It’s raining picture books! Wherever I turn, there is another one–or two–or three. Of course, it’s not by chance. In honor of Picture Book Month, I’m promoting this valuable literary form at every opportunity. Weather aficionados are invited to look at the impressive photographs in Seymour Simon’s Super Storms.
I might “neglect” to reshelve some Mo Willems or Doreen Cronin treasures after young patrons looked at them. And, of course, the display shelves are stocked with recent arrivals like Jeanette Winter’s Biblioburro and Jackie French’s Diary of a Baby Wombat.
Then a class comes to the library. That’s when I really get going. A book cart becomes a display stand for a collection of great picture books that I enthusiastically talk about, and I invite participation from the audience. After my presentation, I read a story that I believe is one of the best of the bunch, and turn the kids loose to find their own treasures to borrow. Or a class may be treated to a play based on Grandpa for Sale by Dotti Enderle and Vicky Sansum.
And I don’t stop at limiting the students to being merely consumers of others’ creations. Budding authors and artists are pairing up to write and illustrate their own picture books. Who knows, perhaps some day a venerable children’s book author will say that she was inspired by a third-grade Picture Book Month activity led by her school librarian.
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