Today was the first day back to work.

Spent the entire day in meetings. Some of it was interesting. Some of it ... was not. But isn't that a teacher's life?

So. Here are two books I'm mentioning today. One's been around a while (My Dog ... was published in 2007). The other one (My Best Friend ... ) came out in May. They both make me smile. Check out Hanoch Piven's website right here.

Now. Here's the fun part. You can tell from the title these are super duper awesome for description ... for encouraging kids to step up their [mostly] metaphors and similies talking about the people they know best--their family members and classmates. If you can, try using the pictures as an art model as well. Kids can submit their work to the author/illustrator's website and he'll post it!