Minnesota Books

I bought this book while on a tour in North Dakota. Something about the title drew my attention and I have been completely satisfied with my purchase. As one reviewer noted, this is not a book for anyone looking for a romanticized depiction of Indian people nor a "how-to" book for those looking for more info on Indian spirituality. It is an engrossing character study of many fictional Indian people who live their lives in the Minnesota woodlands from the early 1800's to the present. Their struggles, triumphs, sorrows and joys are presented in a highly readable prose. I am hoping Ms. LaDuke continues to write fiction that portrays a segment of our American population which has been woefully neglected.

LaDuke, who has run twice (in 1996 and 2000) for Vice-President on the Association of State Green Parties ticket with Ralph Nader for President, is arguably the most important woman in North America. She often shows up in short lists of "Leaders of the Future", certainly "on the left", but yet she lives quietly on a reserve in Minnesota, and does not campaign even when she's running for Vice-President. What is going on here? Who is she?

LaDuke's novel says it all. It bares the roots of five hundred years of rather incredible history, the conflicts between cultures and peoples, the imposition of an extremely violent system of governance and retributive justice for property crime, the denigration of native peoples, application of "terra nullius", breaking of treaties, and the whole legalist campaign that put British descendants in firm control of North America.

Feminine, aboriginal, and ecological values are barely visible at the surface of this novel - there are no explicit treatises, no ideological passages. This is not "Atlas Shrugged for Greens" - you will not be sold a Green Party Card by this book. Nor is it the romanticized "Dances With Wolves" - you will not see the lives of the many diverse human beings of the native tribes of this small patch of North America as some kind of mystical journey. You will read real stories of each generation.

You will be brought up to the present.

This is the history book you were not given in school. You were, instead, taught something about military glory and how "proper" courts and "real" justice now prevail in North America west of the Mississipi River. You were taught nonsense.

You have a chance to learn the truth from a masterful author. If she someday becomes your President, and I can only hope that she will, you will understand why, and you will see why this is a necessary evolution. Women, Natives, Ecology still sound like special interest groups today. LaDuke's beautiful storytelling and poignant moments of misery and remnant pride will demonstrate better than any political speech, why they are not, and why there can be no future other than that which elevates the feminine, the aboriginal, the ecological, to their right precedence over the masculine, the colonial, and the industrial.

It is time to abandon the tribes you came with, and choose new ones. Let this book be your entry point. You will not regret it.

See above. Its a shame that more "fiction" doesn't come across as "real."

I spied this book in San Francisco last year while on holiday from England. I rarely read fiction, but this was absolutely great. There are few books that I am unable to put down once started but this was one. From beginning to end I was wrapped in the humour, tragedy and triumph of this novel. Some great characterizations, I became especially fond of Kway Dole. A great book for anyone interested in the whole diversity of Native American experiences, but not for new-agers looking to find a deceased Medicine Man as a spirit guide!!!

I loved this richly told story of Woodland indigenous history. LaDuke's prose is so evocative, reading it feels like sitting on the shores of Round Lake listening to the loons or canoeing through the rice fields at the edges of Gull Lake startling the Great Blue Herons and seeing Ojibwe history unfold out of the early morning mist. Winona captures the essence of the lakes and forests of Northern Minnesota and brings to life the tragedies and joys of the Anishinaabe people through generations of survival through all the vagaries of the seasons and the challenges that history forced upon them. A beautiful book with charming pictographs. The original hardcover had a beautiful cover painting by Artist Jeffrey Chapman. Highly recommended.

After I read this book I had a burning desire to visit the Canadian Shield and paddle a wood and canvas canoe on the Churchill River. I only wish I could have done it in 1960, when this book was written. It is a much different place today. This is an excellent book about a canoe trip of 500 miles by six friends. I only hope I will be as lucky to do such a trip someday.

It's a great book. I haven't paddled the Churchhill River yet, but rivers closeby, and you still find the wilderness and the loneliness that Sig Olson describes. After reading this book and others by Sig Olson I just want to go out paddling and enjoy the wilderness.

I first obtained this book in my youth through the old Outdoor Life Book Club (which also introduced me to other classics such as John J. Rowlands' Cache Lake Country). I'm not sure I read The Lonely Land all the way through at that first encounter, but I recently rediscovered it when cleaning out a family home. I picked it up out of nostalgia, but I soon found that I couldn't put it down.

Apart from the inherent interest of its subject matter -- the majestic wilderness of central Canada's Churchill River drainage -- I was quickly taken by the immediacy of Olson's account. The wind, the waves, the thunder of approaching rapids all spill off the page in vivid detail, as do the detailed descriptions of each night's camp and its routines. As compelling is the exuberance of Olson and his five companions as they explore pristine lakes, shoot the Churchill's wild water, and find refuge time and again on the solid, reassuring outcrops of the Canadian Shield.

