So I am a little late to the party. Or maybe a lot late.

To be totally honest, I completely forgot about one of my favorite collections of blog posts from last year and couldn’t have been happier when I stumbled upon it yesterday.

Cathy Mere of Reflect and Refine: Building a Learning Community and author of More Than Guided Reading along with Mandy Robek of Enjoy and Embrace Learning hosted their second annual August 10 for 10 event a few weeks ago.

Bloggers of all types, teachers, librarians, parents, professors and consultants, who weren’t late to the party, listed the top 10 picture books they couldn’t live without. There were lists of all types- books for word study, books for back to school, classic favorite, best new pictures books and on and on. Be sure to follow the links about to check out the amazing lists.

As I scribbled furiously adding book after book to my library request list, I began brainstorming my own top 10.

I could very easily suffer from ‘paralysis by analysis’ here. The perfectionist in me could spend hours and hours on this. Instead, because I don’t want to be any later to the party than I already am, I went a bit stream of consciousness with this. I have listed books that popped immediately to mind along with those that jumped right out when I scanned my bookshelves.

So here goes… In no particular order and with apologies to the gazillion books that could have also been on the list.

1. Pete the Cat  by Eric Litwin for it’s beauty as a super fun and appealing read for emerging readers:

2. Little Hoot because I think that Amy Krouse Rosenthal is one of the best authors around and I had to choose one of her books.

3. Dogs by Emily Gravett because I also think she’s the best and I had to choose one.

4. Neighborhood Mother Goose by Nina Crews because there isn’t a better Mother Goose book out there for today’s kids.

5. Clever Jack Takes the Cake by Candace Fleming for it’s wonderful read aloud-ability.

6.  Time for Bed by Mem Fox because I read this book to each of my girls every night from the time my What to Expect When You Are Expecting book told me they could hear me.

7. The Chicken Chasing Queen of Lamar County by Janice Harrington because I can’t help but smile every time I read it.

8. Rhyming Dust Bunnies by Jan Thomas because even the older kids who still need to work on rhyme love this goofy book.

9. Perfect Square by Michael Hall because there is no better picture book to read at the start of a professional development day where the teachers will learn about a change.

10 And Knuffle Bunny just cause…