they say he has grit...i wanted a man with grit...

seriously one of the best books i've read in years. it was told so candidly through the eyes of a tough, determined little girl. i say little, but 14 wasn't so young back in the days of cowboys and texas rangers and mattie ross.

i can't get over how determined she was to avenge her father's death. she didn't stop until she got exactly what she wanted- first, the help of rooster cogburn; then, ownership of her brave little pony, blackie; and finally, the life of the man that killed her father. she even endured a nest of rattlesnakes.

not sure i could do that, but i AM pretty sure that mattie ross was the one with true grit...

a bear, an elephant, and a firefly walk into a bar...

sounds like the start of a really bad joke, but i implore you to read on...

i am a terrible reader these days...not only did i only halfway finish jane eyre, i abandoned all of those other books on my list except goblet of fire. i did pick up gentle ben (by walt morey) and the magician's elephant (amazing work of fiction by kate dicamillo, of despereaux fame) and read those to my students. we laughed, we cried, we waited for the elephant to appear and for ben to find mark again. it was a great way to end the school year.

this summer...

• i will finish goblet of fire and read the rest of the HP series so that lillie peterson doesn't disown me
• i will finish true grit. i really only have an hour of reading left...it is a really, really good book so far
• i will finish gregor the overlander, but probably not read the rest of the series
• i will finish my 9th grad school course, take a week off, then start the 10th and final course, and *hopefully* graduate at the beginning of august
• i *might* reread the anne of green gables series or gone with the wind...still deciding
• i will make drew watch firefly with me...i'm kind of embarrassed for him that he hasn't seen it

these seem like some pretty lofty goals, seeing as i only have three and a half weeks of summer to do this in. it's safe to say that the whole grad school thing is in the bag...unless i fail the capstone class. hopefully i'll have some time during my short break to update you all on my reading successes.

happy reading, y'all!