Finally, at each stage of the journey, Olson quotes from the journals of those who came before him, the "bourgeois" who led the brigades of voyageurs into the heart of the Lonely Land in search of furs. Men like Alexander MacKenzie, George Simpson, and David Thompson, who worked for the Hudson's bay Company or its competitors: the record of their observations informs Olson's account with vivid descriptions of the land as well as a sense both of how much and how little had changed over the one hundred and fifty years since they had last paddled, poled, and lined their way up the same great river system.

I know that Olson has many well-regarded books to his credit, but a new reader could do worse than enter this world of woods and water by way of The Lonely Land.

I read this book while in Antarctica, and I spent several storm days lost in Olson's vivid tale of an epic journey through the vast Canadian wilderness. His insight into the socio-historical condition of the indigenous peoples and French-Canadian missionaries and traders is unique. Also, I found the illustrations by Frances Lee Jacques to be immaculate line drawings worthy of admiration in their own right. "The Lonely Land" fueled the wanderlust and naturalist in me as much as any Ed Abbey or John Muir book.

I was looking on information on old canoe routes of the voyageurs and I came upon this book. It tells the experiences of Olson, a famous naturalist of the 50's and 60's, and 5 of his friends, as they paddle three wood and canvas canoes down 500 miles of the Churchhill River in Saskatchewan in 1960. Olson describes the setting and experience so completely, including diary entries of famous fur trappers who traveled the same route, that I have thought of nothing else but going to see the country he describes, the Canadian Shield of Northern Saskatchewan. It is a different place now than it was 40 years ago, less lonely I imagine, but still something I must do. I would recommend this book to anyone who longs to experience this land, North America, before it became overpopulated.

This is a marvelous book about three little puppies who need a home. Alas, one of the puppies in invisible; he just looks like nothing at all. When a nice boy and girl come to take the other puppies home, they can't see him and he gets left behind. He has to do a special magical project to get visible and get to go home with his brothers.

Cute story. Check.
Awesome Wanda Gag artwork. Check.
Really wholesome and matter-of-fact adoption talk. Check.

The book is not about adoption; it's about getting visible if you are invisible. Adoption happens and it is lovely.

Here is the bit I got all excited about.

"Don't cry, little pointy-eared dog," said the girl. "We won't hurt you. We'll adopt you both and give you milk to drink, and bones to nibble."

And the boy said, "Don't cry, little curley-eared dog. We'll be kind to you. We won't ever hit you or kick you, or pick you up by your neck or your tail, or with your legs dangling down."

When Pointy and Curly heard this, they knew they would be safe and happy, so they snuggled into the children's arms and went back to sleep.

Yes, there are some that dislike the word adoption used for animals. I puzzle over this because, at least at our house, adopting an animal is a forever relationship. But even folks whose language persnicketiness exceeds my own may appreciate this book, as it is a child's book and most children do indeed see their pets as furry siblings.

I very much appreciate that the book is not all about adoption - those books seem to force the point too much. I very much like that the children so thoroughly describe how safe the puppies will be, that the children are mindful that the puppies may be apprehensive about being adopted. I love that the book launches lots of talking points if we want to talk and tells a cute story if my children don't want to talk.

Wanda Gag (rhymes with blog) lived from 1893-1946; Nothing At All was a 1942 Caldecott Honor Book. She wrote and/or illustrated eleven books:

* A Child's Book of Folk-Lore, Mechanics of Written English; A Drill in the Use of Caps and Points through the Rimes of Mother Goose, 1917.
* Millions of Cats, Coward, McCann, 1928.
* The Funny Thing, Coward, McCann, 1929.
* Snippy and Snappy, Coward-McCann, 1931.
* Wanda Gag's Storybook (contains Millions of Cats, The Funny Thing, and Snippy and Snappy), Coward-McCann, 1932.
* The ABC Bunny, Coward-McCann, 1933.
* Gone Is Gone; or, The Story of a Man Who Wanted to Do Housework, Coward-McCann, 1935.
* Brothers Grimm, Tales from Grimm, Coward-McCann, 1936.
* Brothers Grimm, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Coward-McCann, 1938.
* Nothing at All, Coward-McCann, 1941.
* Brothers Grimm, Three Gay Tales from Grimm, Coward-McCann, 1943.
* Brothers Grimm, More Tales from Grimm, Coward-McCann, 1947.

You can learn more about her at Women Children's Book Illustrator site.

I bought this for my two and a half-year old granddaughter and it immediately became her favorite book. My daughter said they have read it every night ever since she received it. I highly recommend this and all of her other books. I bought it on the recommendation of others and they were not wrong!

