I love picture books. And I’m sad that my youngest child is now crazy over chapter books and hardly picks up a picture book. Yesterday I asked my husband to take us to the only English bookstore in Seoul that has a decent, recent picture book selection. I was in there for 45 minutes catching up on picture books from the United States that I hadn’t read yet! As a writer, I need to keep tabs on what topics have been written about and what the trends are. I had a delightful time!

This month I’m participating in writer Kathy Ellen Davis’ 31 in 31 challenge. Simply read 1 book each day in October and report our title on her blog daily. That’s it. This is a great, low-key challenge for busy me.

Next month is author Tara Lazar’s PiBoIdMo challenge, which is Picture Book Idea Month. Each day write down one picture book idea. I joined last year, and from last year’s list of ideas, I’ve been able to write picture book manuscripts. Each day she has a guest post, full of encouragement, which is just what I need. Before PiBoIdMo, I had the hardest time coming up with ideas. I think I only wrote 3-4 new stories that previous year. But after this challenge I had over 30 spankin’ new ideas! One will be published as a nonfiction magazine article for Clubhouse Jr next year. And the others I’m still working on getting them published. If you’ve never tried, I encourage you to join!

And next month is Picture Book Month, started by a group of authors, who celebrate picture books each day with a blog post from an author/illustrator. Picture books are definitely needed by our children.  

If you’re an educator, Teach with Picture Books, is a neat blog that shows how to use picture books with elementary and even middle school students.

And if you’re an educator, librarian, or parent, check out author Susanna Hill’s blog of Perfect Picture Books, book reviews of great picture books, arranged by theme. Writer friends post a book review each Friday on their blogs. They list activities you can do with your children.

Fall is a busy time for picture book writers and readers. What’s your favorite picture book? I have too many. One favorite from my childhood was Little Rabbit’s Loose Tooth by Lucy Bates.

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