Children's Book Week Kick Off

Tomorrow is the official start of Children's Book Week, but I wanted to kick off my blog festivities today, since I have so many participants.  You will be seeing two posts a day so that I don't leave anyone out.  I am so excited about the authors and publishers who will be stopping by with guest posts and giveaways this week.  My hope is that you will spread the word about this celebration, not for exposure to my blog, but for the exposure of the authors and publishers that are generously giving of their time and books this week.

Children's Book Week is near and dear to my heart as an educator.  My first love is with children's books and was the reason I started this blog 2 1/2 years ago.  I had hundreds of books in my classroom that the children and I used, read, and loved on a daily basis.  Every book fair and Scholastic book order, I was buying more.  What book could I use to teach this, what book didn't I have by that author, which book would my students just love, and on and on?  I didn't have to have a reason to buy books.  I know how important it is to put good literature in the hands of children, especially at an early age.  I even read picture books to my 3rd graders, to introduce concepts; they loved it!

I hope that you will take time this week to do something to celebrate National Children's Book Week.  Some activities can be found at Education World.  Read Write Think has some background as well as other ideas for you to choose from. The winners of the Children's Choice book awards will be announced during National Book Week. Before the winners are announced, children across the nation will be able to vote for their favorites.  Have children read the finalists in their age range ahttp://draft.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=3842875772129989791nd then see who wins on May 12th. Whether it's in a classroom or with your own children at home, instill a love a reading starting with children's books. 

To help kick off Children's Book Week, I asked a publishing friend if they would host a kick off giveaway.  Peachtree Publishers was gracious enough to offer up a copy of The Monster Who Ate my Peas to one of my readers.

What do you dread eating the most? For the hero of this story, it's peas. A young boy thinks he's discovered a way to avoid eating his peas--he makes a bargain with a fiendishly funny monster. First the deal is simple: the monster will eat the boy's peas in exchange for his soccer ball. But with each new encounter, the monster's demands escalate. Eventually, our hero faces a daunting decision--can he conquer his loathing for peas or will he lose his most prized possession?

Make sure you stop by Peachtree's blog post, Children's Book Week is Upon Us and say thank you!  You have from now until Thursday, May 13th, at midnight to enter.  The winner will be announced on Friday, May 14th.   You may simply enter by leaving a comment here on this post.  To earn extra entries, you can tweet about this giveaway, post it on facebook, and/or let me know you visited Peachtree and left a comment.

I hope you will visit daily and see what I have in store!