacher.  So, thanks for reading, I hope to have some 'views' soon.