"To Boldly Go..." Where Our Forefathers Went?

I don't know what life is like where you are, but we are currently hunkered down in Texas due to inclement weather. I use the term "inclement weather" because different parts of Texas are experiencing different types of weather. In our neck of the woods, the winter storm is mostly freezing rain, sleet, and a little snow. Our streets are like ice skating rinks, so...I won't be venturing out any time soon. Schools were canceled yesterday, today, and will, most likely, be canceled tomorrow. On a good note, while the weather is keeping me at home, it's also allowing me more reading time! 

I mentioned in my last post I've started a new reading journey, one that may challenge me a bit more than I anticipated. It all started when I read a book entitled Battle for the American Mind: Uprooting a Century of Miseducation by Pete Hegseth with David Goodwin. I wasn't impressed with the first bit of it and felt the authors were a bit pompous (if I'm honest). I continued to read, though, because it always intrigues me when reviews of a book are either "for" or "against" with very few critics staying in the middle of the reading road. I don't have a problem with reading other people's opinions without feeling offended or feeling that I have to agree completely with either side. I take the best and leave the rest by the roadside. (Oh, how I wish more people would learn to do the same.)

Battle for the American Mind addresses some of the problems with public education. After I made it through the first ten percent of the book, the writers got my attention. I'm always interested in history, and I found that the information they presented in the book checked out (I always do my own research for these types of non-fiction books), which surprised me. However, after I read the book and had some conversations with a few long-time educators, I had to admit the book made sense - even though it hurt me, and disappointed me, to admit how broken the public education system really has been...for quite some time. I decided to read more.

The next book I read was A Thomas Jefferson Education: Teaching a Generation of Leaders for the Twenty-first Century by Oliver DeMille. This one really got my attention by explaining how our forefathers were educated, why it worked, and what critical parts are missing in the education of children today. It explained how this could be helped, whether a child is in a public, private, or charter school, or if you homeschool. It also gave a simple plan to follow in the back and a list of important books that should be a part of every person's education.

My education consists of a public education, two years in a community college, and two years in a private university. I didn't receive a "Thomas Jefferson Education," but I found myself intrigued enough to begin the reading suggestions in the back of the book to educate myself. I started with the easy stuff: young adult fiction. What "classic" YA books should I have read as a teenager? What difference, if any, would they have made in my life? I thought that was a good place to start.

I've now read three of the five suggestions, so far. I can't wait to share my review of the first one, which led me down another reading road I didn't expect. More about all that tomorrow. For now, I need to get back to my current read. This ice won't last forever, you know. 

Happy February! And, always, happy reading!

Three At A Time

You know, I'm not one of those people who likes to read several books at once. Normally, I enjoy dedicating myself to one book at a time, completely immersing myself in the story. There are exceptions to that rule, though (as there is to everything):

1) If I'm reading a non-fiction, I like a little fiction in between.
2) If I'm reading a book that's a collection of stories, I like to read a novel, as well.
3) I'm almost always reading a young adult book along with an adult book.

Prior to the present, those were my only exceptions. I don't even read multiple young adult books, unless I'm reading them with my class or student book clubs. Even then, I've read the novel before on my own, so I don't count that as reading/absorbing it as I would with a first read. All of this worked fine for me...until now.

You see, I am currently reading a book that I can't stop reading,...but I have to pause and take breaks from it. It is an incredible book, but it is hard on my heart. Because it is hard on my heart (which I will explain in a moment), I have to read something else to take my mind off of it. I have to read something with a lighter, easier topic.

I decided to read a middle school book a friend of mine suggested: The False Prince by Jennifer A. Nielsen. It was a really good book, the first one in a trilogy (and I can't wait to read the second one), but...the topic was a bit more serious than I expected and wasn't pulling me out of the aching, sweet sadness I felt when reading the first book - my "main" book. I really did enjoy it, though, and - as my friend had said - the narrator of the story was my kind of witty character and I had a little 'character crush' on him.

While I was now enjoying both books, I decided to pick up one more. My students and I had been to the library and viewed book trailers. I became interested in Freaky the Mighty by Rodman Philbrick. It isn't a new book, just a good one that's been around long enough to have a movie made about it back in 1998. I had never read the book and never seen the movie AND...it was the perfect size: small. That's right, one of the reasons I chose it was because it wasn't a big book. I didn't want to invest too much time in another book, I already had two other ones going. Remember, the intent was to use two for "break books" from my main one.

Needless to say, I found myself in another 'serious' story. Funny, sometimes? Yes. The False Prince also had its funny moments, and both middle school books had good narrators. I enjoyed both, though both were very different. While they did take my mind off of the first book, they did nothing to soothe my emotions. They were distractions and not cures. So, I finished both of the other books and have now focused my attention on finding a humorous adult book and a humorous young adult book for those times when I just have to close my main book and pull away from that ache it causes in my soul.

What book did I need a cure from? What kind of book was I reading (and I'm still reading it - not quite finished yet) that haunts me so much I look for other books to take my mind off of it? Paper Love: Searching for the Girl My Grandfather Left Behind by Sarah Wildman. And all I can say is - I am forever changed. I know that was the author's intent...with good reason.

Wildman's novel is a non-fiction book that starts out about a Jewish grandfather she loves and the story of his life - her family's story of his life - and how he successfully got himself and his family (his mother, sister, brother-in-law, and nephew) to America before Hitler took over Vienna. Her grandfather, Karl, has always been the "hero" of the family and the man everyone adores.

After his death, Wildman finds there is another story no one has told her. She discovers letters from a girl her grandfather knew before he came to America - old letters her grandfather had kept all through the years, some of them with photos in them. The letters begin to tell her only part of the story. She becomes determined to find this woman, Valy, and know the rest of the story. The author is driven by the desire to completely understand the kind of man her grandfather was before coming to America and who he really was as a human being.

Wildman goes on a research mission, a journey of discovery that takes her to several countries, to find this girl her grandfather had to leave behind. She travels to Europe to walk the streets her grandfather walked, to see and experience the things the girl talks about in her letters. As she uncovers more and more, and continues to read and re-read Valy's letters, her desire grows to find and know what happened to this incredible woman. Wildman takes us with her as she gets closer and closer to finding out the truth about this girl and her grandfather's past.

Valy & Karl, Vienna - 1936

It's an incredible journey. It's one I'm still on...