North Dakota Library Association Good Stuff Blog_ND in Print

December Issue

Tue, 06 Dec 2022 02:40:15 GMT

All My Love, Bob: One Man’s WWII: Excerpts from Letters to Bob’s Home-bound Wife, Dorothy edited by Richard J. Schonberger, with contributions from brothers Robert E. Schonberger and Father Micah (Thomas Schonberger)

($12, 485 p., pbk.)

Available from Amazon

This book is a compilation of some 700 letters that Bob Schonberger wrote to his wife during his 1942-46 tour as a military officer during World War II. Dorothy, who was home with their three sons, carefully saved them all. The letters are not war chronicles. Rather, they are personal letters that share details of wartime life in Europe; observations and opinions about people and culture, food and drink, and social and recreational activities; and especially, tell of Bob’s longing for his wife and family in North Dakota. Richard Schonberger, a graduate of Ellendale High School and the University of North Dakota (1961), edited his father’s letters with the help of his brothers, Robert and Thomas.

Dakota Day Trips: The Road to Rural Wonders / Cliff Naylor ($13.95, 183 p., pbk.)

Available from Barnes and Noble and local bookstores and businesses in North Dakota, South Dakota, & Montana

Cliff Naylor, known for his “Off the Beaten Path” stories on KFYR-TV, has self-published a third book featuring rural treasures in North Dakota, eastern Montana, and northern South Dakota. "These are 50 new places, all well worth a trip to," said Naylor. His “Off the Beaten Path” series started when he was at KFYR and would see and hear interesting things while on assignment. He started doing some stories on his own time and the segment became so popular that it eventually grew into a weekly story for KFYR. Naylor’s first two books, Dakota Day Trips (1999) and More Dakota Day Trips (2001, 2016 reprint), are still available and were co-written with his wife, Monica Hannan.

Mniwaken: Place Names and History of the Spirit Lake Dakota by Louis Garcia and Mark Diedrich

Contact Cankdeska Cikana Community College (CCCC) for information about how to obtain a copy.

Mniwakanmeans Spirit Lake and this book is a "story collection which includes nearly a hundred significant places and landmarks based on decades of research by the coauthors, Louis Garcia and Mark Dietrich [sic]." (New Rockford Transcript, July 25, 2022, p. B4.)Cankdeska Cikana Community College gave away signed copies during their annual alumni gathering on July 21. The co-authors were on hand for book signings and to share information "about the process of combining oral and contemporary history to tell a complete and honest perspective of the Dakota experience." (Red Lake Nation News, July 8, 2022).

Co-author Louis Garcia teaches Dakota Studies at CCCC and is the Spirit Lake Nation's tribal historian. Co-author Mark Diedrich has written other books on Dakota history and chiefs, among them Mni Wakan Oyate (Spirit Lake Nation): A History of the Sisituwan, Wahpeton, Pabaksa, and Other Dakota that Settled at Spirit Lake, North Dakota and Grass Dance of the Spirit Lake Dakota with Garcia.

Nineteen Forty-Five / Brian Striefel

($16.99, 334 p., pbk.; $6.49 NOOK; $6.99, Kindle)

Available from: Amazon,Barnes and Noble

Why Mary Forgot / Brian Striefel($11.95, 345 p. pbk; $2.99, Kindle)

Available from: Amazon

Nineteen Forty-Five,a period thriller, won the 2021 Silver Medal IPPY Award for Best Regional Fiction- West Mountain Region. A tale about a secret kept for almost 50 years, it “chronicles a young ranch girl's journey from innocence to heroics, from Montana to a post-prohibition speakeasy ... to Germany and back.”

Streifel's second book, Why Mary Forgot, is a crime thriller told “through the eyes of rookie-detective Hanna (2005) and Miss North Dakota (1927.)” Itwas published in October 2021.

Streifel grew up in Minot, attended Minot State University, and holds degrees in Chemistry from NDSU and a Master's in Business Management from the University of Mary. He spent his career at Dakota Gasification and now lives in Beulah.

