Coming attractions
For the millions of readers who loved Water for Elephants, Sara Gruen's historical love story, an adaptation is coming to a theater near you. Fox 2000 won the movie rights and Richard LaGravenese, who also wrote Freedom Writers, is doing the adaptation, The Hollywood Reporter says.
For the three people who haven't read it yet, the Depression-era tale centers on a 90-year-old man reminiscing about his life caring for animals at a B-level circus. The book spent 12 weeks on the New York Times best-seller list in 2006 and hit the list again last year when it was released in paperback. No word on the cast or release date.
Close readers of Read Street may remember LaGravenese in another role. When an Indiana teacher got in trouble for assigning Freedom Writers Diary to her class, he wrote a spirited defense that helped rally support.
"What message is [the school board president] sending?"" he wrote for Huffington Post. "Don't stand for what you believe to be right when faced with limited thinking, or worse, ignorance? Just say yes to censorship? [Teacher Connie Heermann] disobeyed a direct order because she saw the effect the book was having on her students ...
"It is all too clear that too many children fall through the cracks of our American education system because they can not conform to the classic, often out-moded, sometimes puritanical, teaching methods and restrictions. Connie Heermann is a Freedom Writer teacher. I believe she represents the best of what dedicated teachers can be because she chose to serve her students, not her school board."
