Only 10 Picture Books?!?! What To Do??

When Mandy of Enjoy and Embrace Learning and I started bantering back and forth about the 10 books we couldn't live without in our classrooms, I had no idea it would turn into this fun blogging event (Twitter hashtag #pb10for10). Of course, I also hadn't prepared myself for the challenge of narrowing my stack to just 10 books.

I went to school to pick up some favorites. That really did not go as planned! Can you say, OVERWHELMING!?! There were so many picture books I knew my students had loved over the years. There were so many books students took home night after night. I've been updating my library so there are also new books I recently purchased which I am certain will be a success in the classroom. There were authors to consider. How could I have a list of 10 books without Mem Fox, Eric Carle, Eve Bunting, Cynthia Rylant, Eileen Spinelli, David Shannon, Kevin Henkes, Robert Munsch or Mo Willems (among others)? You see my problem.

So, I decided to make a list of criterion for a book that is a must have in the classroom. Surely that would help. I was still struggling. I wrestled with the idea of choosing the 10. Should they be books children just love to hear? Should they be books I like to use for writing mentors or books that work well for reading focus lessons? I chose my books, but you can see

I still had a problem....

So tomorrow you will see if I have managed to narrow to 10 (I'm interested in the result as well!)....

Tomorrow's Event:

We have well over two dozen blogs that we know will be joining us in the event, and I expect others as it wasn't necessary to reply your intent to participate. The collection of bloggers is diverse in many ways so the lists should be useful to many readers. I can't wait to see everyone's "must haves"!! (I'm saving my money for a few new purchases.) After reading e-mails and messages from other participants I know there are going to be some great spins on the lists (can't give those away though). Stop by and check it out!

If you would like to join our 10 for 10 blogging event, we'd love it! There's still time...

To Participate:

Write a post about the 10 picture books you couldn't live without in your classroom. Sometime during the August 10th event, comment with a link and brief description of your post to my blog or to Mandy's at Enjoy and Embrace Learning (no need to link to both). Your post will be linked to both of our blogs. Mandy will be posting in a summary format, and I'll have a jog of all posts.

Join us for tomorrow's August 10 for 10 "must have" picture book blogging event.