Colorado Writers for Colorado Classrooms
List of Critical Summaries
(Listed alphabetically by author's last name
or, in the case of an anthology or a collection, listed alphabetically by the
title of the anthology/collection.)
This page contains critical summaries (with publication dates in parentheses) of texts by Colorado authors. These summaries are designed to give readers insight into the texts before selecting them. You may use the alphabet-based navigation bar below to find the last name of an author.
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A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
A
Abeyta,
Aaron A.
Colcha (2001). In a lovely
collection, Abeyta presents an extended poetic discussion of life in Southern
Colorado. He spends many poems describing life in the region, and he,
not surprisingly, addresses issues of water and farming in many poems. Abeyta
does not confine his words to the English language, and instead intersperses
English words with Spanish words, emphasizing the multiplicities of existence
in the Southern regions of Colorado. This text is especially important
in developing a sense of place because although readers from that area in Colorado
will be familiar with the topics and language, rural readers, in particular,
from other areas in Colorado may be surprised to see experiences they know well
presented in, for them, a new way. Further, because Abeyta does not confine
the location of his poems to Colorado, he encourages readers to question and
consider what movement means to our identities and the identities of others.
Alan, Theresa
Who You Know (2003). Often
filed under the popular turn-of-the-century subgenre, chick lit, Who You
Know follows the lives of two sisters, Rette and Jen, and their friend
and co-worker, Avery. All three women live in Denver and experience different
levels of satisfaction with themselves, men, work, and popular culture. Rette,
who is engaged to and living with Greg, struggles with both a weight problem
and a hazy picture of her career. Jen, still battling an eating disorder
from college, bounces among men and eventually finds a clearer sense of her
career, relationships, and self by the end of the novel. Avery is a divorced
woman who dotes upon Rette and tolerates Jen because she is Rette's sister and
Avery's office partner. Avery discovers a more daring and comfortable
side of herself as the novel progresses. The novel offers a contemporary
of single women's lives in Colorado in a vein similar to that of Sex and
the City.
Avi
Midnight Magic (1999). By combining
young male and female heroes, hauntings, a castle filled with secret passageways,
and magic, this text provides all the thrills a young reader desires. Full
of adventure and mystery, Midnight Magic will keep readers entertained
while encouraging them to think about issues of power and control. Avi
creates characters that question and push the boundaries of gender roles without
shouting at readers. Instead, readers follow Princess Teresina and the
Mangus the Magician's servant, Fabrizio, as they attempt to save the kingdom
from the evil clutches of Count Scarazoni. The text will also encourage
readers to learn more about historical issues, including Italy, castles, and
government.
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B
Bancroft, Caroline
Augusta Tabor: Her Side of the Scandal (1955).
Bancroft wrote a series of pamphlets about Colorado history, including
Central City, Baby Doe Tabor, and The Brown Palace. Although brief, Bancroft
clearly seeks to redeem the figure of August Tabor from the historical rumors
that depicted her as snobby, uncaring, and unattractive. Instead, readers
see that Tabor, beautiful throughout her life, did miss her estranged husband
and participated largely in Denver community activities after her divorce. The
text is rather brief, and Bancroft does not clearly note the sources of her
materials. Even so, the text would be of interest to those wanting to
know more about the Tabors or the historical representation of women.
Bentley, Nancy
I've Got Your Nose! (1991). An
entertaining tale for young readers, I've Got Your Nose! encourages
readers both to be happy with the physical features they have and not to be
jealous or desirous of other people's physical features. The main character,
Nahzella, a witch, wants a scarrier nose and sets out to steal someone else's.
While her spells, generally, work out, she realizes that other people's
noses have their own lives: hay fever and hypersensitivity. As
she searches for a new nose, she upsets others' lives in the meantime and eventually
realizes her nose is the best nose for her.
Bluemel, Elinor
Florence Sabin: Colorado Woman of the Century (1959).