O Beautiful: A Novel / Jung Yun ($27.99, 320 p., hardcover; $14.99, ebook; paperback set for release on February 7, 2023)

Shelter: A Novel / Jung Yun ($16, 366 p., pbk.; $9.99, ebook)

Available fromAmazon and Barnes and Noble

I recently listened to audio versions of both of these books and loved them! Author Jung Yun was born in South Korea and grew up in Fargo.

O Beautiful''s dedication reads: “To my parents, who chose a strange and wondrous place to call home.” In the book, Elinor, now a freelance writer in New York City, is on assignment to write a feature story about the Bakken oil boom for a prestigious magazine. She soon realizes it’s nothing like the place she once called home. Rumaan Alam, author of Leave the World Behind, said: “With a shrewd eye and a sharp sense of humor, Jung Yun finds in the familiar tale of one woman’s return to her small-town roots a story as big as the nation itself. Both an intimate look at one life and a fearless exploration of the biggest issues of our time.”

Shelter, published in 2016, was longlisted for the Center for Fiction First Novel Prize, named a Best Literary Debut of the Year by Buzzfeed, and named a Best Book of the Year by Minnesota Public Radio (MPR). In its review, MPR said: “Spare and suspenseful, Shelter introduces readers to a young, mixed-race family, the Chos, who find themselves underwater in their mortgage and their marriage. This post-recession novel peels back the layers of emotional damage that the financial crisis wrought. And although Kyung and Gillian are raising a beloved son, the shadows of their own childhoods are ever-present.”

Author Jung Yun earned a B.A. from Vassar, an M.A. from the University of Pennsylvania, and an M.F.A. in Creative Writing from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. Her work has appeared in numerous publications, and she has received several awards, including an honorable mention for the Pushcart Prize. Yun has twice received Artist Fellowships in fiction from the Massachusetts Cultural Council. She lives in Baltimore with her husband and is as an Assistant Professor of English at George Washington University.

Sins of the Father by Sabrina Halvorson($19.90, 228 p., hardcover; $9.99, pbk.; $1.99, Kindle)

Available from Amazonand Shared Story Press

Psychological thrillers and horror stories that delve into the dark corners of human nature -- The tag line on Author Sabrina Halvorson’s website is a clue to what’s inside the pages of Sins of the Father, the first book in the Akashic series and a tale about “a scientist on the verge of a breakthrough, a child in danger, and a buried secret that’ll ruin lives.” The author has a background in newspaper, radio, and television news and writes articles for magazines and short stories. You can find her on AgNet West Radio Network. Halvorson grew up in central California and now lives in Fargo with her husband, Rusty, who is also in the ag reporting business with KFGO. Sins of the Father is her first book.

They Had Eyes of Silver by Sarah Davis($21.99, 354 p., hardcover; $15..99, pbk.)

Available from:Amazon, Barnes and Noble

A second book by New Rockford veterinarian Dr. Sarah Davis (penned as S.E. Davis) was released on June 21, 2022. They Had Eyes of Silver is Book One of the Wulfin series and tells a story about finding “family secrets grounded in the supernatural” on a trip to Belgium. The author is a supervisory public health veterinarian for the USDA-FSIS based in Glenfield, North Dakota. She grew up in Sykeston, attended NDSU, earned her DVM at Iowa State, and worked in an equine surgery facility in Los Angeles before returning to North Dakota. Dr. Davis’ debut novel, Inside Voices, was published in 2020 and included in the North Dakota in Print column in the March/June/August 2020 issue of The Good Stuff.For more information, visit the author’s website.

The Women of Alba Bales House($24.95, DVD, 30 min.)

Available from Prairie Public

This documentary from Prairie Public features women reminiscing about their experiences at the Alba Bales House on the NDSU campus in Fargo and how it “shaped their careers – and their lives.” The house once served as a “practice house” where women lived and learned the art of household management while training for home economics careers. Matt Olien produced the film and the project was funded by NDSU Libraries, NDSU College of Human Sciences and Education, and the members of Prairie Public. For more information, see this 2018 online exhibit, “Appetite for Education: The Alba Bales House,” created by Beth Twomey, then head of Research and Instruction at NDSU Libraries.

