International Book Giving Day 2014!

International Book Giving Day 2014 is coming up next week on February 14th! Since its also Valentine's Day, I thought I would share my top ten picture books that celebrate love. Two of these (Guess How Much I Love You and Love You Forever) are old favorites but the others are books I have discovered since I've had my own kids. They are all books we love to read over and over again in our house!

What are some of your favorites to read on or around Valentine's Day?

International Book Giving Day is a perfect chance to give a book 

and spread some book love!

#TeamRabbit Style Picture Book 10 for 10!

I'm excited to join in on August Picture Books 10 for 10 again! It's the 4th  annual celebration of the ultimate in picture book lists hosted by Cathy Mere of Reflect and Refine: Building a Learning Community and Mandy Robek of Enjoy and Embrace Learning. For more information you can visit their blogs. They also shared all about this fun blog job over at the Nerdy Book Club.  

My job is to share 10 picture books I just couldn't live without and this time around Franki Sibberson and I came up with a fun theme for our lists this year. At the Choice Literacy writing retreat we got to talking...again...about our beloved I Want My Hat Back by Jon Klassen. We still both adamantly stand by our favorite characters. If you remember (I mean, how could you forget?), I'm strongly #teamrabbit while Franki is fiercely #teambear. If you haven't read I Want My Hat Back, you'll want to get that for your library. That goes at the top of the list. Do I even need to say that? 



We realized we could each make lists that represent the top 10 picture books our characters would have in their library. The more we started brainstorming, the more we delved into really thinking about our characters and we started to realize that both of our characters may be a little misunderstood...maybe the whole story is really one big giant misunderstanding? At any rate, Franki is sharing the bear's list at her blog and I'm sharing the rabbit's. This is actually a great activity that might get kids really thinking like their favorite characters! 

When I think about the rabbit in I Want My Hat Back, I think he would like books with characters who are maybe a little misunderstood...but he might possibly also like books that have significantly happier endings for their antagonistic protagonists than the ending of I Want My Hat Back. 

He might also like books with feisty characters, characters who might have something to learn from his story in I Want My Hat Back.

I hope you enjoyed my list today and head on over to Franki's blog to check out her #teambear books. Don't forget to head over to Cathy and Mandy's blogs to check out the round-up of amazing picture book lists. 

Do you have any books to add to my #teamrabbit list? I would love to hear your recommendations!

Armchair BEA Day 2: Blogger Development & Fiction

It's Day 2 of Armchair BEA and we are sharing our favorite genres! What is your favorite genre?

Kellee:

What draws you to a specific genre?  Do vampires, zombies, or witches float your boat?  Or, do you prefer the heat of romance?  Recommend your favorite genres and/or books and help build reader TBR shelves a bit more! I try to say that I am not biased when it comes to the genres I read and I do my best to spread my reading across all genres; however, when I looked at my Goodreads shelves, I had to admit to myself that with 477 read, realistic/contemporary fiction is obviously where a majority of my reading goes. This is the genre I would have probably guessed would have been my most read genre because it has been a favorite while the other genres filter through as favorites. My most recent favorite genre is historical fiction, specifically contemporary historical fiction which is a genre that I named to embody the books that have taken place since WWII until the Afghanistan War. I really enjoy learning more about these times in history that were also such huge impacts on my life. 

Realistic/Contemporary Fiction

   

Contemporary Historical Fiction

    

Historical Fiction

 

Jen:

What draws you to a specific genre?  Do vampires, zombies, or witches float your boat?  Or, do you prefer the heat of romance?  Recommend your favorite genres and/or books and help build reader TBR shelves a bit more! This is super hard for me! I love reading so many different genres and kinds of books and across grade levels. I guess, if I look at all of the books I've read, I read mostly picture books, I have done a whoooooole lot of non-fiction reading in the last year though. Being in a new position where I support all the new teachers in my district (which is over 200 teachers this year), I wanted to really focus on learning about myself and others and collecting ideas for engaging teachers so they embrace a growth mindset when it comes to their own professional development and then to teaching. Some of my favorite posts this school year stem from my thinking after reading these books.

Living a Growth Mindset

And I Would Read 10,000 Hours

Be An Agent of Change

Jen's Sunday Post - The Importance of a SMILE!

Here are the adult/professional books I read since last June! It's crazy to see them lined up like this! I would love to hear what professional books you have read recently that you definitely recommend or love. I already have Notice and Note on my list for the summer for sure! 

Be sure to tell us what genre you love and why! 
See you tomorrow when we discuss literary fiction and have a giveaway!!! 
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