November – Picture Book Month

What is Picture Book Month? Picture Book Month is an international literacy initiative that celebrates print picture books during the month of November.

Founder, Dianne de Las Casas (author/storyteller) www.diannedelascasas.com 
Co-Founders, Katie Davis (author/illustrator) www.katiedavis.com
Elizabeth O. Dulemba (author/illustrator) www.dulemba.com
Tara Lazar (author) www.taralazar.wordpress.com
Wendy Martin (author/illustrator) www.wendymartinillustration.com, put together their worldwide connections to make this happen.

Every day in November, there is a new post from a picture book champion explaining why he/she thinks picture books are important.

In this digital age where people are predicting the coming death of print books, picture books (the print kind) have so much to offer that they must be celebrated and shared. And the world needs picture books. There’s nothing like the physical page turn of a beautifully crafted picture book.

What You Can Do to Celebrate Picture Book Month?
* Become a Picture Book Month Ambassador and place the Ambassador badge on your website, with a link to www.PictureBookMonth.com .
* Register at www.PictureBookMonth.com  so that you can pledge to celebrate your love of picture books throughout the month of November. You will also be added to the Picture Book Month mailing list.
* Create posters and hang them around your school and library. Posters are available for download online in the media kit. Be sure to include the book covers of your favorite picture books.
* Download the theme calendar for Picture Book Month to help you create a month-long celebration of picture books.

Don’t miss downloading The Teacher’s Guide for Picture Book Month created and pulled together by Marcie Colleen and illustrated by Joyce Wan. There is lots of great information and ideas for the Month of November. Here is an excerpt for Social Studies:

Why Picture Books?

Picture books allow students to have vicarious experiences through characters who are not like them.

 Picture books teach the universality of many experiences.

 Picture books help students make sense of the world.

 Picture books help students develop empathy.

 Picture books place a human face to historical, political, environmental, and cultural events.

 Picture books provide an emotional core which helps connect the students to the content.

 Picture books build empathy which is an important tool for navigating through society.

 Picture books not only tell a story of a culture or historical time, they also provide a visual into the world through illustrations.

 Picture books provide opportunities to develop students’ background knowledge and for frontloading before

the beginning of a new unit.

Here is the link to this 16 page PDF.

http://picturebookmonth.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/Picture-Book-MonthTeachers-Guide.pdf

Permission granted to copy and share for educational uses.

Learn more at:

http://www.thisismarciecolleen.com and www.picturebookmonth.com .

Picture Book Month logo by Joyce Wan

www.wanart.com

copyright © 2013 Marcie Colleen.

Talk tomorrow,

Kathy