Picture Books and The Great American West

For our road trip from Idaho to Minnesota, I picked up a handful of picture books from the library in hopes that they would connect M with some of the places we visited. 

Mountain Dance

Thomas Locker

This one was probably his favorite.  Mostly because it had pictures of hot lava.  Even though we didn't see any lava on our trip, we did talk a lot about the Yellowstone caldera and the volcanic explosions there.  I think now we just have to take him to Hawaii so we can really blow his mind with REAL hot lava!  Field trip!!

I am a huge fan of Thomas Locker's books because I love the illustrations.  So I'd recommend this one even if you aren't headed to the mountains anytime soon.

The Camping Trip that Changed America: Theodore Roosevelt, John Muir and our National Parks

Barbara Rosenstock

I had not heard this story before and M found it mildly interesting.  Not as interesting as hot lava, unfortunately, but I liked it!  

Welcome to Yellowstone National Park

Teri Temple

I didn't read this with him on our drive, but I overheard Papa reading it to M before we left on our trip.  It's not a picture book, and was probably too long/advanced for him, but it sounded like it had a lot of interesting information.

Yonder
 Tony Johnston

We borrowed this one, but never had a chance to actually read it together. I want to try it again with him here at home.

Hello, Yellowstone!

At Yellowstone, we bought this board book and really like it.  It's cute and goes through all of the places we visited, as well as others that we didn't get to see (this time).  This was a great souvenir from the trip.

Has anyone read Hello, America?  Please share your recommendations for other kids books about the National Parks - we'd love to plan another trip for next summer!

Weekend Scenes

Who me?  Climb up here?  Never!

Yogurt Bread

Leaf wrestling/snuggling

Finally cutting that summer hair - with a little help from Mr. Rogers

M picked these for me from our yard.

Reading in September

Happy October!  I'm on a mission to read more, so I'm going to try to track my reads every month here.  I'd love to hear what you're reading too and what you recommend!

A History of Western Music

I picked up this book because it was mentioned in the most fascinating Runner's World article about Mirna Valerio.  I love reading about real life runners and she has such an interesting story.  Since our household is becoming so music-oriented, I thought this book would be interesting.  It's really a textbook, and I have never studied music theory or music history so there was way more in it than I could read right now, but I did enjoy reading as much of it as I could (about half-way by the end of the month).

Strong Mothers, Strong Sons

Meg Meeker, M.D.
I really liked The Ten Habits of Happy Mothers and I liked this one too.  I don't think most of it applies to our family life right now (because the boys are so young), but I'm still glad I read it now so that I can refer back to it in the future.  I definitely recommend this to ANY boymom!

The Essential Montessori

Elizabeth G. Hainstock

This was a quick and easy introduction to Montessori.  I've been curious about Montessori for a while, and this book gives a kind of '30,000 feet' broad overview, with highlights from Montessori's own writings.  There wasn't much too it and I basically skimmed it in one evening, so I didn't get a ton out of it. 

The Boston Girl
Anita Diamant
What a great read.  I picked this up after seeing it on Alicia's list here.  I read The Red Tent years ago but hadn't thought about this author in quite a while.  I really enjoyed this book - it reminded me of A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, which is my all-time favorite book.  This was a great 'fiction break' for me in the middle of my stack of non-fiction books.  I also love the cover image and think I need a copy of it on my desk, haha!

Better Than Before
Gretchen Rubin
I am really enjoying this book.  I haven't read her other books (about cultivating happiness) but she has a great, conversational writing style.  I just started this one at the end of the month, so I'll pop back in with more on it when I finish it.

Tell me what you are reading!  I have The Fringe Hours and cannot renew it because someone is waiting on it, so I am storming through it now.  What should I read after that?