This dear book about three homeless little dogs is clever and original. I agree that this is Gag's best book and I am delighted that another generation of children will get to know it. This new beautiful oversized edition is even more wonderful than the old(loved to tatters)one I already own. I have bought a copy for my little grandson and another one for my own collection.

This is Wanda Ga'g's best story - even better than Millions of Cats (which is wonderful.) A little dog wants to be less "nothingy" and more "somethingy". The pictures are soft and expressive and the text is equally so, and fun at the same time.

A most delightful book that I was fond of as a frequent visitor to the public library as a child. Was thrilled to find it available at Amazon 40 years later, and purchased a copy without hesitation. Precious illustrations and a sweet story ... I highly recommend it.

Wilson's was a remarkable presence in a town that that has never gotten over the loss of the high-pay meatpacking firm. Ms. Register wrote a fine and noteworthy account of a company town in rural America. My grandfather worked there for many years chasing cattle up a four-story ramp to the 'kill.' My father worked in the freezers after WWII and my uncle spent many years as a meatcutter. I worked there one summer as did many of my friends and it defined the baseline economics of the union town and it defined what drugery and workplace injuries were all about before we even knew the term carpal tunnel. Beyond working there I witnessed the impact of the strike in 1959. As a nine-year old I used to walk down the railroad tracks to the plant entrance and watch the rocks being thrown, cars being vandalized and anger controlled only by the National Guard. One of my friend's fathers crossed the picket line to work. He like other 'scabs' were labelled and treated as such for decades to come.

Ms. Register digs deeper into Albert Lea's labor past and unbeknownst to me identified an aunt as a striker at the local Woolworth's. The effort of the local union to interject itself into other businesses defined the patrons that businesses would have (another relative who refused to unionize his small retail business found himself boycotted) and the success or failure to follow.

I'm surprised this has not been picked up as a movie. Worth the read.

I don't much like memoirs. But Packinghouse Daughter, by Cheri Register, is not a typical memoir. It is enchanting, disturbing, and provocative. It should be read by a wide range of readers, including academics and other middle-class professionals who pride themselves on "siding with the working class." It shatters some of our illusions and our tendency to romanticize our identification with working-class people even as it encourages us to hold fast to our principles. The book should also be read by the countless working-class parents who worked hard to give their children the life they knew they could never have. Speaking for those children, this book says eloquently: we honor you, our parents, for your commitments and principles and will try to carry those into our very different worlds. As a bonus, the book's author tells her story so well, with a disarming openness about her conflicted emotions and with such humor and earthy but deep insight, that it will be accessible even to those who don't read much.

Register tells a story of growing up in the 1950s as the daughter of a longtime employee of the Wilson meatpacking plant in Albert Lea, Minnesota, not far from the more famous (and, in her account, more favored) Hormel plant in Austin. Coming-of-age memoirs now flood the market with stories that cater to our need for a revised Horatio Alger myth. In countless stories--many of them moving, important stories for our time--children grow up suffering from unspeakable poverty, abusive or otherwise dysfunctional families, or racism, but somehow survive and overcome those conditions to become not wealthy business moguls but their equivalent in our politically correct age: writers or academics who speak out against poverty, violence, and racism. Despite some similarities, this memoir is different. Register acknowledges gratefully that her parents provided an emotionally and economically secure environment for her, while educating her about her place in a world with more complicated class divisions than we see in most popular memoirs. It is, in part, her more subtle account of those divisions that makes her story so compelling.

Make no mistake about it: this is a one-sided story. Register's father is a loyal union man, and she is loyal to the union line, too, especially in telling the story of a particularly divisive labor dispute in 1959. But even when she makes it clear where she believes justice and unfairness lie, she complicates the story in ways that enrich our understanding rather than feed our prejudices.

I grew up in rural Ohio only slightly later than Register, the son of a small-town midwestern merchant in a solidly middle-class family with undoubtedly less disposable income than Register's. My father, like many of Albert Lea's merchants, resented the unions that secured better wages for the workers in the nearby General Motors plant than he thought he could afford to pay his loyal, hard-working employees--some of whom earned more than he did. That experience has always made me suspicious of class-based analyses of rural and small-town life. But Register's subtle class analysis of life in mid-century Albert Lea rings true even to my suspicious ears.

It also rings true because Register does not rely on memory alone. She consulted contemporary sources and interviewed a wide range of informants-balancing her interview with the union president by her interview and sympathetic portrayal of the plant manager, for example. Register knows what memories--hers and her informants--are good for. They convey the sentiment of the times. In that sense her account is sentimental in the best sense of that word. Her language is so vivid and her memories so fine-tuned that we feel we are walking the streets of Albert Lea with her, encountering mid-century sights and sounds that conjure up our own memories. But she knows enough not to trust memories when they become nostalgic, and she walks that fine line with a fine sense of balance.

