Sunday, January 11, 2015

Welcome To Perfect Picture Books!

Dear Parents, Teachers, Homeschoolers, Writers, Gift-Givers, and anyone else who has wandered here :)

Looking for the perfect picture book?


You've come to the perfect place!


There are millions of great books out there, but sometimes it's hard to find just the right one.  How do you know if a book is worth lugging home from the library or, even more important, worth your hard-earned money?


Perhaps you're looking for a book on a certain subject for your child (who loves dinosaurs, or is afraid of the dark, or is about to be a big brother or sister), or you need a book to enhance a curriculum unit in your classroom or homeschool (on apples or penguins or St. Patrick's Day.)  Perhaps you're looking for a gift and aren't sure what would be appropriate.


How To Use This Site

This site contains thousands of books.


If you have a book in mind that you'd like to learn more about or find resources for, go to the tab above with the appropriate alphabetical title listing (A-H, I-P, Q-Z), scroll down to the title you're interested in, and click on the title.  It will take you to the review and resources.

If you're looking for books on a certain topic/subject/theme, go to the tab above with the theme list.  Themes are listed alphabetically.  Click on the theme you're interested in.  It will take you to a Pinterest Board where you can view the covers of a wide variety of books on that topic to peruse and choose from.  Click on the covers to go to the review and resources.  (If you're not familiar with Pinterest, you have to click once on the cover, and when the cover loads, click on it again.)

At some point the books will hopefully also be listed by author and illustrator :)


Some are older books and some are brand new, but they are all highly recommended and they all include resources to expand their use at home or in the classroom - everything from coloring pages to crafts to classroom curriculum guides to recipes to nature walks!


Know a great book that's not on the list that you would highly recommend?  Join in Perfect Picture Book Fridays or send your suggestion to susanna[at]susannahill[dot]com.


For full details on submission/joining PPBF, please see below.


Enjoy the site and please let your friends know about it! :)




Guidelines For Perfect Picture Books

If you blog and would like to join Perfect Picture Books, please follow the guidelines below, post your Perfect Picture Book on Friday, and add your link to that Friday's link list which appears every Friday on Susanna Leonard Hill's blog HERE.



If you don't blog and would care to submit a recommendation, please follow the guidelines below and send it to me: susanna [at] susannahill [dot] com.  I will credit you and add it to the list.

(Please note that for the time being, Perfect Picture Books is limited to traditionally published Picture Books.  Down the road, I hope to expand to e-books and possibly self-published books, as well as books for older readers, but for now, please submit traditionally published picture books.)





1.  Image of book cover
2.  Give us the book title, author/illustrator, publisher, year, fiction or non-fiction, and intended audience age
3.  Tell us the themes/topics of the book (e.g. sibling rivalry, tolerance, ocean life, animals, holidays, etc.)
4.  Give us the opening sentence or page and a 1-2 sentence synopsis.
5.  Link to any available resources you know of to expand this book's use at home or in the classroom (e.g. links to classroom guides, coloring pages or other activity sheets, or fun activities that can be done in conjunction with the book like a leaf collage or an egg carton caterpillar etc.) and/or list your own ideas.
6.  Link back to the Perfect Picture Books page of my blog.

Books will be added to the list and will be linked to your website and/or blog, and that link will remain active in the data base/archive along with the book.