UP!–Celebrating the Format of PRINT PICTURE BOOKS!

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Picture Book Month-Celebration LogoIn case you weren’t aware—IT’S PICTURE BOOK MONTH! I’ve been heavily involved in the Kidlit World of Picture Books for decades now, but hadn’t known of this more-than-worthwhile celebration ’til last year when I got more immersed in Twitter and social media. And OH, what a celebration it is! Between this and PiBoIdMo (Picture Book Idea Month, of which this is my first year as a participant), picture book lovers are swimming in the format! 🙂

Author and Founder of Picture Book Month, Dianne de Las Casas, along with Co-Founders Katie Davis (author/illustrator), Elizabeth O. Dulemba (author/illustrator), Tara Lazar (author & founder of PiBoIdMo), and Wendy Martin (author/illustrator) got this ball rolling. An added pleasure is the logo artwork by one my favorite author/illustrators, Joyce Wan. This is a celebration near and dear to my heart because I am an avid advocate of the print picture book (and print books, in general), which is what this is all about.

PiBoIdMoBADGE2014Since its inception in 2011, the Kidlit world has been blessed with poignant, moving posts—one for each day of the month—about the value of printed picture books. This year’s picture book “posts of love” began with author/illustrator Aaron Becker. His exquisite expression of the value of the printed picture book moved me to tears, as have other posts in the past. Located on the sidebar of the Picture Book Month blog, you can “follow” in order to receive each memorable post by email, or access the archives where you can luxuriate in reading past posts by esteemed authors and illustrators who have shared their feelings about this valuable, irreplaceable art form.

Though November is the official month to promote the print picture book format, I consider it a year-round celebration 😀 Long live the printed picture book!

That’s how I feel about it, and I’d love to hear your thoughts about printed vs. digital picture books 🙂

 

 

29 thoughts on “UP!–Celebrating the Format of PRINT PICTURE BOOKS!”

    • Well, I wish I could say I was an expert at giveaways, but I’m not : / I’ve only done two and used Rafflecopter for both. It’s free and relatively self-explanatory and I experienced a few glitches, but it worked out in the end. I know some people use Google+ somehow, and I think there’s a “random picker,” but I haven’t looked into them just yet. Good luck with all of it! 😀

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  5. What a great month, I shall be getting out my Shaun Tan books as well as Asterix and Tin Tin and whatever else I can fin to celebrate. Digital books kjust don’t have the same tactile sensation and smell, reading a book involves all the senses apart from taste because I efuse to at my books no matter what anybody says.

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    • No, Ste J, you MUST not eat your books unless you are starved for words 😉 Seriously, though, I do know that for me, I’m almost “at one” with print books, as though there’s an invisible membrane that connects me to them. When I walk into a book store or library or pretty much anywhere I see books, it’s as if they collectively wrap me in this blanket comprised of their covers and pages. And very importantly—batteries not required 🙂

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    • Thanks, Renee! 🙂 Do you do PiBoIdMo? Honestly, coming up with ideas (good or bad) has never been something I need to force, which is one reason I don’t do these challenges, but as long as I list 30, I’ll know I’ve complied 😀 Last night I listed about 8 more, I think, so I’m doing it in chunks!

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  9. Yay for Picture Book Month! Y’know, I love reading novels on my Kindle. And I don’t have a tablet, so that might be influencing my answer, but for me, picture books just don’t work in digital. I have to turn the pages, I have to be able to see the whole thing, one full page at a time. And I want to be able to look back at the previous page and see how the character’s expression changed, etc. I know you can swipe forward and back on various devices…but digital picture books just don’t do it for me, at least not right now.

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    • So nice to see you, Laura 🙂 I’m not an e-reader myself, and although there’s the possibility I’ll eventually consider using that for certain things, it definitely won’t happen with picture books! I also don’t think children should have to turn to electronic device to access and enjoy their library. The experiences between the two are like night and day. Electronically it becomes more of an interactive “video game” of sorts and I just can’t see it. The interaction with a picture book should be tactile with page turns, for sure 🙂 To me, there’s a “savoring” and comfort that a kindle or tablet simply can’t provide.

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  10. Hallo, Hallo Ms Donna Marie,

    I caught the headline for this post, and wanted to ask you if you had found the charity site: We Give Books (.org)?! I discovered it awhile ago, but like most things in life you get distracted! The best part of all is that you can read Picture Books online and with each book you read a book is donated to a child in need! 🙂 I love the beauty of the concept!! I had no idea that November! was Picture Book Month! I adore! picture books personally, and I have been start/stop my efforts to highlight them on my blog! Only one managed to make it and it is all about celebrating family & life through photography! (listed on my Story Vault)

    It is a wonderful month to celebrate not only the illustrators who bring out the stories but the writers who give children the joy of learning in a format that excites! the joy of reading!!

    Wicked sweet post! 🙂

    ps: I only recently found out I can read short stories and/or picture books in digital formats; due to the grace of finding formats that ‘size’ the structure of the stories to where my eyes can handle reading them.

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    • Such a thoughtful comment, Jorie 🙂 And yes, I’ve heard of We Give Books, or at least something similar! I didn’t realize you had trouble reading print, so I guess ebooks help you 🙂 Picture Book Month is actually in celebration of the printed versions! lol I’d love to see you get some picture books or kidlit on your blog 😀

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      • No, no, it’s the reverse — I ONLY read print books, until recently my computer programmer helped me understand how to increase the size of digital novella and/or short stories in ePub formats. Within a day or so of this newfound insight I logged into We Give Books and found they use a format for reading digital copies of the picture books on their website can be increased in reading size/format as well.

        It opens up a few new doors for me, as I have previously only been able to read books (in any category of publication) in print edition. I still cannot read full-length novels and/or non-fiction books in anything other than print due to the length of the books themselves.

        Yes, I understood it was the print book editions they are celebrating — I just wanted to add to the convo about the charity that donates print editions of the picture books by reading! the digital versions online. I thought it was relevant.

        I have so much happening this month between blog tours, Sci Fi November, and my own Indie Writer Month event, I honestly cannot blog anymore than I’m committed too; Im already a full week behind due to those tech issues; but yes, more Children’s Lit will be on my blog as the months move forward. I have a lot of plans and they are slowly becoming reality! 🙂

        I am highlighting more Middle Grade & Young Adult novels due to my new partnership with Chapter by Chapter Blog Tours who is the publicist for Indie Pub Children’s Lit “Month9Books”. As much as I read YA books from Cedar Fort on a regular basis as well.

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  11. Yay, you! We love picture books and, personally, I would take a historical picture book over about almost any other genre, most days. I guess it is my learning level – ha! You have a couple of projects this month, don’t you? I hope they are going well. Have a great week!
    Cool Mom for
    The Gang

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    • Ah, Christine, we NEVER should outgrow picture books 🙂 And yes, this is one crazy month! Things are slowly shaping up, thanks! My latest project is finishing up the post for my interview with Matthew Winner. VERY excited about that! It’ll be UP! on Nov. 26th as part of the celebratory tour for his 100th “Let’s Get Busy” Podcast 🙂

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    • Hi, Jennifer! I’m so complimented by that! I didn’t even know Kathy put me on her blogroll lol That’s so nice to hear 🙂 I actually don’t keep a blogroll : / At some point I’m planning to add a few links on my “LINKS” page, but that won’t be for quite some time, at the rate I’m going! Nice to “meet” you, too 🙂

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