Stephanie Sapp - Journals and a Coloring Book

Available from Amazon

Thanks to Beth Reitan for sharing this information.

Stephanie Sapp, one of Beth's classmates from Bottineau, and “a FABULOUS artist,” recently published several journals and a coloring book.

One example is pictured. Visit Amazon to see more!

August Issue

Wed, 17 Aug 2022 21:35:46 GMT

If you would like to access a link indicated in the images below, please go to the newsletter pdf

June 22 Issue

Tue, 31 May 2022 14:13:30 GMT

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 fromLiverig ht, 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.

March 2022 Issue

Tue, 08 Mar 2022 18:46:23 GMT

Angels Over the Rooftop by Bill Kraft ($12, 9 p., softcover)

Bill Kraft grew up in the Germans from Russia community of Strasburg in south central North Dakota in the 1940s and 1950s. In Angels Over the Rooftop, he shares his childhood memories of Christmas Eve, including mass at Saints Peter and Paul Catholic Church, and traditions such as the Belzanickle (a fur-clad Christmas gift giver). Laura Kraft illustrated the book. Angels Over the Rooftop is available from the GRHC Library Marketplace.

Bear’s Braid (KuūNUx Saripiíšu̕) by Joelle Bearstail ($14.95, 38 p., hardcover)

Bear’s Braid blends “discussions of modern indigeneity and universal experiences of bullying and resilience.” For Bear and his friend Ben, the braids they wear are an expression of their native heritage and a crucial part of their identities, but it’s hard to take the mocking jibes and bullying they get from some of their schoolmates. Bear confides in his grandma, and, with her help, he and Ben come up with a plan to “strengthen their connection to their roots while also bridging the gap between their schoolmates and their families.” First-time author Joelle Bearstail (Hidatsa name Bullberry Woman) is Mandan, Hidatsa, and Arikara from the Fort Berthold Indian Reservation. Bear’s Braid was illustrated by Denise Tadlock and is available from Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and ImagiNative.

The Complete History of Bismarck, North Dakota: Frontier to Metropolis by Randy Hoffman (317 p., $22.95, hardcover; $18.95, softcover).

The Complete History of Bismarck, North Dakota: Frontier to Metropolis is organized chronologically and includes many B & W photographs that will bring back memories for Bismarck residents. Author Randy Hoffman has a passion for history and his roots in Bismarck run deep. He is a fifth-generation Bismarck resident, and his family has been in the city since the 1890s. Hoffman is also the author of The Bismarck-Mandan Encyclopedia (2020). For more information, visit https://hoffmancreations.com/. The Complete History of Bismarck is available from Amazon.

Our Family Farm: Cows on the Moooove! by Dana Sullivan ($16.95, hardcover)

The third book in the Our Family Farm series from the North Dakota Farmers Union is now available. Cows on the Moooove! ($16.95, hardcover) by Dana Sullivan tells a tale of Daisy and her calf. Toward the end of calving season when it’s time to move the herd, they run into unexpected danger. Will Daisy be able to protect her calf and join the herd? You will have to order the book to find out! Cows on the Moooove! and the other books in the series, Everyone Works on a Family Farm and The Early Snow, are available online from Union Farmer | North Dakota Farmers Union (ndfu.org).

Dakota Datebook: North Dakota Stories from Prairie Public, Vol. 2 ($24.95, softcover)

North Dakota history comes alive with “366 memorable stories” … “as heard on Prairie Public’s Dakota Datebook radio series.” You will delight in the photos and the stories of “sensational heroes, entertaining characters, extraordinary animals, noteworthy events and delightful destinations that represent the spirit of our state.” The book is available from Prairie Public.

