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. 

Bully + Additional Resources for Parents and Teachers

One of my absolute passions is teaching children, teachers, and parents about bullying and relational aggression.  When I saw  Patricia Polacco’s new book, Bully, I knew it was a must read.  Polacco usually creates characters with which readers make connections easily.  This is certainly true with Bully which introduces Lyla, a middle schooler moving to a new school.  Lyla wants to be like other girls with cell phones and facebook.  Even with savvy parents who are strict about technology rules, Lyla still becomes the victim of cyber-bullying.  Parents might not understand the ins and outs of cyber-bullying and this book is an excellent primer.

Fans of Patricia Polacco will appreciate her sensitivity and authenticity.  Lyla feels compelled to fit in, but is torn when she witnesses ‘mean girls’ at work.  The characters are insightful, but also deal with real life problems.  One character makes the comment that “[the bullies] aren’t happy unless they are putting someone else down.”  I was also interested in how the school authorities were portrayed in dealing with cyber bullying, as there is much debate within education as to how to deal with this ever growing problem.  This book would be an excellent read in upper elementary and middle schools or even with older students to start a discussion.  In fact Polacco ‘ends’ the story by giving options for the characters and asking what should be done.

Recommended for MG readers including teachers, parents, fans of Polacco, people who are against bullying, and those who want to learn more about cyberbullying.

Additional Anti-bullying Resources

One way I teach about bullying is by offering teacher and parent professional development courses on anti-bullying based on Operation Respect’s “Don’t Laugh at Me”.  For free information and resources from “Don’t Laugh at Me”.  

Take this quiz quiz to see how much YOU know about bullying.  One surprising fact: According to the National Crime Prevention Council (NCPC), fear of losing computer privileges is the main reason why kids don't let their parents know when they are being cyberbullied.

Over at Imagination Soup there is an excellent post about being a parent or teacher who helps stop bullying.  I love the header for the article which reads: Bullying 101, Stop, Listen, Help.

Storytime Standouts and Story Snoops each have prepared lists of books with antibullying themes. StorytimeStandouts has a great list for elementary and MG readers while Story Snoops lists YA books with the theme of cyberbullying for older readers.

Parenting.com also aims to educate parents and children about bullying with this informational post.  Several resources are listed as well as helpful tips for parents and antibullying videos to watch with your child.

As always, if you have comments or additional resources to share, 

leave me a comment here and I will add your ideas. Thank YOU!