Book Blog Tour - Review
Crazy is Normal
It is a pleasure to participate in the Book Blog Tour for Lloyd Lofthouse's "Crazy is Normal."
I love the title, I must admit.
Lloyd has provided us with a special peek into his life, for one year, as a teacher. Somehow, he managed to keep a very detailed journal for that year, and has now shared it with us in this memoir.
I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.
Publisher: Three Clover Press (June 14, 2014) ISBN: 978-0986032851
Category: Biographies and Memoirs, Educators
Tour Date: October, 2014
Available in: Print & ebook, 386 Pages
Multi-award winning author, Lloyd Lofthouse kept a daily journal for one-full school year and that journal became the primary source of this teacher’s memoir.
“Readers who envision eager students lapping up learning led by a Tiger Teacher will be disappointed. Lofthouse presents us with grungy classrooms, kids who don’t want to be in school, and the consequences of growing up in a hardscrabble world. While some parents support his efforts, many sabotage them—and isolated administrators make the work of Lofthouse and his peers even more difficult.
Throughout this memoir, though, Lofthouse seems able to keep the hope alive that there’s a future for each student that doesn’t include jail—thanks in large part to his sixth period journalism class and its incredible editor, Amanda.” – Bruce Reeves
About Lloyd Lofthouse:
Little did Lloyd Lofthouse know in 1999, when he married Anchee Min, that he was beginning a journey of discovery. His first trip to The Middle Kingdom was on the honeymoon with his bride, who introduced him to China and Robert Hart (1835-1911), the main characters in Lloyd’s first two novels, My Splendid Concubine and Our Hart. The next decade was a journey of discovery. Lloyd now lives near San Francisco with his wife–with a second home in Shanghai, China.
Lloyd earned a BA in journalism in 1973 after fighting in Vietnam as a U.S. Marine. While working days as an English teacher, he enjoyed a second job as a maitre d’ in a multimillion-dollar nightclub. His short story, A Night at the ‘Well of Purity’ was named as a finalist for the 2007 Chicago Literary Awards. Lloyd has won 15 awards for My Splendid Concubine and 5 awards for Running With the Enemy.
Website: http://lloydlofthouse.org/
Author’s Den: http://www.authorsden.com/lloydlofthouse
Twitter: https://twitter.com/lflwriter
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Lloyd-Lofthouse/168775989838050
Google+: https://plus.google.com/116728680363586998839/posts
‘Crazy Is Normal’ will be on sale for only $0.99 from October 1-November 15, 2014 on Kindle!
My Review:
As a writer myself, I was totally impressed that Lloyd Lofthouse could have kept such a complete and detailed journal as to be able to recreate this fabulous memoir of such length and complexity many years after the fact. His portrayal of life in the class room is stunning, realistic, and even a little scary. You really get the feeling you are that little "fly on the wall" - put sitting on his shoulder witnessing exactly what he experienced, day by day, in that classroom.
Some readers my find this memoir tedious reading. But, if you really want to get into the situation and understand his experience in depth, you will be enthralled by his pace and descriptions of students, administrators, and the school environment.
Lofthouse came away from this experience with very strong feelings about how education in this environment should be handled versus how it is handled in most situations. View of the video clip to understand his feelings better.
Video clip- interview: http://youtu.be/f-C4X6f0B5g
To see what others have to say about this book, here is the schedule for the entire tour:
Crazy Is Normal Web Tour Schedule:
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Teddy Rose
Book Reviews Plus Oct. 1 Review & Giveaway
Inspire to Read Oct. 2 Guest Post & Excerpt
Cassandra
M's Place Oct. 6 Review & Giveaway
Pinky's Favorite Reads Interview & Excerpt
Being
Tillys Mummy Oct 9 Guest Post
& Excerpt
Manic
Mama of 2 Nov. 6 Review
& Excerpt
Deal Sharing Aunt Nov 7
Review, Interview, & Excerpt
From Isi
Nov
11 Review
Happy Reading!
Dr. Bill ;-)