Bluemel recounts the life of the ground-breaking anatomist, Florence Sabin,
who worked at Johns Hopkins and the Rockefeller Institute of Medical Research
during the first half of the 20th Century. Born in Central City, Sabin
worked her way through a well-respected educational career before embarking
on her research passions. After numerous awards and recognitions, including
Sabin Hall at the State College in Greeley, Sabin moved back to Colorado after
retiring. But her working days were far from over, and she became integral
in passing a legislative health bill in Colorado and impressing upon people
the importance of x-rays. Bluemel includes information about the setbacks,
career-based and financial, that Sabin encountered because of gender discrimination,
but Sabin ultimately lives a full life and left her estate to the University
of Colorado Boulder.
Bogue, Lucille
Blood on the Wind: The Memoirs of Flying Horse Mollie, a Yampa
Ute, Based upon the History of Colorado's Famous Meeker Massacre
(2001) . Accessible to young adult readers,
this fictional account of Flying Horse Mollie provides a non-White perspective
of the Ute uprising against Nathaniel Meeker and company.
After moving under the control of Meeker and his Agency members, Mollie
and her tribe find themselves renamed and understand the names are only the
beginning of the attempts to assimilate them into the dominate culture. Meeker
and the other whites, with the main exception of Meeker's daughter Josie and
the Smith family, come across as unqualifiedly evil and selfish. The text
may appeal to young adult readers because Mollie, as narrator, is also a hero,
and the text simultaneously tells her coming-of-age story. Readers may
also want to consult other tellings—both Native American and White—of
the uprising to receive a full understanding of the events.
One Woman, One Ranch, One Summer (1997)..
This collection of stories comes from Bogue's experiences of farm life
that she encountered, mostly without the help of her husband who was working
off the farm, in a few brief months. These stories, all brief, humorous,
and related, give a urbanite's view of returning to farm life after many years
away, and Bogue offers advice and, perhaps, a warning to all of those who wish
to live the “simple life” on a farm. In addition to relating
many tales of physical pain and enduring the lack of modern amenities, Bogue
also explains how difficult it is for contemporary farmers and ranchers to earn
a living. She takes goods to town to sell, but this task often meets with
unexpected challenges or unsatisfactory sales. Accessible and appropriate
for advanced youth readers and beyond.
Brown, Connie
MacGregor's Lantern (2001). Genre
fiction: western, romance. Brown notes in her preface that while
the characters and events in this novel are based upon historical events, she
has created a work of fiction. Her mixture of historical events and compelling
characters make this novel effective in introducing readers to or reminding
them of Colorado's Scottish land and cattle baron past. Using a strong-headed
female protagonist, Maggie, Brown also inserts women into the history of ranching
and homesteading in the state. After her husband is murdered, Maggie decides
she will run the ranch he was taken from, but she is against numerous odds,
including her husband's partner, Redmond MacGregor, who, like most men in the
novel, do not believe a woman is good for much, particularly successfully managing
a ranch. After many narrative twists and turns and some violent acts,
Maggie returns to her ranch to pair up with her new love interest, Billy Munro,
a former ranch hand. This novel provides an entrance into women's history,
immigrant history in Colorado, and ranching history.
Brown, Margaret Duncan
Sheperdess of Elk River Valley (1967).
In this collection of diary entries and writings organized by Paul E.
Daugherty, Brown demonstrates her strength in body and mind as she takes on
single-handedly a sheep ranch. In 1915, she and her husband take on a
cattle ranch, but less than three years later, her husband dies. Making
shrewd business choices and learning as she goes, Brown decides to remain and
live the life she and her deceased husband dreamed of. The entries give
us insight into Brown's daily activities, her neighbors, and her philosophy
of life. Brown was well educated and uses writing as a companion in the
often lonely life she leads. She includes beautiful descriptions of the
landscape she inhabits and encourages contemporary readers to consider the changes
we are presently making and will make in the future to the land. In the
hectic life of contemporary America, Brown's work is a welcome reason for a
respite.
Bryant, Edward
Cinnabar (1976). Genre
fiction: science fiction. In this collection of eight stories, Bryant
introduces readers to the inhabitants, culture, and place of Cinnabar, a community
several years in the future. Although published in 1976, the narratives
continue to interest readers because Bryant inserts core human concerns into
his stories. Cinnabar's residents still struggle with the role of the
elderly, sexual identity, and acceptable social roles for women. Two main
characters that appear in several of the stories are Tourmaline Hayes, a sex
star, and Timnath Obregon, a scientist. Their relationship with one another
and their community members suggest more than simply a fantastical journey into
the future. Instead these characters encourage contemporary readers to
reassess the cultural values and institutions of their own lives and to understand
how these values and institutions were created and why they continue to exist.
