#PB10for 10 and Poetry Friday

I love this day each year when we join with other picture book lovers to share titles.  A giant thank you to Cathy Mere and Mandy Robek for creating this special day!  Here's a link to the google community for #pb10for10.  

This is my fifth year to participate and here are my previous posts:  

2017 - Picture Books for a Snowstorm
2016 - Picture Books to Sing!

2014 - Memories as Precious as Gold!

2013 - Golden Lines about Night

I pulled some of my favorite picture books off the shelf, trying to find a unifying theme. But this year's collection has no theme, just ten of the many picture books I love. Perhaps it could be called "old" favorites since several titles were published in the 20th century and the "newest" title was published in 2014. I love new picture books too, but I wanted to highlight some old faves this year! While I don't have a theme, I was able to pair titles that had a connection.

Some Things Go Together, with Charlotte Zolotow's dancing lines of couplets and Karen Gundersheimer's sweet illustrations, reminds us how wonderful it is that some things go together, especially you and me.

Mittens belong together and Annie is in search of her lost mitten in The Mystery of the Missing Red Mitten . My copy, purchased at a used bookstore, is autographed by Steven Kellogg and has a photo inside the front cover of the young girl who received the book in Dec. 1994.

Old Henry by Joan W. Blos and illustrated by Stephen Gammell is an ode to nonconformity. When Henry fails to conform to the neighbor's standards, he finally leaves with the words, "I am sorry I came." It doesn't take long for the neighbors to realize that they miss Henry and for Henry to realize that he misses his nagging neighbors. The insight reached could be useful for today's world: "And we don't have to make such a terrible fuss because everybody isn't exactly like us."

In Cynthia Rylant's An Angel for Solomon Singer with paintings by Peter Cantalanotto, we meet Solomon who doesn't like his lonely life in a New York hotel for men. When Solomon discovers The Westway Cafe, he finds a place to love and someone who makes him feel at home.

Mother and child have differing views about what to pack in The Bag I'm Taking to Grandma's by Shriley Neitzel with pictures byNancy Winslow Parker. I can't wait until Jack and Teddy are old enough to enjoy the cumulative verse and rebus pictures in this book.

In the previous book, the mother says there is no need to pack books, that Grandma will have plenty of books. And this grandma does! One of my favorites, Where Do I Sleep? A Pacific Northwest Lullaby by Jennifer Blomgren has wonderful rhyming text  that features animals of our region with gorgeous illustrations by Andrea Gabriel. 

The delightful illustrations by Jim LaMarche in Dennis Haseley's A Story for Bear will pull you into  this summer fantasy about the magic of friendship and the wonders of reading.

Philip Stead's Bear has a Story to Tell and illustrated by Erin E. Stead is a lovely story of friendship and patience as Bear tries to get one friend after another to hear his story, but everyone is busy with their own preparations for winter.

My Two Blankets by Irene Kobald and illustrated by Freya Blackwood captures how a young girl feels when she emigrates to a new country to be safe. Everything feels strange, she feels alone, and feels like she is no longer herself. All that begins to change when a girl in the park waves at her and reaches out to become her friend. This book belongs in every classroom.

I've looked for a copy of The Cozy Book for a long time and finally found one at a recent library book sale. I had given my copy to a friend whose family had "cozy" as their word for the Christmas holidays quite a few years ago. This totally cozy rhyming tale by Mary Ann Hoberman and illustrated by Betty Fraser follows a child from cozy waking in the morning to cozy dreaming at day's end. 

Molly Hogan at Nix the Comfort Zone 

is hosting this week's round-up of

poetic goodness. Be sure to stop by and read

Molly's "The Solace of the Ocean:  A Sonnet."

I'm piggybacking my #PB10for10 with Poetry Friday.

My favorite picture books include four filled with poetry
that I've highlighted here:

 Where Do I Sleep? - four line stanzas

The Cozy Book - verse tour of the things that make up a cozy day

The Bag I'm Taking to Grandma's - cumulative verse  

Some Things Go Together - Rhyming couplets