Register also manages to succeed where many memoirists try but fail: though cast as a memoir, this book feels like it is more about the times than it is about her. Packinghouse Daughter is an eloquent and fitting tribute to the working-class lives of The Greatest Generation.

Even if you are not from the midwest or know nothing about the meat packing business this book will give you much to think about. Cheri has a way of bringing you into her experiences.

I first found out about this book in an article in the Rochester newspaper about the Minnesota Historical Society Press. Since then, I have purchased several of their books. *Packinghouse Daughter* won the American Book Award and the Minnesota Book Award for autobiography, and it deserved both prizes heartily! This book is full of interesting people, class struggle, a young woman coming of age, and old-fashioned Midwestern life. If you hate those whiney memoirs about bad childhoods then this is the perfect antidote.

I would also recommend Steven R. Hoffbeck's *The Haymakers,* which won the Minnesota Book Award for history, and Peter Razor's *While the Locust Slept,* which deserves to win every award out there--both from the Historical Society. These books, like Register's, are good stories concerned with how ordinary people get by and sometimes make an important impact on our culture. These heartfelt books should be read by Americans everywhere and should be the standard for all publishers to meet.

This book -- personal and warm -- is an extraordinary gift to kids of working-class parents. Cheri Register says things that I felt about my own dad and about my own home town, but that I was never able to say to him. She shows how what we do for a "living" is really central to shaping who we are in the bigger world. Thank you for this book!

Another great book from Kent Kruger. The Cork O'Conner decetive series is always like a continuation of the last one you have read, but with a new chapter. I highly recomend all of Kent Kruger's books.

We ordered these books on September 11th and received 4 of the 12 ordered today - it was like Christmas! I want to thank Amazon and your team of sellers for the prompt service and quality of books received. Please keep up the good work. We are very appreciative on our end! Again, thanks!

Cork O'Connor, former sheriff and now a private investigator, shines on the pages as always. Time is well spent with Cork O'Connor. There are the twists and turns, violence but not just for the sake of violence, family first values and the workings of a small town. I try to take my time reading my annual 'Cork' book but end up racing thru the pages. Always a winner !!

While there is not always harmony in rural Minnesota especially in Tamarack County between the Anglos and the Native Americans who reside on the Ojibwe Reservation, there is respect. Now there is a war coming ever since Alexander Kingbird formed the gang the Red Boyz, who affirm that Anglo law does not apply to them; rumors fly they are part of the illegal drug pipeline. Kristi Reinhardt died from a dose of Meth given to her by the Red Boyz whose name is Thunder. Buck Reinhardt want the leader of the Red Boyz gang dead as Kingbird defies the law hiding Thunder on the Rez.

Alexander asks part Ojibwe former sheriff and current private detective Cork O'Connor to arrange a meeting with Buck so that the Red Boyz leader can assure the grieving angry man that justice will be done. He fears that if he takes matters into his own hands, a heated race war will ignite. However, before that can occur Alexander and his wife Rayette are executed; almost immediately afterward Buck is killed in a drive by shooting. Tensions have boiled over between the two groups with Cork believing only the hidden Thunder is able to ease the rising conflict before an open war explodes.

The Cork O'Connor mysteries are consistently some of the best regional whodunits. Cork has switched from law enforcement to private detective work, but though at times he misses his former job not in this case; he is thankful that he is no longer a sheriff as he has to go outside the law to insure justice occurs and a deadly war prevented. The story line is told from various viewpoints so the reader obtains a deep understanding of the Ojibwe need for the youth to know and cherish their heritage while many of the Anglo sees that as ironically an internal form of immigration. William Kent Kreuger is at his best with this strong thriller as his hero struggles to stop a lethal range war that will only harm everyone.

Harriet Klausner

Ahoy Kent
I signed up on Amazon to get Red Knife in hard cover when it became available. This is a nice arrangement. I got the hard cover at a good price (for a hard cover), and they got a chance to take orders instead of guessing on the volume.

The book came just before my birthday, so I think of it as a present. In my opinion this was your best book yet, better than Thunder Bay in almost every way. Thunder Bay was good, Red Knife was better. I think with Red Knife you have moved into the league of Follett and Hillerman who are my other favorite authors. They are still ahead because they have been writing good books longer, but with Red Knife you are moving up. It is as good as much of their best.

Reader to Author:
I found a lot of very thoughtful stuff in Red Knife. The themes of father and son, and how we should deal with truly violent and evil people were well thought out and examined with care. The style of turning the piece slowly for the reader to see more than one side of it is much better than structuring the situation and then dictating the solution. I appreciate the thought that goes into that kind of presentation.