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C
Cornell, Virginia
Doc Susie: The True Story of a Country Physician in the Colorado
Rockies (1991). Cornell creates an informative
narrative structure for the biography of Doctor Susan Anderson “Doc Susie,”
who spent a great deal of her life in the Rockies in Fraser, where she became
a dependable physician, whose concern for her patients outweighed her concern
for herself. A recovered tuberculosis patient herself, Doc Susie reveled
in life and her medical practice. Her clients paid her in barter and,
eventually, they erected a beautiful home and medical office for her. Cornell's
narrative depicts a determined and self-reliant woman of the West, and Cornell
captures a spirit that remains alive in Coloradoans today. Many younger
readers will enjoy this adventurous tale of life, and all readers will benefit
from the historical information the narrative provides.
Creel, Ann Howard
A Ceiling of Stars (1999). Part
of the American Girl Series, Creel's text focuses on a few months in the life
of Vivien “Copper-Top” Manelli, who finds herself alone on the streets
of Denver after her mother deserts her. Following the death of her father,
Vivien and her mother started from the Midwest en route to Oregon, but her mother
leaves Vivien in a tent in the middle of the city one day. Vivien then
begins a new life, learning new methods of survival and meeting new friends,
including Locket and Mags. She also befriends Gabe, who works at a homeless
shelter. Vivien eventually learns that her mother is still alive and an
alcoholic. The narrative ends with Vivien's prospects looking better,
as she returns to school and her mother recovers from alcoholism. Written
for the youth, this novel makes all question the typical suburban painting of
life in America.
Water at the Blue Earth (1998). Set
in the mid-19th Century, Water at the Blue Earth follows a young Euro-American
girl, Wren Taylor, through her experiences with a young Ute boy, Luther. In
the fort school, both Wren and Luther are shunned by other children. Wren
is outcast because she is new to the fort and does not like the other girls,
and Luther is outcast because he is Native American and blind. The two
children strike up a clandestine friendship that is broken when the US troops
decide to attack Luther's tribe. Although the tribe shows no signs of
provocation, it learns of the troops' plans and decides to leave the area. In
an act of desperation, Wren defies her parents and, by extension, dominant political
powers, to warn Luther and his tribe of the attack. The story is accessible
to advanced youth readers, and includes themes of environmental concerns, cross-cultural
relationships, and questioning history to affect the present. A good text
for young readers because Creel creates a strong female character who is intelligent
and resourceful.
Crow, Mary
Borders (1989). An impressive
collection of poems by one of Colorado's Poet Laureates, Borders offers
readers a powerful representation of life in South America from the perspective
of an American woman. Crow both presents South Americans using vivid and
graphic images and stirs emotions from readers. These poems encourage
readers to come to terms with a sense of place, both the place in which the
readers are living and the places inhabited by others. Themes:
violence in South American; fear, as a woman, being alone on the streets; Catholicism;
spirituality; the disappeared; torture; political unrest; Americans' ignorance
of global and localized issues; sex; and grave robbings.
The Business of Literature (1981).
A beautifully written and illustrated chapbook published early in Crow's
career. Thematically the poems are connected through women, painting,
and Georgia O'Keefe. Crow provides a sort of meditational series that
uses O'Keefe's well-known paintings as starting points. Includes poems
about Peru and New York City.
Going Home (1979). A chapbook
published early in Crow's career, the collection includes nine poems, some of
which appear in later chapbooks and collections. This reappearance of
the poems encourages readers to understand how a sense of place can remain the
same even if the locale changes. Many of the speakers and subjects of
the poems are searching for a positive and meaningful relationship based upon
love. Themes include horses, Wyoming, mountains, teen pregnancy,
molesting/raping young girls, memories, bones, and women.
