You know that kid at your middle school who was always EXCITED for your once-monthly library day? Yeah, that was me. Which is how I ended up reading George Orwell's Animal Farm when I was eleven. The librarian looked at me in confusion when I brought it up to the check-out. My parents asked if I was sure I woldn't rather read another Nancy Drew book. (This was long before Harry Potter.) But I......

I was reared on PBS children's programming. Sesame Street. Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood. Square One TV. But I had a special place in my heart for Reading Rainbow. Some episodes I remember better than others. One such episode being the one in which the featured story was The Story of Ferdinand, about a gentle bull who wanted to stop and smell the roses, rather than fight in the ring. It's this book on which the......