Library Notes—Betty Moore—August 2009 New Western Fiction

Westerns are a classic fiction genre, representing American values of hard work and standing

up for one’s beliefs. Traditionally, they have been set west of the Mississippi River in the 1800s, with

good and evil facing off against the backdrop of the barely settled and often lawless frontier. This was a

place where a person, usually a man, could reinvent himself by overcoming hardship. The landscape was

almost a character as well. Traditional westerns fiction often featured stereotypical portraits of Native

Americans, Latinos, and women, and problems were often solved with force rather than reason.
While fewer traditional western books are published these days, books set in the West today

with western themes and landscapes have spread over into other genres, notably mysteries and thrillers.
A good example of this is “Dark Horse,” the latest book in Craig Johnson’s series about Sheriff Walt

Longmire, a Vietnam vet now dealing with social justice in a rugged sparsely populated area of

Wyoming. Walt doubts Mary 's confession that she shot her husband, Wade, after Wade allegedly

burned down their barn with all Mary's horses inside. Johnson’s previous book, “Another Man’s

Moccasins,” won a 2009 Spur Award in June from the Western Writer’s Association for best western

novel.
The WWA also awarded Elmore Leonard the 2009 Owen Wister Award for lifetime contributions to the

literature of the West. Although better known today for crime writing, he has written many westerns, such

as “3:10 to Yuma” and “Hombre.” Their website (www.westernwriters.org) features their newsletter,

“Roundup,” and other items of interest, such as “Best Western” lists of fiction, nonfiction, films, and TV

shows.
“Brimstone” is Robert B. Parker’s third western adventure featuring Everett Hitch and Virgil

Cole. Here they track down Virgil's sweetheart Allie and the three head north to start over in the town of

Brimstone, where they secure positions as the town's deputies. They struggle to keep the peace as a

local church leader stirs up trouble at local saloons.
Richard S. Wheeler has written more than sixty westerns and holds five Spur Awards plus the

Owen Wister Award for his work. “North Star,” his latest entry in the Barnaby Skye series, takes Skye

and his younger Indian wife on a search for his half-blood son North Star. After more than 50 years of

trapping and hunting, fighting Indians and living outdoors, Skye is old, in pain and losing his eyesight, but

is still crafty and wise.
C. J. Box writes modern Western thrillers about Wyoming game warden Joe Pickett. In his

latest book, “Below Zero,” his daughter seems to be held hostage by a deranged ecoterrorist. He dives

into the middle of a topical environmental issue, putting his and his girls' lives on the line. A “Library

Journal” reviewer calls Box's series “the gold standard in the western mystery subgenre.”
A number of writers of religious fiction also set their stories in Western times and places. Lori

Copeland’s latest, “Outlaw’s Bride,” blends classic Western romance with religious themes. While being

“rehabilitated” for a crime he didn’t commit, Johnny schemes to be released early so he can kill the man

who wiped out his family. But then he meets beautiful and kind Ragan.
A delightful companion book at RPL is “The Writer’s Guide to Everyday Life in the Wild West”

by Candy Moulton. Readers as well as writers will enjoy this book, with its extensive research into daily

life of those days, plus a reading list, and glossary of western slang.
RPL also carries books by many writers of traditional Westerns, such as Zane Grey, Louis

L’Amour, Elmer Kelton, Tabor Evans, J. R. Roberts, Ralph Cotton, and William Johnstone.

Games Lead to Literacy
Erika Kosin

When Libraries talk about literacy, they usually refer to the ability to read or to “information literacy” which is the ability to find, interpret, and use information. The Random House Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary, Second Edition defines “Literacy” as “the quality or state of being literate especially the ability to read and write; Possession of education; Persons knowledge of a particular subject or field.” In order to be “literate” in any discipline, one must start with the basics, for example, one must learn to count before s/he can add and one must learn the alphabet before s/he can read.

