#BestMascaraRemoverEVER

No, my ensemble for Friday's book character dress-up theme wasn't the best mascara remover ever, and yes, I realize that *technically* I wasn't dressed as an actual book character, but my choice was worth it for all of the teachers and staff who started singing:

Butterfly in the sky, I can go twice as high.

Take a look, it's in a book, a Reading Rainbow!

I can go anywhere.

Friends to know,
and ways to grow.
A Reading Rainbow!

... every time they encountered me!

Unfortunately, you can't see my black jogging pants in the photo, but they sported rainbow stripes down the sides. I even wore a button portrait of every reader's friend, Lavar, thanks to this Etsy shop, JellyDoodles by Cassie.  He was included in a mini-button set of "Wholesome Men of the 90's," which frankly made me wonder if I should dig a little deeper to see if she's created an Unwholesome Men button collection, too, because that's how my mind works.  The classic Reading Rainbow pin was sold by Pin Bot, and my shirt was found at Arena Clothing.  My "butterfly in the sky" headband was crafted out of pinata/party streamer paper and a printed rainbow that I hot-glued to an old headband that I had, but honestly, next year if I decide to go this route again I'll be buying or crafting an oversized hair bow because ow, the headband felt like it was trying to leave some dents in my skull by mid-day.

No, the "best mascara remover EVER" was when a sixth-grader, who is usually full of his own brand of swagger and imposition stealthily made his way over to me during our read aloud (Coraline, chapter 3, pre-recorded and plopped into an iMovie by me over the weekend so I could clean returned books while students listened) first thing on Friday morning.  I assumed he was going to ask me if he could leave to use the restroom, but instead he initiated the following:

Him, whispering: Good morning, Mrs. Sommerville.  Please don't tell my class, but I think I'm going to start writing songs, and then maybe write songs for a job if I like it.

Me: Oh, do you enjoy writing lyrics?

Him, not quite whispering anymore: Oh! YES!  That's it!  I knew YOU'D know the right word!  I'm going to be a lyricist!

Me: I think that's a wonderfully creative choice.  Is there something I can do to help you as you start out with your songwriting?

Him, back to a whisper and looking me straight in the eye: Just tell me you think I can do it.

Me: Oh, I know you can.

He returned to his seat after zipping between tables, and attentively listened to Coraline, appropriately creeped out by the turn the story took, and I stopped cleaning books and retreated to the circulation desk where I could discreetly blot my eyes, because, yeah, uh, someone was chopping onions in the library.

I bet it was the other mother.