Do I add it to my Goodreads List?
Picture books are the best. They can be read quickly, they have pictures and, man, talk about bringing all the feels. There are easy books that make you giggle and ones that are a punch in the gut not so unlike a Nicholas Sparks. The most misfortunate thing about picture books is that we only enjoy them for a short time in our lives. They are read to us on our parent’s lap and next thing you know we are the parent reading them to our children. Both these times are precious, but why just then? Why do we go from being read to, to reading primers, to chapters, and we only visit those picture books when the process is repeated with our kiddos?
Lucky for me, my parents read to me, I read to my children, and now I work at the library. I have access to all the books. Not only can I be the first to read the latest Picoult or Hannah, but I also can spare enough time to read some picture books when they call my name. Lucky for you, you too can spare enough time to read some picture books. Heck, you can just wonder over to the children’s section and pull a couple of titles, read them and shelve them, no checkout required. Mind you, we will let you check them out too, but in just in case it makes you feel silly, there are ways to enjoy picture books anytime you want.
Last Thursday, Brittany slid a book over to me; Making Happy by Sheetal Sheth. The cover was beautiful, but I was also fully aware that this book was probably going to make me sad. I am not going to tell you what it is about, come in and find out for yourself. When I finished it, I immediately pondered how beautifully picture books can depict such a range of emotions. I thought about the books that have made me laugh out loud and the ones that have made me cry.
During the days of restricted in person programming, a few of us read books for our Facebook page. After reading The Dot by Peter Reynolds to my high school are class and finding myself crying, I knew I needed to go the silly route to maintain my composure. I read Who Wet My Pants by Bob Shea and I Want My Hat Back by Jon Klassen (By the way, Klassen has a thing with hats, This is Not My Hat is also another great title by him). Both are a hoot and pretty fun to read out loud. Your Birthday Was the Best by Maggie Hutchings is another fun read, again, no spoilers but I will let you know that the narrator is a cockroach.
The punch in the gut books, Making Happy, The Dot (probably only because I was an art teacher), More by Amy Rosenthal (I have mentioned it before), and Wherever You Are by Nancy Tillman. There are many more, trust me.
We have almost 4000 picture books in our collection. This might seem like a weird suggestion, you know, to read little kid books, but just trust me, you will not regret it. And if you are having a hard time reaching your Goodreads Reading Challenge, you could blow that out of the water in one afternoon at the library.
Upcoming Events: 10/5 Lap Time Story Time at 9:45, followed by Story Time at 10am, 10/5 Book Club at 6:30pm, 10/8 LEGO Play at 10:30am and Bookopoly Reading Challenge continues.