Reflect & Refine: Building a Learning Community: The Countdown to August's Picture Book 10 for 10 Event Begins

Monday, July 10, 2017

The Countdown to August's Picture Book 10 for 10 Event Begins

Dear Mandy,
This morning I woke up, looked at my watch, and realized it is July 10th! July 10th means it is only one month until my favorite school year kick-off event: Picture Book 10 for 10 (#pb10for10). I then opened up my Twitter account to find a link to your announcement post, a nice walk down memory lane about how this event began. You see, I too remember reading your post about the books you were considering for your classroom collection. I remember wishing I could step into your classroom to see which books you knew had to be a part of your classroom collection. As we went back and forth about our favorites via Twitter and your blog, we both began to wonder about the books other teachers thought were "must-haves" for their classroom library --- and an event was born.

This year will be the 8th year to take a peek into classroom libraries everywhere and share our favorites. I'm so excited! I always look forward to seeing the recommendations of other educators, librarians, parents, and picture book enthusiasts around the world. I'm sure by now you already have your books picked and your post is nearly written. (Keep in mind Tony Keefer has had his post written since last year. He's always ahead of the game.) True to form, I'm still weighing the possibilities. I know that in the next month I will change my mind about my topic and the books I will share at least ten times. Two days before the event I'll be frantically making decisions. So many good books....it's so hard to decide.

Yes, it's true. I'm a bit offline right now. I'm busy enjoying the beauty of the northeast, but know the possibilities of the books I might share continually swirl in my mind. I'm so grateful you reached out and started this conversation about books all those years ago. I'm also grateful so many of our friends and colleagues have jumped in to join us in celebration of picture books year after year.

I know you will not disclose your list before August 10th, even to me, your co-conspirator, so I'm counting down the days until I get to see which books you know are must-haves for your readers this year. I'm hoping our friends will join us once again on August 10th to share our favorites.

Counting down the days,
Cathy

Here's how you can participate:

Grab a Badge (just copy the URL address of the one above or take a screenshot)
Join the #pb10for10 Google Community
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 to determine their selections. We'll leave this up to you.
Narrow Your List to Ten: It isn't easy, is it? We've seen some crafty ways to get around that number.
Write Your August 10th Post: Write a post about the ten books you cannot live without. Share your post on August 10th and link it to the Picture Book 10 for 10 Community.
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 (see post below). Of course, now with the Google Community it is quite easy to just post your favorites directly into the community without a blog. We will also be tweeting from the #pb10for10 hashtag.
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.

So...

Pull out your library cards, load up your Amazon accounts, or better yet - plan a trip to your local bookstore on August 11th because you're going to be unable to resist checking out (or purchasing) a few new picture books. We hope to see you on the 10th!

A Few Historical and Informational Posts: