About the Author: Paul Zindel

I started reading another book called "A Begonia for miss Applebaum" by Paul Zindel. Paul grew up in Staten Island. Zindel graduated from high school and left home once again, this time to attend Wagner College in Staten Island. Zindel did not receive a degree in English, literature, or writing, but in 1958, received his bachelor's degree in chemistry and education. In 1959 he also completed a masters of science degree in chemistry. Following college, Zindel found work as a technical writer for a chemical company. In his free time, he continued to write plays such as Dimensions of Peacocks and A Dream of Swallows. In the early 1960s, both plays ran on stage in New York City.

Throughout the 1970s and 1980s, Zindel continued writing books for teenagers. In 1964, he wrote The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds, his first and most successful play. The play ran off-Broadway in 1970, and on Broadway in 1971, and he received the 1971 Pulitzer Prize for Drama for the work. It was also made into a 1972 movie by 20th Century Fox. Zindel wrote 39 books, all of them aimed at children or young adults.

Many of these were set in his home town of Staten Island, New York. They tended to be semi-autobiographical. Zindel himself grew up in a single-parent household, his mother worked at various occupations: hat check girl, shipyard worker, dog breeder, hot dog vendor, and finally licensed practical nurse, often boarding terminally ill patients at home. They moved frequently. His father abandoned them. This upbringing was most accurately depicted in Confessions of a Teenage Baboon. He died in 2003 from lung cancer in Manhattan.

Book to Society Connection

My second memoir is "A long way gone" by Ishmael Beah. The main or the central idea in this memoir is struggle and parting away from the family. Generally in life we have gone through struggles but the character in this memoir has gone through a different type of struggle. The character goes through different stages of struggle and parting from the family.

Basically the story is about the life of Ishmael Beah who lives a fairly happy life in Sierra Leone until civil war breaks out. Then, like other civilians, he is forced to run for his life, becoming separated from his family. He tries to travel from village to the next trying to find them. But unfortunately the rebels had murdered them.He later finds a way to be rehabilitated and regain his childhood. He once again learns how to love.

http://www.penguin.com.au/products/9780670077045/long-way-home

The link above takes you the article and a video that is below the article of a similar boy who gets parted from his family but finds his way back home after 25 years. This is an author who has written a memoir about this parting and reuniting of his family. The author's name is Saroo Brierley. At only five years old, Saroo Brierley got lost on a train in India. Unable to read or write or recall the name of his hometown or even his own last name, he survived alone for weeks on the rough streets of Calcutta before ultimately being transferred to an agency and adopted by a couple in Australia. Despite his gratitude, Brierley always wondered about his origins. Eventually, with the advent of Google Earth, he had the opportunity to look for the needle in a haystack he once called home and pore over satellite images for landmarks he might recognize or mathematical equations that might further narrow down the labyrinthine map of India. One day, after years of searching, he miraculously found what he was looking for and set off to find his family. A Long Way Home is a moving, poignant, and inspirational true story of survival and triumph against incredible odds. It celebrates the importance of never letting go of what drives the human spirit: hope.

Color of Water: The Blue Bicycle!

In the book color of water then major symbol is the blue bicycle. This symbol is really important because this bicycle portrays most of Ruth's characteristics. This symbol is the central thing that go with the characters.

          The blue bicycle is a symbol that plays an important role in Ruth's life. After her second husband died, Ruth began the habit of riding her bicycle through the neighborhood in which James and his family lived. To James, this bicycle symbolized her quirkiness and his consequent embarrassment. James had always sensed his mother was "different." James gained an intimate knowledge of his mother and began to understand her as a fellow adult rather than as a son.

          The author comes to view the bicycle as symbolic of his mother's difference. The bicycle also comes to represent Ruth's desire to move forward and an escape from reality. His mother kept her twelve children constantly active so that they would learn how to be productive members of society.

           This is how the blue bicycle is very special in this memoir. This symbolizes grief. She felt some kind of a feeling riding the bicycle that was gifted to her by someone really special.

The Color of Water

The Color water is a story by James McBride. The story is the author's personal life. This memoir has  two main characters which is James McBride and Ruth. James is the author and main narrator of the memoir, he is artistically inclined. Like his mother, he places significant emphasis on his Christian faith and on family unity. As a young man, he expresses his confusion by succumbing to drugs and crime. Later, he becomes diligent and determined.

               The mother, Ruth also plays an important role in this story. She is the central figure of the memoir. she is the big-hearted mother of James and eleven other children. A Polish Jewish immigrant, she is spiritual, intelligent, determined, practical, and brave. She stresses the importance of work, school, and God. She chose an unconventional life, and succeeds in it because she has the grit and conviction to endure hardships. She doesn't talk to anybody.

               These are the two main characters of this memoir. These two characters have a lot of interactions between each other. They play central characters in this memoir and are the main characters who get involved in something or the other.They both are spiritual. They both have two different perspectives in the memoir.

Intro to book: Bran Hambric - The Farfield Curse

The book I started reading was Bran Hambric - The Farfield's Curse by Kaleb Nation. This book is quite interesting. I chose this book because it has mystery, and magic which are the genres I like. I also decided to read a book of an author that I haven't read before. This book was published in 2009. Kaleb Nation is an author, producer, TV personality, and entrepreneur.

                 On the third night of March in 2003, 14-year-old Kaleb Nation had a sudden idea that began the story of Bran Hambric, a novel that would take most of his teenage years to write. Kaleb hosted his first radio show in Texas at age thirteen, and has since launched several websites. Aside from writing, Kaleb enjoys creating music and blogging. He now lives in LA, California with his dog named Selfie. This is all about  the author Kaleb Nation that wrote this book.