South Dakota Books

These four very different and very wonderful short stories are about lives that, by today's standards, are simpler yet certainly more difficult. The rich detail will be nostalgic to some and fascinating to others. In whatever way you relate to these stories, you will be drawn in by the author's captivating narratives. These are not "the good old days" kinds of stories. I don't want to reveal too much, but none of them are at all what I expected. Bill's imagination and his insight will leave you breathless and thoughtful.

The promise of Dakota Incarnate lies in its beautiful cover. The four fast-moving, fascinating stories present a kaleidoscope of life in the early days of Dakota. Rosebud Requiem tells of a lonely homesteader seeking a mail-order bride; David's Drummer acquaints us with a young Hutterite wife living in the Gadsden Colony who awaits word of her critically ill soldier husband; The Essay Contest introduces us to eleven year old Jackie and tells of his observa- tions of life in small town Nunda as he strives to write a winning essay; Dakota Reincarnation startles us when a thirty-eight year old grandfather meets his sixty-nine year old grandson in an airport in Washington, D.C. My expectations of this book were more than fulfilled. Sometimes, you CAN tell a book by its cover!

Reading this book I was completely sucked into a world that...A. I never knew existed, and B. If I knew about I probably would never have given a second thought.

Magnuson did an amazing job tying together the events of the 19th and 20th centuries...and a really great job keeping me from confusing the dozens and dozens of major players in the book.

He tells a series of hot-button stories in a way that manages to be fair to the facts, people and groups involved while at the same time keeping the reader's interest. More than a few times I kept reading just to see how one story would end up, or what would happen to one of the individuals involved.

Stew Magnuson, through investigative reporting unearths new facts and shines light on a dark and shameful period of history. He works hard to identify and treat fairly the multiple perspectives on the death of Mr. Yellow Thunder, the trial, and later the famous Native American occupation of the Wounded Knee battle ground. He describes the events which began in 1972 and interviews the participants' some 35 years later. By writing in narrative, non-fiction style, much like a novel or short story, he has made a captivating read out of complex material. I was surprised when I couldn't put the book down once I started, finishing 320 pages in a weekend. RH

I saw SUE in Chicago last week. In this book I learned that SUE was named after Susan who found the fossils. Susan had a dog named Gypsy. They kept on digging up duck-billed dinosaurs. Sue's boned weighed 4 tons!! The Field Museum bought it for over eight million dollars! SUE is a T.rex. I think that SUE did fight with other dinosaurs. SUE is 67 million years old! I was happy to see SUE in Chicago and to read this book!

Dinosaurs are a hot topic right now...and A Dinosaur Named Sue: The Find of the Century really teaches young kids about the job of a paleontologist--in a positive light. SUE, the most complete T. rex fossil ever found, is an amazing discovery, both educationally AND on basis of interest, and children should definitely read all they can about this dinosaur. This book approaches SUE on the level of a 3rd grader, yet the language and subject matter are intelligient enough for a parent to find interesting--maybe even to learn from! I definitely did!

The Mom's Choice Awards® honors excellence in family-friendly media, products and services. An esteemed panel of judges includes education, media and other experts as well as parents, children, librarians, performing artists, producers, medical and business professionals, authors, scientists and others. A sampling of the panel members includes: Dr. Twila C. Liggett, Ten-time Emmy-winner, professor and founder of Reading Rainbow; Julie Aigner-Clark, Creator of Baby Einstein and The Safe Side Project; Jodee Blanco, New York Times Best-Selling Author; LeAnn Thieman, Motivational speaker and coauthor of seven Chicken Soup For The Soul books; Florrie Binford-Kichler, Founder of Patria Press, Inc.- an award-winning independent publisher and Member of The Children's Book Council; Tara Paterson, Certified Parent Coach, and founder of The Just For Mom Foundation(tm) and the Mom's Choice Awards®. Parents and educators look for the Mom's Choice Awards® seal in selecting quality materials and products for children and families. This book has been honored by this distinguished award.

A short fairy tale written by L. Frank Baum, best known for his children's classic "The Wizard of Oz", The Discontented Gopher is the story of Zikky the Gopher, who amazingly wins a fantastic golden ball and with it a difficult choice - riches or happiness? Daring to choose riches, he travels through a dangerous world, and achieves the wealth he sought, but at a cost. By the time he returns home, injured and saddened, he has learned that contentment and happiness are more important than wealth and things, but he cannot bring himself to see his mother or play with other gophers again. A tragic parable, skillfully illustrated by "Cricket" magazine staff artist Carolyn Digby Conahan, The Discontented Gopher is a text-heavy story especially recommended for young readers who are ready to start reading chapter books. A word list at the end offers definitions for words such as "effaced" and "vainglory" that might be unfamiliar to young readers. Highly recommended.

For anyone who wishes to understand the process of news gathering, this book is the best available. I use it in all my international news classes at Scripps School of Journalism. Rosenblum extracts from his lifetime of journalism a clear, logical and comprehensive explanation of how the story you read got there, and what influences affected its selection and presentation at every stage of the process. It's also a fascinating and exciting read, by one of the world's most prolific and professional journalists. He introduces you to individual correspondents, both as individuals and as types. He explains how geography, economics and sheer prejudice can determine what you learn about the world. He tells great bar stories -- the kind of thing journalists tell each other over a beer. And he does it all with skill and style. Worth reading by anyone -- a must for anyone interested in news.

A great book. Even though it focuses primarily on american media, it's lesson can be applied in all parts of the world: We need to start making demands on the media, instead of letting it dictate what we need to know. An eye-opener.

Very good up to WWII. Past then was by a different author and a bit weak.

Dr. Schell has a supreme flare for writing that will capture the interests of the avid historian as well as the casual reader with interests surrounding the establishment of this great midwest territory.

The Missionary Position is smarter and funnier then Funeral Food. The folks at Avon cut all the laugh out loud adult humor, and Funeral Food is a blander version. Taylor's voice is more original and interesting in this book where she is not being edited by the PC police.

If you simply want to read all of the Tory Bauer mysteries and are not a serious collector, read the readily available "Funeral Food" which is the same story, renamed and published for mass market by Avon.

Next Year Country tells about country life on the western prairies in South Dakota in the 1930's. Blizzards, prairie fires, one room school houses are brought to vivid life.

This book is a great read for anyone interested in the west. I strongly recommend it.

This book is an outstanding example of life in the west. The stories make the characters come alive, and makes you wish you had been there.

This book was an outstanding tool in researching the Indians of Crow Creek Reservation. I am doing research on a friend's family and was astounded at what I did NOT know about Indian history.

this book is very richly documented. really interresting pictures and the nice thing is all the titles are translated from lakota. nice idea!

This was a Christmas Present to my boyfriend's parents, who grew up in this city. The 2 best things about this book is the accuracy and that her sister was in 1 of the pictures!

A city's history is largely known through its buildings, and this is a fantastic little book of archival pictures of Sioux Falls buildings and the stories behind them.

Did you know that the Davenport Evans building was one of the first hospitals in Sioux Falls? Did you know that the eagle statue on the corner of Ninth and Phillips used to sit atop the old First National Bank building on that block?

There's a chapter for each major type of structure: schools, churches, government buildings, etc. Each chapter has a short introduction, followed by page after page of historic pictures, each with a short paragraph of description.

The book isn't burdened by pages and pages of text. Each chapter took me about 10 minutes of pleasant browsing and page flipping.

Dr. Odland has done a fantastic job of capturing the architectural and structural history of this city in pictures. This book has been the source of at least a dozen, "I had no idea..." moments for me, followed by field trips to find the buildings in the pictures.