Children's Books discussion

The Picture Book Club has been going strong since 2010 and below you will find a list of our monthly themes from previous years. I encourage members (especially new members) to explore these master lists for wonderful books centered around particular themes; many of these themes are seasonal (harvest time, summer outdoor activities, winter) or are popular among children (dinosaurs, cars and trucks, bedtime) and we even have non-fiction lists (biographies, history and science) so the lists could be consulted for storytime ideas, classroom supplemental reading, or enrichment of your personal library or to delight a child who has a special interest in certain subjects.

This is also the place for members to post suggestions for our monthly themes. I will pull from this list to make our monthly poll on which theme should we choose for the following month's reads. Please share your ideas and also mention if you prefer your nominated theme to be put to a vote during a particular month or season. Thanks! :-)

Here is the list of our previous themes. You may also click here to find Listopias created from the books on our Master List for these themes:
https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

2010
March: Outstanding Women
April: Environmental and Nature Themes
May: "Latino Books Month"
June: Culinary Delights
July: Dinosaurs
August: North-American Folktales
September: Back-to-School
October: Autumn and Halloween
November: Outer Space
December: Winter

2011
January: Wordless Picture Books
February: Celebrating Black History Month
March: Music
April: Royalty
May: Spring-Time
June: Persons Facing Physical Challenges
July: Seaside/Beaches
August: Maps/Geography
September: Grandparents
October: Witches and Monsters
November: Inventors
December: Toys

2012
January: Children on Adventures/Exploring
February: Friendship
March: Libraries
April: Mystical/Magical Creatures
May: Mothers
June: Fathers
July: (On Hiatus)
August: Traveling
September: Ecosystems
October: Harvest-Time and Pumpkins
November: Classic Picture Book Characters
December: Warm Quilts and Soft Mittens

2013
January: Artists
February: Fractured/Alternate Mother Goose
March: 21st Century Picture Book Characters
April: (On Hiatus)
May: (On Hiatus)
June: Poetry
July: Cats and Dogs
August: Summer Outdoor Activities
September: Bedtime
October: Alphabet Books
November: Cars and Trucks
December: Snow Animals

2014
January: Caldecott Winners 1938-42
February: Kindness
March: Ireland
April: Caldecott Winners 1943-47
May: Gardening
June: (On Hiatus)
July: Caldecott Winners 1948-52

A few themes from previous polls and suggestions made on other threads:

Poetry

Spring (during the season)

Work

Scientists

Famous Characters
1) Current (Fancy Nancy, Charlie and Lola, Olivia, etc.)
2) Classic (Curious George, Amelia Bedelia, Frog and Toad, etc.)

Books featuring
Moms (for Mother's Day?)
Dads (for Father's Day?)

Just throwing in a couple more ideas:

Folktales - maybe repeat this once for each continent

Bedtime Books

Oooh, great idea, Lana! :-) I am big into bedtime books lately and I also love the idea of multicultural folktales.

Picture books about animals, both wild and domestic

Picture books about famous artists, musicians, writers and other members of the arts

And, I would definitely second multicultural folktales, one could for example use the story of Cinderella and read a variety of different folktales on that particular theme

picture books about school and/or daycare (I think that picture books about the latter might not only be fun, but might make a child who is reluctant start school or kindergarten more enthusiastic)

Picture books on specific countries, regions or continents, especially countries and regions that are not so well-known or that are experiencing problems and crises (such as Chile and Haiti for example)

Thanks, Gundula! Those are great ideas.

A few more ideas:

Ocean/Beach (possibly for summer)

Travel/Vacation (ditto for summer)

Spanning American History

Across America (representing various areas like West coast, midwest, New England, etc.)

Kids Saving the Day

Fantastical Side-Kicks, Imaginary Friends, etc.