Knit picker to Author:
This book was a lot tighter and better edited than the others. That keeps the "plausibility level" high, which makes for a higher grade fiction experience.

Two things snapped me out of my listener's trance. The first was the way they drank scotch in the Ripsaw bar. I'm not an elitist snob, but a lot of the "nectar of the gods" has passed my lips. I've never been tempted, nor seen anyone else tempted to down scotch out of a shot glass. Good scotch, (I've never encountered bad scotch) can be drunk neat, but it would be a rare thing indeed to see it tossed down out of a shot glass as if it were sour mash whisky or even rye chasing a beer. It might be worth asking a good bartender.

When Lucinda pulled a social security number off of a marine dog tag something went clang. At the next break I went upstairs and took a look at my own dog tags and found name, blood type, religion, and a service number but no social security number. It turns out however that my dog tags and the man who wore them are a bit dated. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dog_tag_(identifier) shows that a modern dog tag has a social security number but no service number. Score one for you and your editors for doing good research. So maybe even an A+ from the knit picker.

Recovering liberal to liberal:
I thought the themes that were associated with dealing with violence were very well thought out and laid down. The drug gang, the wife who murders her unfaithful husband, the potential for violence between groups of, Indians, whites, and the Indian boys gang and finally, the screwed up kid who slaughters his class mates were all thoughtfully constructed and I must say that they were treated fairly; this coming from a conservative reader speaking to a liberal writer. Your conclusions may have been a bit different than mine, but the treatment was fair.

In the last scene where Cork gives his guns to Henry, we split tacks, but even so I share Cork's wish that there be another recourse. The problem is that there probably is not.

Within the liberal liturgy moral relativity may be applied to each of the violent persons and groups in the plot, and insofar as it helps us to understand them it is useful. Taken in full measure however, moral relativity deprives us of the ethics that help us sort through these things. Logic without ethics is a sterile and wandering form offering little of value, and no motive to act. By depriving us of ethics, moral relativity becomes the entropy of philosophy, making everything into a dull cold mush.

If we are not much inclined to violence ourselves must we still redress violence with more violence when we encounter it? I think it probably comes down to that in the end.

I fear that when Cork gave his guns to Henry it was a metaphor for collecting up all the guns in the world to prevent further evil. For a variety of reasons that won't work. Don't turn in your guns Cork. Be careful not to confuse a workman with his tools.

Reader to author:
All in all sir, a very fine book that was thoughtfully structured, and a tale well told. Thanks. It was a great birthday present.


Jerry

Prof. Finkelstein gives us a crucial perspective on the effects both of the Israeli Occupation and of the Oslo accords on the people of the West Bank. Finkelstein's book is helped immeasurably by his excellent writing style; clear, concise and easy to read, this book will be attainable and required reading for laypeople and Mideast scholars alike. Rather than focus on the actions of politicians and self-aggrandizing "leaders", Finkelstein instead gives us a view of the Palestinian PEOPLE. We meet a wide array of folks in Finkelstein's book and we emerge, necessarily from the experience far more understanding of who these people are than when we started. Perhaps most important of all is that Finkelstein never lets us forget that he himself is a Jew. He therefore lets everyone know that to be Jewish is NOT to be Zionist and it is most certainly not to be necessarily supportive of the actions of the Israeli government. There are many books that amply chronicle Israeli brutality and the crimes of the Zionist regime (another by Finkelstein that I highly recommend among them, called "Image and Reality of the Israel palestine Conflict) but I can think of no book more important to the understanding of the dilemma of the Palestinian people and to open the door for Jewish opposition to Israel than this one

a brutally honest account of the palestinian intifada experience as written by a jewish american. exposes fallacies in the representation of the case as well as in foreign policy. very necessary in understanding the israel-palestine conflict

This book provides a welcome dissent from typical American Jewish political views, and provides refreshing objectivity towards the Arab/Israeli conflict. Finkelstein portrays West Bank Palestinians before and during the Gulf War: the effects of thirty years of brutal repression on these people, their lives, hope and aspirations--and why they might have cheered Saddam's scud missiles. One chapter is dedicated to Finkelstien's methodical summary of American foriegn policy toward Israel on one hand, and Iraq on the other--Finkelstein refrains from judging either of these two countries during his comparison--and the result demonstrates an undeniable double standard in the application of international law. There is much evidence--much of it taken from declassified Israeli documents--that suggests Israel's 1982 invasion of Lebanon was entirely an offensive operation, the sole purpose of which was to avoid having to come to political terms with the PLO, and Finkelstein touches on this as well. Overall, an excellent, insightful book well worth reading.

