Picture Book Research

If you’re a picture book writer, you know that in order to write great picture books, you must also read great picture books. And that’s the thinking behind Kristi Call and Carrie Charley Brown’s ReFoReMo Challenge.

The goal is to read 5 picture books per weekday in the month of March for a total of 105 picture books.

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Keeping it real, here’s a list of the books I’ve read during week #1: (Is it cheating if I started a day or two early?)

1. This is the House that Jack Built by Simms Taback
2. Around the Table that Grandad Built by Melanie Heuiser Hill and Jaime Kim
3. There Was An Old Dragon Who Swallowed a Knight by Penny Parker Klosterman and Ben Mantle
4. Snappsy the Alligator Did Not Ask To be in This Book by Julie Falatko and Tim Miller
5. Chloe and the Lion, by Mac Barnett and Adam Rex
6. Z is for Moose, by Kelly Bingham and Paul Zalinsky
7. The Very Impatient Caterpillar by Ross BurachAre
8. We Pears Yet? by Miranda Paul, illustrated by Carin Berger
9. Moon: Earth’s Best Friend by Stacy McAnulty, illustrated by Stevie Lewis
10. My Happy Year by E. Bluebird by Paul Meisel
11. Pluto Gets the Call by Adam Rex, illustrated by Laurie Keller
12. Sea Bear: A Journey for Survival by Lindsay Moore
13. Stonewall: A Building. An Uprising. A Revolution by Rob Sanders, illustrated by Jamey Christoph
14.  The Secret Garden of George Washington Carver by Gene Barretta; illus by Frank Morrison
15. Black Is a Rainbow Color by Angela Joy; illustrated by Ekua Holmes 
16. MOTH: AN EVOLUTION STORY by Isabel Thomas, Illustrated by Daniel Egneus
17. GIANT SQUID by Candace Fleming, illustrated by Eric Rohmann
18. Most Marshmallows by Rowboat Watkins 
19. River by Elisha Cooper 
20. ONCE UPON A GOAT by Dan Richards, illustrated by Eric Barclay

Reading the blog posts that go along with the challenge make it insightful, highlighting what can be learned from looking at mentor texts.

I expect to be making a few more trips to the library this month! And I must say, I am so grateful for the ability to place holds on the books so that they are there waiting for me when I stop in at the library.

What mentor texts are you reading? Feel free to share in the comments.

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