Sibling Relationships

Food

Trains-Planes-and-Automobiles

Overcoming Fears

Grandparents

Counting Books

Alphabet Books

Here are some ideas based off monthly "special observances", as we did for Women's History Month (March) and Earth Day (April):

MAY
Mother's Day
Latino Books Month

JUNE
Father's Day
Nature Photography Day
Gay and Lesbian Pride Month
Adopt-a-Shelter Cat Month
Potty Training Awareness Month
Summer Solstice

JULY
4th of July
Canada Day (July 1st)
National Day of the Cowboy

(There are MANY more very odd holidays! Today, by the way, is Girl Scout Day and Middle Name Pride Day, ohmy! And have fun celebrating Donald Duck tomorrow ;-)

I have verified that all the ones in the list above are accurate. If you're interested in more http://www.brownielocks.com/month2.html though I don't think they'd serve the purposes of the group reads)

Caldecott Medal & Honor Books

Great one, Lisa! :-)

books about toys that come to life (like dolls etc.)

I know this might be a bit problematic for some, but what about books on being sick, going to the hospital etc.

bullying (I wonder if there are any good picture books on that, as bullying often starts quite early)

books on what life was like a long time ago (like Little House on the Prairie as a picture book)

immigration and the experience of immigrants and refugees

Yes! I'm loving these suggestions ;-)

I'm thinking for the Caldecott we can group them in terms of year, reading both Medal winner and Honor nominees of the same year--maybe say which one we would have chosen as the winner ;-) Or, if we want to move through the years faster, we can do say five years of Medal winners per month (skip the Honor nominees for now). If there is enough interest in pursuing Caldecott, I'm thinking we could do the Caldecott theme quarterly??? I invite others to share their views...

I would like to suggest books on the summer solstice (or Mid-Summer celebrations). We could include both North American and international books (I'm sure that there must be some Scandinavian picture books about Mid-Summer celebrations).

We could also perhaps read and discuss books which have a May Day theme (both as the celebration of May, of spring, but also as May Day, the First of May, being Labour Day in many countries).

I was rethinking my suggestion on summer solstice books. Maybe it would be better to have a group read on spring/fall equinox and the summer/winter solstice together, as I think there would be more of a selection of books available then.

I've also been perusing the picture book selections for the different festival/celebration threads, and I think it might be a good idea to have a group read for the latter (international, and inclusive, of course). Also, maybe for that particular theme, it might be better to include more than five picture books, as I wouldn't want to leave out any of the festivals. What do others think about this?

You're right, it might be too much to have a general holiday theme, but I would not mind having some of the holidays, at least those that have an adequate number of titles available covered in a group read (like Purim or Easter for example).

I do like your idea of a general summer theme or maybe later a general winter theme. I was just brainstorming a bit, which I probably should have done on my own, before posting my ideas. Sorry, I sometimes get carried away.

Oh, yes! I love all this brainstorming! :-) In the past, we have stayed away from holiday themed reads in the group because we have the holiday themed threads in another section although, as you probably already know, I LOVE reading holiday/seasonal books and would be totally on board for reading them with the group if others feel the same.

In terms of the summer/winter reads, I agree that it would probably be better to read them during the related season, so just do summer in summer and winter in winter. As Abigail said, it could include related things... maybe a summer family vacation book, summer camp, beach/ocean, in addition to the solstice celebrations. Lots of possibilities :-)

So many ideas, it is mindblowing - but that's the result we hope for with brainstorming.
Just want to ask if we can sometime have books about music / musicians. I think Gundula already suggested it, but just want to support this idea as well.
Thanks!!

I would like to also suggest maybe doing a group read on some more controversial subjects, like same sex relationships (books like And Tango Makes Three or Heather Has Two Mommies).

Oooh, I love the idea of doing a thread on musicians and music, Gaynor! Thanks!!!

And, Gundula, I will keep that idea in mind for June which is Gay Pride month. Thanks!

Kathryn wrote: "Oooh, I love the idea of doing a thread on musicians and music, Gaynor! Thanks!!!

And, Gundula, I will keep that idea in mind for June which is Gay Pride month. Thanks!"

I think doing something like a group read for Gay Pride month would be excellent.

Books by and/or about African Americans--maybe for Black History Month.

I think for June we should do something about folktales around the world.

Hey, how about starting a different picture book club which just featured folk tales? I know this might be a bit of overkill, but with all of the excellent folk tales available, we really have an amazing amount of material, and we would not want to leave any countries/cultures out. Just an idea.

