1 - Zamba by Ralph Helfer

I haven't blogged in three and a half years.  I apparently stopped when I got pregnant with my daughter and haven't been back.  Sadly, I also pretty much stopped reading around that time.  I mean, I read to G, even before she was born, and I read stuff online occasionally.  But mostly I stopped reading books.  Which does not mean I stopped buying them or receiving them as gifts.

So, I recently left my job and I have more time at home.  I want G to see me as the voracious reader I have always been.  Some of my best memories of my elementary and middle school years are of curling up with a book, often next to my mom, who is also a reader.

I don't know if I'll make it to 100 books this year.  The main purpose of this blog is just to keep track of what I've read and how I felt about it.

Zamba: The True Story of the Greatest Lion That Ever Lived by Ralph Helfer was an incredible book.  I've been cultivating an appreciation for well-written nonfiction as I've gotten older, and this was beautiful.  It's the story of a man, Ralph, who worked to train exotic animals (lions, Bengal tigers, alligators, chimpanzees, elephants, and so many more) for Hollywood.  He pioneered a new way of training called affection training, in which animals are never cruelly beaten, contained, or starved.  He raised Zamba the African lion from a tiny cub and had eighteen years of astonishing adventures with him.

I discovered this book in the spring of 2010 when I taught an excerpt from it to my class of sixth graders.  I vividly remember thinking that this was a book I wanted to read.  I immediately added it to my ongoing Amazon wish list and it turned up as a gift at some point.  Then it sat on the shelves for years, just waiting to be read.  I'm so glad I picked it to start 2015.

In the book, Helfer casually name-drops some of Hollywood's biggest stars from the 1960's and 1970's.  My favorites were Elvis Presley and Mae West, but the list was huge.  Helfer worked tirelessly for decades to create a reputation as the best and most reliable animal trainer in the business.  He changed the way animals were treated in Hollywood, and Zamba was his biggest success.  He raised his daughter alongside Zamba and tells of them curling up with a bowl of popcorn to watch cartoons after dinner.  Not many parents would trust their child around a fully grown male African lion, and not many lions would be worthy of the trust.

The excerpt I taught turned out to be one of the very last chapters of the book.  From there to the end, my throat was full and my eyes were teary.  Zamba was certainly a special lion, and this is a special book.

Page count: 258
Find it on Amazon

Essential Books for Teens and Inheritance by Christopher Paolini

A Tweet from @MacKidsBooks via @halseanderson led me to an Amazon list of Essential Books for Teens. What a cool list, even if there are so many I would add. :) I still haven't finished The Book Thief by Markus Zusak because it's just so sad, but it is without a doubt one of the most well-written stories I've ever seen. I loved The Giver by Lois Lowry and have always encouraged my students (and friends, and family, and complete strangers in the bookstore) to read it whenever possible. I blogged about Will Grayson, Will Grayson by David Levithan and John Green back in February, and was beyond excited to see a few of my more mature students reading it (and passing it around, recommending it to friends!!) toward the end of the school year. I read and blogged about The Golden Compass by Phillip Pullman waaaaay back at the beginning of 2008 when book blogging was still sort of new and my opinions were young and unformed. I don't entirely disagree with everything I wrote, but I think I would write something entirely different today. I own Crank by Ellen Hopkins and Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson (both of whom I follow on Twitter) and will be reading their books soon. All in all a convincing list.

At any rate, while I was checking out the Essential Books for Teens, I discovered a link to Inheritance by Christopher Paolini. I was deeply conflicted! My bookavore heart leapt with joy at the sight of the familiar cover layout, the pretty green color, and the idea of another book from such a talented author. Then my heart sank: I'm going to have to reread Eragon and Eldest, because it's been so long that I've forgotten them, and then I'm going to have to finally get my hands on Brisingr and read it. I'm not sure why I haven't read it yet, other than the backlog of books I mentioned here. But now, surely, I'll have to!

Another NF book...

I want to read She Said Yes: The Unlikely Martyrdom of Cassie Bernall for two reasons:

1. Madeleine L'Engle wrote the foreword. That's enough, right there.

2. Cassie died at Columbine High School, just as Rachel Scott did. My school is hosting the Rachel's Challenge program this week, which I am very much looking forward to. I think this would be a heartbreaking, amazing story.

A mishmash of thoughts, all related to reading (I promise!)

I have so many books I can't finish one. This is a major stumbling block to my goals as a reader. I have started (and am devouring) both Free Range Kids and Five Love Languages. I have also started SEVERAL fiction titles. I'm going to need to make a decision and stick with it, or I'll NEVER get all these wonderful books read.

I might also need to give up the fanfiction websites for awhile. *sigh* Yes, I'm putting that dirty little secret out there. I might have a small addiction to fanfiction...but it's not as bad as my addiction to the bookstore and buying books. Although I did successfully browse at Books-a-Million without buying ANYTHING! (I only scanned two books into my wish list, too!)

Books added to wish list:

• Heaven is for Real: A Little Boy's Astounding Story of His Trip to Heaven and Back by Todd Burpo
• The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation by M. T. Anderson (This is a trilogy, I think)
• New York by Edward Rutherford (And, come to think of it, I'd also like to read The Princes of Ireland: The Dublin Saga)

Yes, I know this is more than two.

I'm following Laurie Halse Anderson, Mitali Perkins, Judy Blume, Sarah Dessen, Scott Westerfeld, Neil Gaiman, and John Green on Twitter. It's so cool to see their thoughts about writing and reading. Also, they post really cool links. :) Today one of them (and now I can't remember who, or find the tweet, unfortunately), posted a link that led me to two super-cool things: the 90-Second Newbery Film Festival and a blog called Laura's Life.

The 90-Second Newbery Film Festival is so totally on my list to do with at least one of my classes. We are DEFINITELY doing it.

Laura's Life is a blog written and run by a little girl (5th grade, I think) who has read ALL of the Newbery Award books. What an inspiration.

I saw a random post (might've been on Twitter...I can't remember) about an actor who might play Peeta in the movie version of Hunger Games. He's ok, I guess. I can't think of anyone better, but I'm not sure he's exactly what I pictured, especially from his comments about his preference for the "gritty kinda stuff". I guess I didn't really feel that Peeta was a "gritty" character. Hm.

I downloaded nine podcasts from Read Write Think to Yoda (my iPod) this evening. They are from the series called Text Messages, which is all about books for adolescent readers. I downloaded:

• Vampires, Werewolves, Zombies, and More
• Reading Text Sets
• Censorship and Your Freedom to Read
• Dystopian Literature
• Celebrating Poetry for Teens
• Gay and Lesbian Characters in Young Adult Literature
• A Conversation with Laurie Halse Anderson
• A Conversation with John Green
• Books Worth Owning

Each one is between 25 and 30 minutes, so I'll blog about them as I finish them, but it might be awhile.

And now, I feel compelled to apologize for the randomness of this post, but I had so many book-related thoughts swimming around, I just had to get them all jotted down! :)