required reading

so you must indulge in this book for the fanciful and surreal illustrations by mordicai gerstein or for the poetry of jacques prévert that sings how to paint the portrait of a bird. if possible, have owen read it to you--he makes the most intense pages come alive with shrieks and song. it does at the very least make me want to spend the day hauling around a canvas and a paintbrush.

and whether or not you're planning to take a parisienne tour this summer you should read this is paris
because it opens by introducing you to three cats you might meet in paris--and i'm not being hipster here, really three meowing kitty cats with names like kiki and rita--but then also illustrates the kinds of post boxes you might find (like one hiding in a street lamp) as well as gives a quick history lesson of paris (much better than i remember getting in french 1A) by giving you a walking tour of sorts of the city.

this perhaps goes with number six on my list--beautiful new books we've discovered and owen's latest predilection to sit with a stack of books and give his own reading which is a cross between dr. seuss rhyming and sesame street counting with a little jon&john from TMGB thrown in for song.