Welcome to the 2026 PICTURE BOOK CLUB – WEEK TWO

How to participate in Picture Book Club …

1. Get the suggested books from your library or bookstore (local or online). See 2026 PICTURE BOOK CLUB: COMPLETE LIST OF BOOKS for the list of books suggested for each week.

2. Before reading each of the weekly books to your child, READ FIRST “Things to Think About.”

3. Read one or both books to your child as many times through the week as your child wants to hear them and you have time to read.

4. Consider doing whatever activities you think are appropriate for the age and maturity of your child from “Making The Story Come Alive.”

WE WELCOME FEEDBACK ABOUT YOUR PARTICIPATION. YOU CAN LEAVE A COMMENT BY USING THE “WHAT DO YOU THINK?” BUTTON AT THE BOTTOM OF THIS POST.

DOTTY by Erica S. Perl

(a story about having a special friend—although it is an imaginary one)

Dotty is Ida’s special friend. Everywhere Ida goes, so goes Dotty. When Ida started school, she took Dotty with her. Dotty helps Ida feel comfortable and secure. In the beginning, many of Ida’s classmates also had special friends with them at school. But as the school year progressed the other kids didn’t seem to need their special friends with them anymore. Ida did. She was embarrassed that she still needed Dotty, unlike her classmates who outgrew their need. But when she learned that her teacher also had a special friend, Ida understood that it’s OK to have a special friend for as long as she needed one.

Things to Think About

• Many children need “transitional objects” to help them venture into new experiences. They might be blankets, pacifiers, stuffed animals, a favorite toy, or many other unique items. They help a child connect people and places they know and are comfortable with to unknown people and places. You need not worry about their need for their object. Most children gradually can give it up for a period of time, knowing they can reconnect with it when they return home.

• Active imagination in children is very desirable. Even if pretend seems very real to children, parents do not usually need to worry. Just like people need to exercise muscles to be able to run a race, children need to exercise the imagination part of their brains to become creative, artistic, innovative people.

• Many children pretend they have imaginary friends. It is OK to “play along” providing you clearly tell your child that you are “pretending” along him or her. When you are done playing pretend be sure to say you are done and that you will only interact with real people and things until it is time to play make-believe again.

Making the Story Come Alive 

• Talk with your child about any “special friends” he has.

  • How does the friend look and act?

  • What does he like best about his “friend”?

  • Is there anything he doesn’t like about his “friend”?

• If you remember having an imaginary friend as a child share that with your child. Also share what it was like to not need that friend any longer. When did it happen? Why? Did other things take the place of the “friend”?

• Ask your child if there is something or someone he would like to take to school or daycare?

• Ask your child why he thinks Ida felt embarrassed about Dotty once the other kids didn’t bring their “friends” to school anymore. Does he think that someday Ida will not need to have Dotty with her?

• Have your child use art to describe his “special friend”—draw, paint, sculpt, write a poem, sing a song, do a dance, etc.

• Play make-believe with your child. Clearly tell her that you are “pretending” along her. When you are done playing pretend be sure to say you are done and that you will only interact with real people and things until it is time to play make-believe again.

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BECAUSE I’M YOUR DAD by Ahmet Zappa

(a story about the importance of dads)

In BECAUSE I’M YOUR DAD, a dad shared all the ways he thinks, feels, and plays with his child. He said he will always find his child and make him feel safe, feed him spaghetti for breakfast, make sure he knows how to pogo-stick, and roll him up in a blanket like a burrito.e It is easy to see how important dads are in a child’s life.

Things to Think About 

• Daddies play differently than mommies do. They are more active, physical, and use bigger muscles. They bounce, lift, and tumble. Kids can tell these differences between dad-play and mom-play, and they love it when dad is their playmate.

• Mommies have special ways to play and be with their kids too. They are soft, cuddly, talk a lot, and play with toys and games. Kids can feel the difference between Dad’s big, quick movements and Mom’s smaller, slower movements, and they need both Mom’s calmer, more soothing play and Dad’s bigger, louder, stronger play.

• How a dad plays and talks to his daughter sets the stage for how she thinks about boys and men as a “tweener,” teenager, and young woman. The relationship that is formed with Dad will shape the kind of relationships she will have with boys and men as she grows older.

• Many dads are soft, loving, affectionate, and comforting. They carry, cuddle, kiss, and miss their children.

• It is important that daddies kiss, cry, cook, soothe, bandage ouches, give baths, change diapers, and rock to sleep. If only moms comforted children these ways, children would have half as much comfort in their lives.  With dads joining in, kids get twice as much loving.”

Making the Story Come Alive …

• Ask your child what he liked best of the things Dad did in the picture book.

• If your child is willing, arrange for Dad (or grandfather, uncle, or trusted male friend) to read the picture book to your child.

• Tell your child about special things you and your Dad did when you were young. If you didn’t have such experiences, you can tell about special things you did with another important man in your life.

Past 2026 PICTURE BOOK CLUB postings:

2026 PICTURE BOOK CLUB – WEEK ONE