Picture Books You Should Read

Picture books can be used with students of all ages. Students can experience complex storytelling, character change, and beautiful artwork while reading picture books. Here are just a few of the amazing picture books out there.

Another by Christian Robinson- This wordless picture book takes readers to another dimension. A young girl and her cat wake in the middle of the night to find a portal opened to another dimension.  Readers will have to look closely at the illustrations and infer the plot since this is a wordless book. This author also illustrated the award winning, Last Stop on Market Street.

• The Rough Patch by Brian Lies- This Caldecott Honor book takes readers through the journey of Farmer Evan and the loss of his beloved dog. Evan is so devastated by the loss that he destroys his prized garden and lets weeds grow everywhere. This book gives readers a glimpse of how deeply we can fall into grief, and how a glimmer of hope can shine through in the end. I read this book aloud to a class of third graders, and they were touched by the story. Great conversations will follow the reading of The Rough Patch.

• Wolf in the Snow by Matthew Cordell won the 2018 Caldecott Award. This wordless book tells the story of a girl who gets lost in a snowstorm, and a young wolf pup who also gets lost in the snow. The two find each other. Will they make it to safety with their families? The illustrations are beautiful and filled with details that even the youngest reader can find to drive the the plot along. I read this book with a group of kindergarten students, and they loved discovering this story.

• The Remember Balloons by Jessie Oliveros is a picture book that
  
  addresses memory loss in a beautiful and tender way. Each member of James's family holds balloons that represent memories of the past. Grandpa has the best balloons because he has lived the longest and experienced the most. Grandpa even has a balloon of a special memory of a fishing trip shared by James and Grandpa. James starts to become concerned when he notices that Grandpa starts losing some of his balloons. Grandpa even lets go of their special fishing trip balloon. This book maintains the dignity of the person suffering from memory loss while helping those left behind to keep and share the memories. I have shared this book with groups of adults and children alike. 

Which picture books have you been reading? Share your thoughts in a comment below, and we can learn from each other.

Sharing the Love of Picture Books through Book Tastings

I love books. I love reading. I want adults and kids to share my love of reading. I want kids and adults to experience the places you can travel to and the experiences you can have with a good book. Today I had the privilege of sharing 80+ amazing books with a room full of wonderful Oasis tutoring volunteers.

I decided to host a Book Tasting for the Oasis volunteers. After looking online, I found several blog posts by teachers who had held book tastings with their students. Just a couple of the helpful resources I used in my attempts to hold a great event include:

• Book Tasting TPT resources by Joanne Miller
• We Are Teachers blog
• Sassy, Savvy, Simple Teaching blog

Once I had the resources and outline of my presentation, it was time to start looking for amazing titles. Picture books aren't my specialty, so I went to the experts. Here are several places you can go for book suggestions:

• Open the Magic-Ramona Recommends
• Association for Library Services to Children
• The Book Wrangler
• List of books we used during the Book Tasting

My local public library became my lifesaver in this project. Their online catalog search feature allowed me to find books in the library circulation and reserve them online. The local libraries did all the hard work. They found the titles, pulled them from the shelves, and delivered them to my local branch.  All I had to do was pull up to the drive-thru window and pick them up.

The day of the book tasting arrived, and many hands helped get the tables ready for the festivities to begin. Tutors read through the books at their tables for about ten minutes. Then they had a few moments to discuss their favorites with their table mates. Tutors took their notes and moved to a different table for more time to read. More reading, and more discussion followed. Readers worked through three rotations before returning back to their original tables.

They had a final time to share about the books they experienced during the book tasting. I asked the tutors to give me some feedback about our time together. Here are just a couple of the comments:

• "I absolutely loved this idea. What a wonderful way to be introduced to books that I might otherwise not encounter! I found several that spur my creative spirit for fun companion activities to enhance the books. - K. Knouse"
• "It was fun to experience new books I had never read. You never know what you might like. Don’t judge a books by its cover. Very enjoyable. "
• "I enjoyed being introduced to new books. It gave me ideas on types of books I could use or have my students read. Each story has a way a child could learn to face & solve problems. It is important to be able to do that."
• "Great way to review lots of books in a short time and also to discuss with others. Huge variety of books. Love to find new books! This was fun. Thank you."
• "I liked this book tasting because it gave me books to read I wouldn’t have picked out."

So what are you waiting for? Gather up an armful of great books, and host a book tasting of your own.