Perfect Picture Books!

I hope everyone had a nice weekend!

I got to babysit :)  Want to see?  (I know.  I promised not to inundate you with pictures of the most adorable granddaughter the world has yet seen.  But I've been pretty good... :))

How can you not fall in love with this? :)

What's that?  You need one more?  OK.  You've twisted my arm :)

Just look at those cheeks!  I think she's related to Friday's chipmunk :)

All right.  That's enough.  Stop asking me to show you pictures.  We have all kinds of excitement to get to this morning!

Remember that secret I mentioned on Friday?  The one you've no doubt been desperate to find out about all weekend to the point where you could hardly think of anything else but what will Susanna spring on us Monday????  You probably didn't even sleep last night!

Well get ready, because here it comes!

But first,  let's talk about how to remove stubborn stains from laundry items...

Tee hee :)

Seriously, here's the news:

I'm starting a new feature!

In the spirit of Marvelous Middle Grade Mondays, the brainchild of Shannon Messenger, and various YA listicle-type things, I am starting Perfect Picture Book Fridays!  I'm announcing it today so you'll all have time to gear up for the inaugural list this Friday, November 18.  Here's what we'll do:

As part of your Friday post, showcase a picture book you love.  This is NOT a review feature in the usual sense.  We're all going to assume that you recommend the book you're posting.  What's going to make this feature really great is the details.

(Please note: to start with, Perfect Picture Books Fridays will only list traditionally published picture books.  In the future, I hope to expand to e-books and possibly self-published books, as well as books for older readers, but for now we're going to stick with traditionally published picture books.)

(image of book cover optional)

1.  Give us the book title, author/illustrator, publisher, year, fiction or non-fiction, and audience age (preschool, elementary school or both)

2.  Tell us the themes/topics of the book (e.g. sibling rivalry, or, through hard work we achieve mastery, or, ocean life.)

3.  Give us the opening sentence or page and a 1-2 sentence synopsis.

4.  Link to any available resources you know of to expand this book's use at home or in the classroom (e.g. links to classroom guides, coloring pages or other activity sheets, or fun activities that can be done in conjunction with the book like a leaf collage or an egg carton caterpillar etc.) and/or list your own ideas.

5.  Link back to the Perfect Books page of my blog (which will be useful in a week or two when we start having a list!)

Then add your post link to the list, using the picture book title along with your blog's name, and every Friday parents, teachers, homeschoolers, and writers will have a great resource at their fingertips, perfect for going to the library to gather some weekend reading, or planning upcoming lessons for the following week, or studying great writing over the weekend, or all of the above!  (And as an added bonus, you'll hopefully be increasing traffic to your blogs and attracting parents, teachers, and writers!)

In addition, I have added a Perfect Picture Books tab in the header of my blog where all these wonderful books and resources will be archived by age and subject (and permanent links to your blogs) - a go-to resource that parents, teachers, and writers can access at any time.

At the end of each month (starting with November even though we're only going to be up and running for half the month) I will do a random drawing from among the names of the participants (you'll get one chance for every book you've listed that month) and the winner will receive their choice of a $10 Amazon gift card or whatever picture book I'm giving away that month.

We all want to introduce our children to the joys of books, and encourage them to be life-long readers.  So much of that is dependent on finding the right books to suit their individual needs and interests.  The marketplace can be overwhelming and sadly, not all of us have time to go and chat with our local children's librarian or spend hours researching books.  Perfect Picture Books will be your new resource - a community of parents, teachers, librarians, and writers whose recommendations you can trust, and a way to make life easier for parents and teachers.

Please pass the word to everyone you know who might be interested.  The more people who are involved, the more comprehensive and helpful this resource will be.

I hope you'll all find this idea as fun and exciting as I do and join in starting this Friday.

I'll bring the donuts :)