North Dakota in Print
By Marlene Anderson, Bismarck State College
The Anderson Letters: A Swedish Family's Emigration History by Wayne Aarestad ($28.99, 414 p., hardcover; $28.99, pbk.; $3.99, Kindle; $2.99, Nook)
Available from Amazon and Barnes and Noble
“A small wooden brown trunk, reinforced with iron straps and corners, sat collecting dust in the attic of a farmhouse outside of Gwinner (Sargent County) in southeastern North Dakota.” That trunk, rediscovered many years later, held a treasure trove of Anderson family letters, dating from 1880 to 1916, and other memorabilia. The translated letters, now available in this book compiled by Wayne Aarestad, tell about leaving Sweden for America and building a new life in a new land. Wayne Aarestad is a descendant of the Anderson family and grew up on one of the pioneer Anderson homesteads in southeastern North Dakota. After practicing law in North Dakota for 40 years, he and his wife, Debbie, now live in Arizona.
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Blue Skies West by Mattie Richardson ($11.95; pbk.)
Available from appaloosybooks.com, Lisbon’s Petals and Pages, or by calling the author at 701-680-2136
Blue Skies West is Mattie Richardson’s seventh book and the fifth book in her Horses in History series. The story is about Blue, a horse, and his boy, Charlie, who are heading west from Iowa to Oregon on the Oregon Trail. What adventures await them on the trail? Author Mattie Richardson doesn’t let any grass grow under her feet. She is the library director for Enderlin Municipal Library; coaches other writers; works with the North Dakota State Historical Society and several newspapers and publishers; and plays in the band Raw Sugar.
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Boys and Oil: Growing Up Gay in a Fractured Land by Taylor Brorby
(352 p., $27.95, hardcover) Release date: June 7, 2022.
Available in bookstores and fromLiveright, Amazon, andBarnes and Noble
A memoir of a young, gay environmentalist who grew up in rural North Dakota; noted as a searing coming-of-age set against the arid landscape of rural North Dakota, where homosexuality “seems akin to a ticking bomb.” Michael Cart wrote, "the memoir focuses on Brorby's life as an out gay man but makes room for his efforts as an environmental activist, experiencing the Bakken oil boom and fighting the construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline”(Booklist/March 2022, p 12). Brorby has co-edited Fracture: Essays, Poems, and Stories on Fracking in America (2016) and his work as a poet and essayist has appeared in the Huffington Post, Orion, and North American Review, where he is a contributing editor.
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Ésta Es Mi Casa – This Is My Home (DVD, 30 min., $24.95).
Available from Prairie Public
Since the 1930s, farmers in the Red River Valley of North Dakota and Minnesota have relied on Hispanic field workers to help hoe beet fields, tend crops, and bring in the harvest. Now, the stories of the families of the Red River Valley Hispanic community are available in this documentary from Prairie Public, produced, written, and narrated by Matt Olien.
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The Clean Daughter: A Cross-Continental Memoir by Jill Kandel ($32.95)
Available from NDSU Press; Book Trailer
“Any marriage is complicated, but one where two people grow up speaking different languages and abiding by different cultural codes presents unique challenges. Insert a demanding father-in-law, a healthy man who inexplicably ends his life by means of legalized euthanasia.“Jill Kandel grew up in North Dakota, lived and worked in Zambia, Indonesia, England, and the Netherlands and now live in the Fargo/Moorhead community.The memoir is now available from NDSU Press.
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Inside a Snowflakeby Mary Tello-Pool and Maria Elena Skjerseth
($19, 30 p., pbk.; $9.99, Kindle; $14, Nook; )
Available from Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and Dorrance Publishing
Mary Tello-Pool of Bismarck and her six-year-old granddaughter take us on a “whimsical ride through a winter wonderland” that started with a question posed by Maria: ‘Grammy, what does the inside of a snowflake look like?’ Her grandmother replied, “Why not close your eyes and use your imagination?” After Maria started to describe what she saw, the two were inspired to write a book to share with children everywhere. Inside a Snowflake also shows that just as every snowflake is unique and beautiful in its own way, so are people. We are all different and we are all special.
