Are you thinking about giving books this holiday? Well, my local paper The Columbus Dispatch featured an article today called The top 20 of 'o7 which details favorite picture books including poetry, graphic novels, y-a novels, realistic fiction, biographies and new holiday releases.

My first question was who did decide on these picks(I was a little skeptical)? A panel of 24 teachers, librarians, authors, scholars and booksellers decided on the winners (I felt better after this but am still curious about who exactly the panel members were). I found a few of these best picks I am using in my classroom. I know the kids would agree with picks like I'm the Biggest Thing in the Ocean by Kevin Sherry and Knuffle Bunny Too: A Case of Mistaken Identity by one of their favorite authors...Mo Willems. I also found my son was ecstatic to find Judy Moody and Stink and the Holly Joliday on the Target bookshelves. A 3/4 multiage classroom in my building read aloud The Invention of Hugo Cabret and loved 17 Things I'm not allowed to do anymore. So I began thinking... I love that there is excitement for these newest and most loved books. I know bloggers, teachers, friends who I can talk to about these books but I also think it is important to share this excitement in the classroom. I love to share new books but tomorrow I think I am going to share this article. I am interested to hear the students reactions. Will they make connections to some of the books in our room? Will they realize writers write about books? What kind of conversations and questions will surface after just discussing the article? I'll keep you posted.