Picture Book 10 for 10 is Coming!

Our world has been different for months. COVID put our classroom environments on pause and while they froze in time we didn't. We worked harder than ever and felt all the emotions of juggling a pandemic personally and professionally. Our world has embraced great sadness and is in the process of learning lots about race and equity.  At times it's hard to know what to do. Cathy and I have chatted and wondered does our little Picture Book 10 for 10 event have a place right now. 

In May, I was able to keep my first scheduled date with my good friend to a local Peony Farm.  We had scheduled a special event where we learned about growing peonies and we got to pick peonies. It felt so good to do something we had planned.  It felt so good to see my friend while socially distancing and in person. It feels good when we can do normal things and Picture Book 10 for 10 has been an August tradition for ten years and it feels right to talk about picture books.  Picture books help us process topics, relationships, and life.  Picture books are good for read aloud, shared reading, and independent reading. We are faced with a lot of unknowns right now in our profession and what I do know is I will be using picture books as I teach this year.

We hope you can join us in sharing your FAVORITE 10 picture books.  It can be your favorite all time favorites.  It can be your must have right now.  It can be around a theme or topic.  We just wish you luck selecting 10! This all began with Cathy asking me what were my must have picture books. We also understand if now isn't the season for you to join us. We hope you are all safe and healthy.

The Basics
Want to join the conversation? 

• What:  10 picture books you can't live without.
• Hashtag:  #pb10for10
• Hosts:  @mandyrobek (you're here), 
•             @cathymere (Reflect and Refine: Building a Learning Community)
• Who:  Anyone interested - 
•           educators, media specialists, librarians, parents, and book lovers.  
• When:  Saturday, August 10th
• Where:  All posts for 2020 will be linked here: Enjoy and Embrace Learning

Here's how you can participate:

1. Grab a Badge (just copy the URL address of the one above or take a screenshot)
2. Choose Your Favorites:  All you need to do is choose ten picture books you cannot live without for whatever reason.  In the first days of this event, everyone shared their ten very favorite titles.  This still works.  You will notice, however, that many past participants choose some type of theme or thread to connect their selections.  We'll leave this up to you.
3. Narrow Your List to Ten:  It isn't easy, is it?  We've seen some crafty ways to get around that number.  
4. Write Your August 10th Post:  Write a post about the ten books you cannot live without.  Share the link to your collection here, at Enjoy and Embrace Learning, on August 10th.  
5. No Blog?  No Problem:  If you don't have a blog, this might be the perfect time to start one --- or there are a million digital ways to join.  You could post from a Google page, create a S'more, share in Twitter (and copy the Tweet link), or any other creative idea you may be considering.  We will also be tweeting from the #pb10for10 hashtag.    
6. Comment:  On August 10th (and maybe for a week --- there are a lot of posts) take some time to read posts from other participants.  Please comment on at least three.