Next North Dakota Reads book

Do you want to learn more about the deep connections between past and present generations in Sioux belief and culture? Read The Grass Dancer by Susan Power, the next North Dakota Reads title. Books are available at Stoxen Library. The book discussion is Thursday, April 17.

The author won the Ernest Hemingway Foundation Award for first fiction, 1995, for The Grass Dancer. The book conveys the stories of people on a Sioux reservation whose lives intersect and intertwine, briefly, or over a lifetime, and how their relationships affect one another. The reader meets them much as one does in real life, starting with the present and working backwards. The story unravels the mystery of why the characters behave the way they do. Each chapter is told from the perspective of one character and charts the incidents which develop his or her personality.

The characters are complex and often troubled; they struggle with the magic that swirls around them. Power hits on many aspects of an Indian's life: the gap between Indian and white culture, the problems that arise out of dual heritage, disease, spirits, magic, ancestral powers, religion, and love.

This is a book that can be read at different levels. The first read can be confusing, but a second reading reveals the depth of the work. Through her story, Powers weaves the past, present and future into the present.

Using Wikipedia to reenvision the term paper!

I have just viewed a PowerPoint presentation by two instructors who required their students to write their term papers using Wikipedia. The presentation is titled "Using Wikipedia to Reenvision the Term Paper" and has some interesting insights about what was right and what went wrong with this approach. I only viewed the PowerPoint, but the audio/video is also available. An interesting approach to say the least! The abstract states "publishing for a large audience provided authentic feedback and encouraged students to do their best work."

Stoxen Library Easter Recess Hours

Easter Recess Hours

Thursday, March 20 – 8a.m. – 4:30p.m.

Friday, Saturday,

& Sunday – March 21, 22, 23 CLOSED

Monday, March 24 – 8a.m. – 11p.m.

Regular Hours

Monday-Thursday 8a.m. – 11 p.m.

Friday 8 a.m. – 4:30 p.m.

Sunday 4 p.m. – 11 p.m.

North Dakota Reads tonight!

Please join us tonight (March 13th) at 7:00 p.m. in Klinefelter 107 as Stoxen Library and the North Dakota Humanities Council sponsor a North Dakota Reads Book Discussion. We will be talking about Lois Phillips Hudson ( a North Dakota born author) and her award winning book the Bones of Plenty. Originally published to critical acclaim, the Bones of Plenty is a powerful and absorbing novel about a proud, independent North Dakota wheat-farming family and its struggles during the depression years of 1933 and 1934. Our facilitator is Maureen Scott a lecturer in the English Department at North Dakota State University.

The Bones of Plenty

For our next ND Reads program we will be discussing The Bones of Plenty by Lois Phillips Hudson. Lois Hudson was born and spent her early years in Jamestown, ND. The Bones of Plenty was her first novel and it won the first prize from the Friends of American Writers.

The Bones of Plenty has been described as taking a “brutally accurate” look at the hardships of farm life during the depression. The story is placed near Eureka, North Dakota during 1933-1934. It depicts drought, landlords and bank failures along with the many other daily struggles of farm life. Written as a series of episodes almost like a journal, the book leaves you with a vivid impression of the day to day life experience of the Custer family. Pick up this wonderful book and finish with a greater understanding of the depression years and feeling that you lived for a short while on that farm.

New books and more

Remember to check the New Library Purchases page for a complete listing by month of all new materials added to the library collections. The list for Feb. 2008 has just been posted.