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A Legacy of Passion: The Scheel Family Storyby Larry Woiwode (100 p., $24.99, hardcover); Available from Amazon and University of Mary Press
A Legacy of Passion by Larry Woiwode, North Dakota Poet Laureate and award-winning author, was published by University of Mary Press shortly before the author’s death at age 80 on April 28, 2022. The book tells the story of the Scheel family and its store franchise, which started as a small hardware store in western Minnesota in 1902 and is now one of the most successful retail companies in the country.
Author Larry Woiwode wrote everything from novels to short stories, poetry, and nonfiction. Woiwode was appointed North Dakota Poet Laureate by the 1995 North Dakota Legislature. Woiwode’s 2021 book, The Dignity of Grace: A Life of Sister Thomas Welder ($24.99) is also available from the University of Mary Press and Amazon.
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Little Star Chaser by Dawn Noelle Archer($9.95, 24 p., pbk.)
Available from Amazonand Shared Story Press
In Little Star Chaser, Dawn Noelle Archer of Bismarck shares amazing things about the sky – the stars, the moon, the sun, the Northern Lights, comets, planets, eclipses, and even the space station -- through rhymes and colorful mosaic collages. This is a great picture book for preschoolers and new readers. Dawn’s other books include Oh Joy, Bok Choy & Other Greens for Me! (2018), Remnants of Soul (2019), and Even Whispered Words Echo: Lullabies for Dying Children & Other Poems (2004; out of print). Dawn’s books are also available locally in Bismarck at Barnes & Noble, Bisman Community Food Co-op, and Bismarck Mandan Convention & Visitors Bureau. For more information, visitShared Story Press – Dawn Noelle Archer.
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Radium: A Novel by John Enger
Available fromNDSU Press(release date May 10, 2022); Audio sample
Radium is about two brothers living in a trailer outside Radium, a depressed midwestern town. Jim, the 15-year-old narrator of the story, feels diminished and has unexplainable injuries. His older brother Billy is “a man capable of things others are not.” When Billy gets in trouble, they do “what wild young men like Billy do when things go bad. They run.”
Author John Enger drew inspiration from his own experience growing up in rural northern Minnesota and his work as a journalist. “His fictional characters are like so many real people — likable most of the time, yet always about three bad days from a federal manhunt.” Enger worked in journalism for ten years, starting as a newspaper reporter, then moving to being a radio reporter. Today, he and his family live in Bemidji, Minnesota, where he runs his own woodworking business, Enger Grove, and writes fiction. For more info, visit the author’s website.
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A Rancher’s Handsby Victoria Vollmer
($29.99, 28 p., hardcover; $20.99, pbk.; $2.99-$3.99, ebook)
Available from Amazon, Author House, and Barnes and Noble
This children’s book gives readers a look at what ranchers do and how they care for their animals. Author and illustrator Victoria Vollmer emphasize humane practices and animal welfare. Her philosophy draws on The Five Freedoms: freedom from thirst, hunger, and malnutrition; freedom from discomfort; freedom from pain, injury, and disease; freedom to express normal behavior; and freedom from fear and distress. Vollmer grew up on a small family ranch in Eddy County and she served as a Miss North Dakota Angus princess/queen; also represented North Dakota as Miss United States Agriculture in 2018/19.
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What We Leave Behindby Barb Solberg ($20.95, 420 p., pbk.; $2.99, ebook)
Available from Amazon, Barnes and Noble, BookLocker.com, and Walmart; locally from Main Street Books in Minot
Book Trailer
In What We Leave Behind, Minot author Barb Solberg has crafted a work of historical fiction based on the true story of her grandmother and aunts during World War II. In 1913, Solberg’s grandparents immigrated from Norway to homestead in North Dakota’s Mountrail County. After the Dust Bowl hit, they sent three of their nine children to live with a wealthy relative in Norway for two years. When Clara married a Norwegian man, there was no one to take the two younger sisters home. Later, when Germany invaded Norway in 1940, the two sisters missed the last U.S. evacuee ship. Would the whole family ever be reunited? Retired, author Barb Solberg is a North Dakota native. She earned a Bachelor & Master’s degree from UND and taught English during her professional career.