There are many ways to promote literacy skills in children, not just teaching the ability to read and write, but to also teaching children colors and counting. Libraries try to provide the basic skills of information literacy to children of all ages through various programs and events. Some libraries across the country are even offering programs that include board games or video game programs for children and especially for teens. People may not have realized that when they played board games as a child, they were learning and reinforcing the basic skills necessary for literacy. They were learning to recognize numbers and add by rolling the dice. They were learning how to manage money and develop the art of reasoning and negotiation while playing Monopoly. Knowledge of colors and numbers were being reinforced by playing games like Chutes and Ladders or Candy Land. Board games also allow children to socially interact with other children or members of their own family in a fun productive way.

Games like Risk helped teach basic military strategies while reinforcing knowledge of geography. Chess and checkers help children develop the ability to think and try to anticipate their opponent’s thoughts. Many adults can find the benefits of playing some of these board games with children in the beginning stages learning, but how do these games compare to their computer counterparts? What can the benefit be to playing video games such as guitar hero or final fantasy? Well some of these games contain a lot of reading. One has to follow the instructions and interpret the clues if they want to advance to the next level and some kids even go as far as to locate books with cheat codes so that they can advance to further aspects of the game quicker. Games like guitar hero and Rock Band help develop hand eye coordination as it reinforces colors, counting and rhythms, all skills needed for the basics of literacy in many fields and disciplines.

While games do provide benefits for children in developing their literacy skills, moderation is always a good rule of thumb. Too much of anything could be detrimental but a healthy balance of board games, video games, reading and outdoor play can help develop well rounded children who are on their way to becoming a part of a literate society. It also provides an opportunity for families and friends to spend some quality time together.

Rebecca Hyde


What are things made of? The following books offer voyages of discovery to what we tread on, move through, cannot see, or even hardly imagine. These are “stories of the invisible” and “big consequences of little things.”

Philip Ball’s “Stories of the Invisible: A Guided Tour of Molecules” provides an overview of modern chemical science and molecular biology in particular. The molecule takes center stage because in the submicroscopic world, molecules are the “words” and atoms are just the “letters.” In living organisms, they are indeed wonderful “storytellers.” When describing molecular activity within the cell, that “molecule-maker,” Ball points out astonishing levels of cooperation and communication, with checkpoints, safety mechanisms, back-up plans, careful record-keeping. In 1994, it was suggested that DNA molecules could be used to solve the same problems as computers. In the near future perhaps nano-computers will take the place of silicon-based computers.

Hannah Holmes introduces us to the study of dust in “The Secret Life of Dust: From the Cosmos to the Kitchen Counter, the Big Consequences of Little Things.” This is a fragmenting world, in a constant state of disintegration, so studying some of the planet’s “smallest reporters” can give us a sense of the state of things. Dust is indispensable, but it’s also murderous. We employ dust for planting crops, for building, and for making pottery. On the dark side, pollution dusts can kill. Dust is at the origin of stars, and dust is in our future.

What else is everywhere, silent and invisible to the naked eye? Germs… Philip Tierno, in “The Secret Life of Germs: Observations and Lessons from a Microbe Hunter,” provides us with a view of another microscopic world, complex and well-ordered. The cycle of life requires the action of germs at every stage. We depend on many germs to keep our economy going: yeasts in bread-making, algae in manufacturing cosmetics and paints, and soil bacteria for antibiotics. As Tierno says, the biological future of nature’s “greatest creature,” man, depends on an “intimate cooperation with nature’s least, the germ.”

In “Good Germs, Bad Germs, Health and Survival in a Bacterial World,” Jessica Sachs covers our war on germs, and our emerging understanding of the symbiotic relationship between the human body and its microbes, which outnumber human cells by a factor of nine to one. Microbiologist David Thaler sums up the challenge: human beings don’t function optimally when they attempt to embed themselves in a sterile environment, and would do better by learning to live “up close and personal in a seamlessly continuous world.” In the future we may be replacing antibacterial cleaners and cleansers with bacterial ones, and our war on infectious disease will become a restoration of balance, quieting overly aggressive immune systems and bolstering microflora’s ability to perform vital functions in the human body.