Life can sometimes feel like one big high school, where bullies still roam, tots are the only decent grub on the lunch menu, and a morning that seemed full of possibilities makes a u-turn into the worst day of your life.

Taming a Liger: Unexpected Spiritual Lessons from Napoleon Dynamite is an awesome 24-piece devotional set that gives readers the skills necessary to navigate life's treacherous hallways. We can't promise the reflexes of a puma, but we can share wisdom that gives reality a roundhouse kick to the face. Sweet!

Digging into Hollywood and Indie films for spirtual meaning is one of the latest fads in Christian resources. Over the past few years studies have came from films as diverse as Star Wars and now, Napoleon Dynamite. I acquired this book to use as a study for the Youth Group I help out with. Their interest was definatly peaked when I mentioned using a book about Napoleon in class. The film is non-offensive so I was able to show a lot of it in class free from guilt. The lessons are sharp and quick and some of them use a good bit of scripture to back up their facts. The studies are presented in a hip fashion that holds kids attention pretty well. My only complaint is lack of discussion questions in each lesson. Some discussion questions appear at the end of the book un-related to each individual lesson. Sometimes teaching out of it ended up with me just simply reading out of the book and showing clips. If you work at it however, you can come up with a good lesson and teach a thing or two in the process.

I saw all the five star ratings for this book and got real excited. But what a great disappointment. There are 24 chapters and each one starts with a great Napolean quote consisting only of a few words. Then the author takes about five pages to preach a sermon and attempt to "christianize" Napoleon's quote even ending with a quote from the Bible. It might make a nice juvenile Sunday School lesson manual. If you want to be entertained, do NOT buy this book. If you want to see Napoleon belittled and dragged through the mud of religion, you'll like this.

It was pretty much a great freakin' idea to write a book like this! It's good to know that there could be deeper meaning to everyday things that happened in the movie. Too many times, my life was like the action figure that Napoleon drug behind the bus (until I found some decent friends, and later became a Christian...but that's a story bigger than a block of government-issued cheese) (by the way, I once drug a cassette tape behind the bus, and it was pure awesome).
In the book, the authors do a sweet job of explaining how things like, "taming a wild stallion," building a cake," and "three hours of upper lip shading," can add to your skills. I think it's pretty much my favorite book right now...and it will help make my wildest dreams come true (and there are a buttload of delicious recipes in the back)! I'm giving the book five stars, but would've really liked a double-page drawing of our underwater ally, Nessie.

Yes, this is a Christian Devotional. If you are a Christian and a fan of the movie, then you'll enjoy looking at the events in the movie from a Spiritual point of view. If you're not a Christian, this could be a good introduction to the truth for you, just so long as you know that's what you're getting. I guess a lot of people thought this was going to be some "spiritualistic new age enlightening zen" kind of thing and were disappointed when they got the book and it talked about Jesus, but hey, maybe if they actually read it and thought about what it was saying rather than just getting offended at the name of the one person who loved them more than anyone they'll ever know, the book could actually change their lives......

I loved the movie. But I love the book even more. This book has made me laugh so much but has also made me think just the same. This book is life changing. If you read it "all your wildest dreams will come true."