Holy crow... it has been almost a month (not quite... but seriously ALMOST) since my last post. First - an apology. While it is a pitiful excuse, I've been super busy at work getting our Beta Club up and running, and I've been busy at home, and I've been really sick lately, and I've got a lot going on with church stuff, and it's football season. All that to say - I actually have been reading. I just haven't been posting. So... my apologies. (By the way - apology is totally a spelling word in my fifth grade class this week!)
Second - a blog!!! Ahh!!! At last. Okay - let me catch you up. I finished reading 11Birthdays and it was adorable. I recommended it to a specific student recently and she is thoroughly enjoying it as well. If you have a student (or child or both) who like realistic fiction with just a brush of fantasy - this is your book. Then I read NERDS 2: M is for Mama's Boy. The sequel to NERDS was just as adventurous as the first. I also enjoyed that the main character shifts and you get to better know a new character. I am hoping the future books continue the trend and we will eventually have a book centralized on each character. That was loaned to me by another student because he saw I was reading the first one. I love my super observant and generous students. Then I read Fire Star. The third book in the Last Dragon Chronicles, I've read it before and loved it just as much this time. I am hoping that I will someday soon be able to actually finish the series so I can read the newest book which I sad to report I've had in my possession for months and still haven't read. I think that brings me to my current book which I am loving.
I'm currently reading Dragon Rider by German author Cornelia Funke. Funke is also notable for writting Inkheart and The Thief Lord. The book follows Firedrake, one of the last remaining dragons, who sets out with his closest companion, a rather grumpy brownie-girl named Sorrel. They soon meet up with a small human boy named Ben and continue their quest to find the last place on Earth dragons can live freely without fear of humans, the fabled Rim of Heaven. One small problem. Most dragons don't even believe the place exists. Then there's the matter of the Golden One - a dragon-like creature who only wants one thing - to eat all the dragons. Throw it together with some interesting humans, enchanted ravens, and the world's smallest spy and things are down-right enthralling.
One more thing before I go - I need to vent for a moment. I live a small life. I go to work, I come home, I work at home, I watch TV with my dog. I don't live extravagantly or spend money I shouldn't. I haven't bought a new book in ages because that is a luxury I can't afford right now. And still, I have to break my bank account just to have food to eat. I have ten dollars to my name, no gas in my car, and four days until I get paid again. One-third of my pay check goes to taxes, both federal and state, and I can barely survive on a teacher's salary because our government doesn't not provide adequate funding for education. When I come home I don't ask for much - a good special ingredient on Iron Chef America, a great football game on Saturday, and that my collection of TV shows not be cancelled. But when I turn on the news and hear the richest people in America griping about the possible tax increase for them it irks me, okay. It irks me. Some politician, who owns like a gajillion Subways that earn him 6.3 MILLION dollars a year, was complaining because he only gets to take home about $600,000 and after he feeds his family, that really only leaves him $400,000. Well BOO freaking HOO! First of all, if I had $200,000 to spend just on FOOD for a year I would never be hungry, would be able to eat lunch everyday instead of once or twice a week, and I'd be FAT! Second of all - you only have $400,000 left over? Really? I'm pretty sure if that number went down 5% it wouldn't kill you.
Dear Politicians:
Please do not go on the news complaining about how much money you make until you walk a year in the shoes of the second lowest paid, degree carrying individuals. Educators earn a four-year (or more) degree and still aren't paid enough to survive in this economy. Live on my salary for even a month and then thank your Higher Power that you get to take home $600,000 a year. I'm sorry millionaires are going extinct. Worse things will happen than you have to give up your yacht. And for those of you that keep going on about how you provide jobs and therefore shouldn't have to be taxed - you know what? I train people for those jobs. Does that mean I don't have to pay taxes either? Didn't think so. Quit complaining and do your job - stand up for the people you are supposed to represent. Provide the necessary funding for education and then we'll worry about your taxes. Okay? Good.
This will conclude the venting and ranting portion of this blog. Dragon Rider is really good. I'm going to read some more of it and stop watching the news - since it obviously upsets me.
Dragon Rider is written by Cornelia Funke, translated by Anthea Bell, and published by The Chicken House.
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