Finkelstein's book is that rare gem of a monumental work housed within a slim volume. What makes his ideas so astonishing, in addition to their being meticulously researched and footnoted, is that his parents were survivors of the Nazi holocaust. Based on encounters with Elie Wiesel and the like, one would not expect a Jew of this background to have such a profound understanding of the Palestinian people and of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

This book is a must-read in that it convincingly defies, with powerfully sculpted arguments and towering research, the tired and frequently hypocritical views of the New York Times and other news authorities.

Finkelstein will convince you.

As a Jewish woman living in the U.S. it was difficult for me to hear but one side of the story in the Israeli-Arab conflict. That side was the Zionist perspective. It wasn't until I spent time in Israel (ironic as this is) that I began to understand the fallacies in the arguments I grew up hearing. I read this book after picking it up at a friend's house, and now I'm feeling brave enough to buy a copy of my own. That courage comes from Finkelstein. I feel like I'm in good company. There ARE other Jews who can see and dare to shed some light on the OTHER SIDE--the Palestinian viewpoint. Finkelstein presents us with the Palestinian perspective in the context of the Israel-Arab conflict with such integrity and simplicity. As descendents of a terribly oppressed group of people, I whole-heartedly support all efforts to stop dehumanizing the "enemy." Finkelstien shows us the humanness of Palestinians.

With spare and elegant prose, Loretta Ellsworth tells the story of Evie, who lives in southeastern Minnesota in the mid-1800s. The daughter of a Scotswoman and a German farmer, Evie is by turns kind and ferocious, learning to deal with the death of her mother and the care of a loving aunt she has never met before. There are real characters in this book, painted keenly. Aunt Flo, who comes to live with Evie and Mae and their papa, her brother, is a shrouding woman. I confess to being reluctant to read this book because of Aunt Flo's work with death and funerals. Now I'm sorry that I waited so long. What did people do to care for their dead in a time before undertakers and mortuaries? With gentle explanation and intriguing description, this book is a look at this unusual aspect of history, woven deftly into a richly textured story.

It was great. I loved this book and I think everyone should read it.

This book deals with death on many levels. First, the main character of the story loses her mother which results in her aunt(The Shrouding Woman) to come and live with the family. Real struggles faced by people surface through the lives of these characters.

Not having known what shrouding was, I learned quite a bit about the ancestors of today's funeral home staff. These ladies would prepare the dead for a proper burial.

The book is tasteful in how they depict death. This book is neither scary, nor gross. The respect for human life is obvious. The book is a great peice of historical fiction that sheds light on lesser spoken of aspects of our history.

The Shrouding Woman does a beautiful job of depicting a child's internal conflict when an unwanted strong adult turns up in her life. Evie resists her Aunt Flo at every turn, but Flo, the shrouding woman, is consistent, fair and solid. Ellsworth gets to the heart of a kid's struggle to reach out and accept what is good in her life--even if it isn't what she originally wanted. This is a good read, with a backdrop of lovely detail about life on the prairie, and some great interesting stuff about "laying out the dead."

. . . and this first novel by Loretta Ellsworth elaborates on this theme. It is an unusual novel to discover among books for juveniles but valuable. Life on the prairies in post-Civil War Minnesota comes alive with the everyday-ness of hard times offset by pleasures such as rural celebrations, and growing flowers.

Evie is eleven when her mother dies and Flo, her father's sister, comes to help. While caring for Mae and Evie, Aunt Flo continues to follow her 'calling' as a shrouding woman, one who prepares the dead for burial. Evie, still overwhelmed by mourning for her mother, is somewhat 'put off' by this mysterious practice. The book's theme is presented skillfully and the young girls are shown realistically as often willful and mischievous.

One dictionary definition of "shroud" is to "screen from view" but thankfully this author opens our eyes instead to a part of the lives of early settlers most readers have not known about. Emily Dickinson's words used as preface capture perfectly the poignancy of loss. And her words define shrouding as "the solemnest of industries."

The cover art is outstanding as are the chapter drawings, also by Gabi Swiatkowska. (Thank you!) Smile with reviewer mcHaiku at the notation citing the choice of "The Shrouding Woman" as an ALA Amelia Bloomer Feminist Book for Youth! This also points to the fact that books need to be more widely shared through LINKAGE - to other readership: Juv, YA, and Adult.

Post Script: Readers will find a very different pleasure in Loretta Ellsworth's second novel "Search for Mockingbird" - that propels the reader forward a century plus. These are stories from different eras yet each making a significant impact . . . mcHAIKU hopes you read both.

