Hello Summer!

I had forgotten how much I love summer in Montana. This week reminded me of that fact. The weather has been amazing! Even the dramatic rain and thunderstorms felt so summer-y. We live in a beautiful world!

Certain music makes me think of summer; reminiscent of drinking iced tea lemonade all day long, and licking popsicles on a front porch. Some of these are old favorites, and some of them newly discovered. [On a slightly related note: I need to stop listening to James Blake on repeat. I listen to a select few songs by him over and over again while doing homework! It's very effective for typing out lesson plans, but not very effective when I'm trying to fall asleep and get a lyric unstuck.]

Sorry this isn't a fancy-pants cool-looking playlist. Technology is not my strong suit. Click here for the grooveshark.com playlist!

Books I Want to Buy

I went to Barnes & Noble today, spent 45 minutes looking around, and managed not to buy anything. These are going on my list of Books I Want to Buy:

Item 1: Peter Pan and Wendy

This book - the loveliest hardback copy imaginable - is part of the Sterling Illustrated Classics series, which I have been a fan of for a while. This was my first time seeing their version of J.M. Barrie's classic and the pages are glorious. Computer images can't show you the full beauty of the book. It features amazing full-page and two-page spread illustrations (I think they are pen and ink) done by Robert Ingpen. He's also done nice illustrations for Wind in the Willows and Alice's Adventures in Wonderland.

Item 2: Along a Long Road

This book is fabulous! It's written by Frank Viva, and features quirky illustrations alongside simple text. One of my classes this summer is reading clinic, and I'm working on decoding with a six-year-old boy. I think he would love this book - it doesn't dumb anything down, yet it is still written with clarity, and uses short (mostly one-syllable) words. Even more amazing - it rhymes! The story is about a man on a bike, riding through town and country, going uphill and downhill along a long road.

Item 3: Elephant & Piggie books

Oh my gosh! Mo Willems is the best. There were two titles today that I hadn't seen before, so of course I had to read them. I skimmed through (and laughed out loud) at Should I Share My Ice Cream? and I Love My New Toy! The first one is absolutely hilarious, and I liked it because it has Gerald, Piggie, AND ice cream in it! The second one is simpler than a lot of the Elephant & Piggie books, and would be perfect for beginning readers - even those who are just starting to decode, like my student in reading clinic. My favorite is probably still Elephants Cannot Dance, but I love them all. I wish I owned every one of them! I don't because I'm usually too cheap to pay $9 each. Usually.