Good point, Abigail. I'm also a member of that group, but have not had a chance to post anything. I'd love to have a group read there, maybe with both picture books and non-illustrated books.

Gunduala, Wonderful idea but I have no time. I am so overbooked and overgrouped. I'm very grateful we're just doing 5-6 picture books a month and I can't do all my groups' reads as it is now.

Great idea Abigail!

I would love to dedicate a different month to a folktale from a different part of the world like Asia and Africa.

Ronyell wrote: "Great idea Abigail!

I would love to dedicate a different month to a folktale from a different part of the world like Asia and Africa."

I really like the folktale suggestion, Ronyell, and the idea to group into different parts of the world, Abigail.

Ronyell, since you made the theme suggestion, is there a particular region you'd like to start with when I put this in a poll?

Kathryn wrote: "Ronyell wrote: "Great idea Abigail!

I would love to dedicate a different month to a folktale from a different part of the world like Asia and Africa."

I really like the folktale suggestion, Ronye..."

Personally, if you are going to put folk tales in a poll, why don't we start with North America (Canada, the United States, Mexico) as the first region. We could have Native American/First Nations folklore, African American folklore etc.

Gundula, that's great! Starting with North America is a great idea!

Thanks, Ronyell and Gundula! When I put the folktales theme on for polls, I wills tart with North America! :-)

And I guess after that, we could then move on to African American folktales, then Native American folktales, then Asian folktales, then European folktales and so on.

Which also does not mean that topics not voted for in one poll might not be revisited later on.

Gundula wrote: "Which also does not mean that topics not voted for in one poll might not be revisited later on."

What I've been trying to do is post the runner-up vote getter from one month's poll on the next month's poll (provided it makes sense in terms of seasons/holidays etc.) to give it another chance.

Also, if there is a "buzz" about a particular topic listed on this master list, I'll definitely put it up to a vote sooner than later.

DINOSAURS (nominated by Kay in another thread)

Mystical Creatures or Outerspace

I think it would be nice to do a group read featuring the experiences of recent and historic immigrants and refugees to North America.

Also, picture books specifically about native American/First Nations traditions and culture would be a good topic.

Gundula wrote: Also, picture books specifically about native American/First Nations traditions and culture would be a good topic.

Love those ideas! Can you clarify what you see encompassing the "Native American/First Nations" traditions? Would this be for first peoples of the USA and Canada both? Including Mexico? Including Central and South America? Thanks! :-)

I was thinking of the USA and Canada, but adding Mexico, Central and South America and maybe even the Caribbean would also be cool. Then again, there are also probably a good number of Australian and New Zealand picture books featuring Aboriginal and Maori traditions and culture, but that might make the topic too broad. What do others think?

Gundula, and All,

I like the themes of Native Peoples in general and immigrants in general. Given that there are only so many months, even though we'd have time to read very few, mixing up areas within these themes would be fine with me. I'd love to read books in both these categories.

I don't know if this has been suggested, but I'm constantly looking for good picture books for older readers. It's not really a theme, but just to throw it out there.

Kathleen, I'd love a picture books for older kids month! And I'd be nominating quite a few books including several by Patricia Polacco!!!

That sounds great Lisa! I actually read a book by Patricia Polacco. Have you read Appelemando's Dreams?

Ronyell wrote: "That sounds great Lisa! I actually read a book by Patricia Polacco. Have you read Appelemando's Dreams?"

Yes, I've read all of her books. Waiting for her next one which is coming out in a couple of months.

Oh! she has a new one coming out Lisa? That's great! I got to read all of her books first though.

Ronyell wrote: "Oh! she has a new one coming out Lisa? That's great! I got to read all of her books first though."

Well, they don't have to be read in order; I read them out of order, as I could get them. There are some I wish I'd read before others, I guess. Her new one is Junkyard Wonders. My library doesn't have it in their database yet. I've asked them to purchase it, and I'm checking a few times a week to try to be the first to reserve it if/when they buy it.

I like Crystal's suggestions Mystical Creatures or Outerspace

These are all great suggestions! I am going to have a fun but challenging task choosing among them for the next polls :-)

Royalty would be fun. Kings, Queens, Princes, Princess, Dukes, Dutchess, etc.