Jimmy Olson's "Things in Ditches" brings to life a small town cast of everyday folks as they deal with a situation that goes from bad to worse (and that includes the weather). It is fast and funny and as bitingly real as the Minnesota winter. I loved it.
Tony Canzoneri, author of Cold Trail

THINGS IN DITCHES starts with the murder of Vicky Johnson, her body discovered by Walleye Wertz, a mentally-challenged man out collecting cans and other valuables jettisoned by passing cars. Jimmy Olsen turns the traditional mystery on its head in that we know who killed Vicky at the beginning. The setting of the novel is Willow River, Minnesota, and the supposed killer is the local butcher, Dutch Cleland. He's such a nice guy that we can't believe he choked Vicky to death. But Cleland admits that he did it. At first he thinks about killing himself, but rejects the idea. He doesn't want to traumatize his wife, Jean, any more than she's already been by his long past affair with Vicky. He decides to head north to his cabin instead. Oh yeah, there's a snow storm coming.
The novel includes about the best description of a snowstorm I've read. Cars are submerged by snowplows; there's a whiteout; the temperature plummets below zero after the snow; there's a brutal windchill. And some of the characters actually like it that way.
Olsen also does a bang-up job with characterization. My favorite is the town Chief of Police, Charlie Benson, who gets less respect than Rodney Dangerfield. Charlie and his dispatcher, Marlene, have a kind of school marm, remedial student relationship. Charlie usually does what she tells him to do.
There are a few things that bother me about the book. The constant interruptions in the storyline are annoying. Olsen decides he better introduce us to Vicky. He takes us on a scuba diving vacation in Honduras. This flashback goes on and on and on. Meanwhile we're wondering what's happening with Dutch and Vicky's two ex-husbands, one of them a homicidal maniac, who are after him. Several chapters later Olson flashes back again, this time to show us why Dutch and Vicky broke up. Instead we're wondering what he saw in her in the first place. Later on he interrupts the story yet again, from the perspective of a timberwolf, right in the middle of a shootout. The wolf scene makes sense later, but I think it's really there to show off Olson's descriptive flair.
That said, the merits far outweigh the drawbacks. I think the selling point in any novel is whether or not you'd recommend it to a friend. I'd have to say I certainly would. And I love that title!

Want to feel the chill of a Minnesota blizzard without leaving your cozy abode? Want to see what Midwestern characters do when their quiet lives suddenly become mixed up and out of control? Want plot twists that make it impossible to guess the end?

Then read Things in Ditches as soon as you possibly can.

Jimmy Olsen's debut boasts quality story telling in a tone that is decidely northwoods. And you'll read the last page eager to get your hands on anything and everything this talented writer has to offer.

Dutch, Charlie the cop and Walleye will stick in your mind and make you want to visit Willow River to see how the town survived Minnesota-style murder and mayhem.

There are a lot of very interesting things in ditches around the fictitious town of Willow River, Minnesota ("90 miles from St. Cloud.") In this debut "murder mystery novel," Jimmy Olsen takes the reader on a wild, cleverly plotted, tour and introduces us to wonderfully quirky characters along the way.

Here are some jewels: After an early season blizzard, the Town Deputy reports in: "Guy from Iowa out on 11 last night. Heading to Fargo. Slides off the road, sits in his car until it runs out of gas, then starts walking. After God only knows how long, he ends up in the middle of Buttonbox Lake. Thinks he's a goner out on the ice when he spots Duane Jorgenson's fishhouse. Breaks in and gets the stove going. Nothing else to do so he opens the hole and hauls in six crappies. Strolls up to Milly's this morning big as you please, knocks on the door and wants to know if he cleans the fish will she make him breakfast. When she called they were playing Double solitaire. He needs a lift. Suppose they ate the fish." To which the Chief of Police replies: "Hope not. They're evidence. Iowa guys aren't licensed to fish in Minnesota."

Or here's an Okie trying stealth-driving through the snowdrifts with a Minneapolis yuppie: "' We can chance the truck awhile longer, but don't bang against anything or start yodeling,' Murdock warned. He believed yodeling and consumption of rhubarb endemic to northerners."

My favorite character is the power and symbolism of the timberwolf.
P.S. I hate rhubarb - but I really enjoyed this book!

Perhaps it is the convincingly claustrophobic vision of Minnesota in the winter. Maybe, it has to do with the unselfconsciously quirky characters and their convincingly drawn eccentric reasoning and personalities.

Also, it does not hurt to find a mistery plot as unconcerned about mysteries in the conventional sense as this. In this novel the true mistery lies in trying to follow the minds of its protagonists.

So why is it that the movie "Fargo" keeps insinuating itself as this book grabs a hold of this reader (and I mean that as a supreme praise!)? I read many novels in the hopes of occassionally finding one as terrific as this author's debut work. A truly rewarding read!