The Fargo Fire of 1893 by Danielle Teigen ($21.99, 139 p., paperback; $11.49, Nook; $12.99, Kindle)

This book tells the story of the devastating fire that consumed more than 30 blocks of the city on a Wednesday afternoon in June 1893. Author and journalist Danielle Teigen digs deep and shares the details of how the fire started, how the landscape of the city was drastically changed, and how the residents of Fargo responded with resilience as they undertook the effort to rebuild and recover. Teigen is also the author of Hidden History of Fargo (2017). The Fargo Fire of 1893 is available from Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and DakotaBookNet.

I’m a Spinosaurus, Bigger than a T-Rex by Katherine Pendergast and Carter Pendergast ($16.95, hardcover)

Bismarck’s Katherine Pendergast and her six-year-old son, Carter Pendergast, turned his love of dinosaurs and dreams of becoming a paleontologist into a children’s book. I’m a Spinosaurus, Bigger than a T-Rex is filled with fun facts and wonderful full-color illustrations of the “Spine Lizard.” Katherine Pendergast is also the author of the Pickles the Dog series and Babies of the Badlands. Her books are available from katssocks.com, Amazon and Barnes and Noble.

Koming to Amerika: An Immigrant's Story by Claus Lembke (275 p., softcover $20)

Over the years, many people told Claus Lembke, "You ought to write a book!" Now he has done just that. Claus Lembke was 22 when he immigrated to America in 1965 to farm with his uncle near Wolverton, Minnesota.  “Born in Nazi-occupied Poland, his mother had Danish heritage and he grew up farming with his father in West Germany. After finishing a degree in agriculture and serving in the German Army under the NATO Command, he boarded a ship and sailed across the ocean to a new life.”  In his book, Lembke writes about his childhood, his military service, farming in Minnesota, moving to Fargo to begin a career in real estate, moving to Bismarck to become the CEO of the North Dakota Association of Realtors, raising a family, and his family’s involvement in community and political activities. Koming to Amerika, with a foreword by former North Dakota Governor Jack Dalrymple, is available from DakotaBookNet.com

The Nineties: A Book by Chuck Klosterman ($24, hardcover; $14.99, Nook)

North Dakota native Chuck Klosterman writes about pop culture and has a talent for “cultural observation and historical clue gathering.” His new book, The Nineties, is hot off the press (release date: February 8, 2022). In a starred review (Dec. 1, 2021), Booklist said: “Wonderfully researched, compellingly written, and often very funny, this is a superb reassessment of an underappreciated decade from a stupendously gifted essayist.” Klosterman’s first book, Fargo Rock City: A Heavy Metal Odyssey in Rural North Dakota, was published in 2001. Since then, he has penned several others pieces for popular publications on various media platforms. The Nineties is widely available in bookstores and online from Amazon and Barnes and Noble.

North Dakota's Polar Pilot: The Heroic Story of Carl Ben Eielson from Hatton by Paulette Bullinger and Kevin Kremer ($19.95, 220 p., softcover)

This read-aloud chapter book may be written for young readers but is sure to inspire readers of all ages. North Dakota’s Polar Pilot tells the story of North Dakota native Carl Ben Eielson and his journey to become known as the Father of Alaskan Aviation. Born in 1897, Eielson became a world-famous pilot and a promoter of early aviation in Alaska. The book includes many photos of Eielson, his boyhood home in Hatton (now a museum), and his aviation exploits.  North Dakota’s Polar Pilot is available from DakotaBookNet.com - Home.

Prairie Princess by Jessie Veeder ($20, 28 p., hardcover)

North Dakota musician and writer Jessie Veeder’s latest book was inspired by her own childhood on her family’s ranch near Watford City in northwestern North Dakota. The book, illustrated by North Dakota artist Daphne Johnson Clark, features a little girl who “celebrates the prairie and why she calls it home … and reminds us of what it's like to be captivated and responsible for a place.” To order Prairie Princess as well as Veeder’s first book, Coming Home (2017), and her music, visit Jessie Veeder (jessieveedermusic.com) or DakotaBookNet.com - Home.