About one and a half years ago I decided to read all the winners of the famed  Caldecott winners in our church  library.  Each year a book is selected as the best children’s book for the year.  I read thirty plus books one time through to enjoy the story and back again paying special attention: to their first paragraph as to how the piqued the reader’s interest, introduced the problem, as well as elements having to do with time and place.  I also noted how the weave the plot together.

This was a very educational experience for me and also an enjoyable one.

In previous years I did the same thing by reading a large number of picture books.