A marvelous book, extremely well written with accurate detail and and hundreds of wonderful street scene photos on virtually every page. Book is worth twice the price.

Fascinating book for a boy who lived in St.Paul from 1928 until 1951. Great pictures,maps and text. A real joy.

What a great book!! John Diers and Aaron Isaacs have given transit fans and Twin Cities historians an in depth look into the horsecar, cablecar, and streetcar era in our towns. I knew that there were horsecars in the Twin Cities, but did not know about the cablecars. In 1953 and 1954, my aunt took my on several streetcars routes prior to their abandonment. About 1960, I joined the Minnesota Transportation Museum and helped restore the TCRT 1300--the car that runs in Linden Hills. Both Mr. Diers and Mr. Isaacs are involved with that streetcar museum. My goal this summer is to have both authors autograph my book.

I wish they would have had a short chapter on the Hiawatha Light Rail line to complete rail transit history for the Twin Cities.

As information, Aaron Isaacs late father (George) was very instrumental in getting the Hiawatha Light Rail line for the Minneapolis area.

Ed Burns of Anoka

This is a wonderful book. The pictures are amazing. We actually found a picture of my husband's Grandfather, George, that worked on the Lake Steet line.

Unlike many streetcar histories that assume that the reader already has a familiarity with at least the geography or operation of the traction company being presented, the authors of this book combine a creative layout and numerous maps with a discussion of all aspects of Minneapolis/St. Paul streetcar operations that can be easily grasped by non-Twin Citians. The maps are the best that I have ever seen, especially the individual route maps that show each street along with dates of the start and end of service on each segment. The book has a rich, "coffee-table" appearance that invites picking it up for frequent browsing, and the nicely reproduced black and white photographs and well-written text amply reward the effort.

I so love Teresa McClain-Watson's writing, I've read all of her books including Plenty Good Room. I first read "Surviving Mr. Right" and enjoyed it so much (such wit and humor) that I immediately looked for another by her. When I found "Loose Lips", I was at first skeptical because reading the summary, it didn't sound that interesting but LORD was I wrong!! Thankfully. Of all of her characters, Ben and Josie had me the most enthralled! I absolutely love them. Ben is beyond sexy and Josie just pure cracks me up. But I can identify with her too. The conflict between the two (personality, age, interests, etc.) makes for thrilling reading and I couldn't put the book down. I've read both "Loose Lips" and "What We Did For Love" at least five times over already and I'll continue to do so. I never get tired of Ben and Josie. Please Mrs. Watson, bring on some more. We readers need it!

Oh My Goodness. I must say, when I picked this book up at the store I only bought it because it was the sequel to "Loose Lips". Now that I have read it, I WANT ANOTHER SEQUEL. I am so estatic to have read a book, gotten to the last page and I want to read more! The relationship between Ben & Josie is so turbulent, yet and still they are unable to give up because they are so in love with each other. They both grow a lot in this book and I want to continue to experience their growth as a couple. I want to know how the Vegas episode goes (I don't want to give the book away), I want to know how life continues for these two people. I want to know how Ben & Josie grow together. I want to know how Ben handles himself now that Josie has developed into the woman he knew she could, & the woman he wanted to see & he now has the desperate need, desire & love for her that she once openly expressed for him. I want to see Josie strong, driven, purposeful & confident in herself & their relationship. I want to hear more about Scotty & see their comraderie again. I want to see Ben smile more often & experience life as he never knew he could now that he has the woman he doesn't want to live without.

This is the best sequel ever!! It doesn't overshadow its predecessor but instead compliments it perfectly. If you want to lose yourself in a book, get sad, get angry, get happy & experience written suspence, then read this book. If you don't want to enjoy those things..read it anyway. I promise you will not be dissapointed.

This followup book will keep you wanting more!! I totally enjoyed Loose Lips and actually loved What We Did even more. Josie is growing up and it was fullfilling to see the tables turned with a jealous Ben. I am actually reading this book again now that Josie and I have finally understood the depth of Ben's love. Some slight continuation errors but overall, just Awesome!! To the Author: Please let there be another book, this story is NOT finished, not by a long shot!!

I am totally addicted to these two people in these books. I have read each of them back to back for as long as I have had these books..please, please, please write a sequel so that I can know what happened to Ben & Josie. I want to follow them to the end of thier lives.

I am a prolific reader and will not waste my time or energy on a book if it isn't good. My thought process is that life's too short and there are too many other good books to waste my time on just one. I hated for this book to end. This book touched my heart as few have when dealing with love. You felt Josie's love....kind of made me want myself a Ben. He's the strong, silient type. Won't pass this book on to others as I have with other books. I'm keeping this one to read again...I NEVER DO THAT!