איה גורדון – Aya Gordon
One of the blogs I follow, Shelf Elf, celebrated September with a picture book a day. She was inspired by Candlewick Press’ year-long celebration of the picture book and thought to join in. I thought maybe I could try it. I am not a Children’s Librarian or a parent to a small child (N is 12), and I read them differently sometimes and over time. But I love picture books and find that their presence and significance can and does reach well beyond childhood.
So, 31 Days of Picture Books was a crazy scheme—for me. It started off better than it ended with days becoming squished together. Next time I will plan all the posts the month before to avoid those down days of illness and busy-ness. The primary goal was to read & review 31 books for the 31 days of October. I didn’t want to review any of the ones Shelf Elf had, nor re-post any I had reviewed before. Happily, I found good ones; although I am deliberating the idea that if I ever do this again, picking more books and only reviewing the ones I would place in my own library. The Red Shoes tied me up for a few days. But then again I am yet the bookseller or librarian—yet, so I am not curating anything here. Just experiencing them. So we’ll see.
I did find books I would love to own, and more that I would love everyone to have access to. I feel blessed to have such a well-stocked Public Library and a charming (if not exceptionally quiet) indie bookstore down the street. Did I have any favorites out of the 31? sure. Did you?
I know I found some authors and illustrators to keep in mind and am contemplating a few more Illustrator features, it’s been a while. Any particular artist you would like me to highlight?
I created a pin board for picture books on Pinterest called “pb&…”
Turns out October was a good month to do this, because between here, Shelf Elf’s 30 days, and Candlewick Press thus far, maybe you have found some good new picture books to celebrate Picture Book month with throughout November. Maybe you have found some good gift ideas for the holidays.
Now, back to our regularly scheduled programming; whatever that actually looks like.
leslie d. 
As a parent of a toddler with many a picture book, I enjoyed many of these. Too many wonderful illustrators to pick a favorite, but I very much liked David Christiana’s work in “The Tale I Told Sasha.” Beautiful, that.
I’ve already mentioned I loved this month of picture books. You really picked some great books and as usual your reviews were infectious themselves. We’ve checked a number of these out from our library and there are still a few more that we are waiting for. Each one has been particularly fun for Emmeline and she has always picked at least one of these books to be in her line-up each night. So it was a month of great picture books and great reviews. Great Job!
I also wanted to say that from a challenge perspective, I totally appreciate how hard this must have been. I could never manage that many reviews in that short a time and if I did somehow get it together, they certainly wouldn’t have matched the level of detail that you managed for each one. I’m kind of jealous…