5 Books I’m Taking With Me

Colby Sharp

Today, I’m visiting a children’s literature class at Spring Arbor University. The professor asked me to bring 5 books to talk to the kid about. Picking 5 books is darn near impossible, but I decided to try and have some fun with my picks.

I asked myself these questions when trying to decide on which books to take?

1. Is this a book that my students love?

2. Is this book relatively new? The kids in the class are 20ish, so I didn’t want to pick books that they may have read when they were in school.

3. Is this a book that has move children’s literature forward? This one is pretty deep for me, but I wanted to bring books that I feel have changed the game.

4. Is this book different from my other choices? I didn’t want to bring 5 graphic novels or 5 historical fictions texts.

5. Does this book/author have an online presence? I want to show these kids the power of Twitter, book trailers, author websites, and book websites.

My five books.

The One and Only Ivan

By: Katherine Applegate

ivan

The Strange Case of Origami Yoda

By: Tom Angleberger

yoda

Babymouse Series

By: Jennifer and Matthew Holm

camp babymouse

Battle Bunny

By: Jon Scieszka and Mac Barnett

battle bunny

Journey

By: Aaron Becker

journey

7 thoughts on “5 Books I’m Taking With Me”

  1. Love these five! I especially appreciate your discussion of how you made these choices. There are so many things to consider, whether we’re choosing books for our classroom or selecting those to share with colleagues. I so often want to go with my latest favorites and I forget that just loving them isn’t enough. Thank you for reminding me to be more thoughtful in my choices.

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  5. Colby, I love the criteria you listed in order to pick your books! I think you did a great job! And, of course, I would’ve fallen off my chair if “Ivan” wasn’t one of them! lol 😉

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