I Have Tasted the Apple (1996). A
powerful collection of poems by Crow. The collection is broken up into
four major parts, and each encourages readers to consider family and place in
a different way. Because this collection is longer, as is Borders,
readers are able to see an extended discussion by Crow. The poet develops
ideas that range from childhood, to student life, to aging. As with many
of Crow's collections, this one includes several poems detailing life as lived
by an American woman, whether she is in America or in Eastern Europe. In
terms of understanding a sense of place, “Swimming” offers a nice
discussion of place and how rootedness to one place actually connects one to
other places, people, and events.
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D
Dallas, Sandra
The Diary of Mattie Spencer (1997).
A fascinating piece of historical fiction, The Diary of Mattie Spenser
draws upon homesteading life on the Colorado Plains in the late-19th Century
for the setting of a story composed of diary entries found in a book belonging
to the narrator-compiler's 92-year old neighbor, Hazel. Hazel offers the
narrator-compiler the diary which is filled with timeless issues of human existence,
but these issues were rarely discussed overtly prior to the 20th Century. Mattie
meets other homesteaders, an abused woman, a woman whose life is almost ruined
because she does not have access to birth control, a marriage of a white man
and an Indian woman, and a man with whom she develops an intimate friendship
during her marriage. This novel brings to light many of the concerns of
homesteading women and would make a nice pairing with Jones-Eddy's collection
of oral histories, Homesteading Women: An Oral
History of Colorado, 1890-1950 .
Danneberg, Julie
Women Artists of the West: Five Portraits in Creativity and
Courage (1999). Danneberg
draws upon fiction, historical tracts, and letters and diaries to create the
portraits of Maria Martinez, Georgia O'Keefe, Laura Gilpin, Dorothea Lange,
and Mary-Russell Colton for young adult readers. Danneberg also alters
point-of-view so that readers will hear “about” the artists from
third-person and first-person accounts, and this method encourages readers to
consider differences between “fact” and “fiction” and
where those two seemingly disparate notions begin to merge. Each portrait
includes images of the artists and their work, and these images combined with
the introductions Danneberg includes will help readers pursue their own investigations
of these and other Western women artists. Danneberg also includes thought-provoking
information about women in history and women in the west throughout the text,
so that readers will find encouragement not only to consider women's positions
in the past, but also their present and future positions.
Davidson, Diane Mott
Catering to Nobody (1990). Genre
fiction: mystery, romance. With her famous detective, Goldy, Davidson
weaves a tale of suspense and unethical medical professionals in the mountains
of Colorado. The novel begins with the death of Laura Smiley, teacher
of and friend to Arch, Goldy's son. Ultimately, we learn that Goldy's
ex-husband's father, Fritz Korman, one of the town's physicians, has not only
killed Laura, but in the past raped his step-daughter, and forces his present
female clients to have sex with him. Most of the novel's males have major
character flaws, and, as a result, the text may appear as more of a battle against
patriarchy than a head-strong woman solving a mystery without lawful authority.
Thematic elements: divorce, alimony, working women, women's groups,
and single-parent families.
del Castillo, Ramon.
Dean, Lou
Angels in Disguise: A True Story (1995).
Dean's story is a compelling coming-of-age story about the narrator as
a young girl who moves around from family member to family member. Her
only constant is her dog, Shorty, who runs away from other owners to be with
the narrator. The language and content are appropriate for young adult
readers, but some advanced youth readers may be able to access the text. This
powerful retelling of the writer's adolescence demonstrates that not all lives
fit the television storyline, yet even against poverty and lack of a stable
permanent address, the narrator still lives a full life as a youth and as an
adult. The text also asks questions about identity and place from urban
and rural perspectives.
Donohue, Dorothy
Big and Little on the Farm (1999).
In this picture book for children, Donohue uses her visually- and textually-interesting
cut outs to illustrate sizes of animals and people on a farm. This text
aids children in learning not only that animals and people come in different
shapes and sizes but also the various kinds of animals found on a farm. Young
children who cannot or are learning to read will find the text entertaining
and may also feel encouraged to explore their own creative skills at illustrating.
Downing, Sybil.
The Binding Oath (2001). Genre
fiction: detective, mystery. An important insert into Colorado's
past connections with the Ku Klux Klan, Downing's novel contains mystery, intrigue,
and romance as it follows the protagonist, Liz O'Brien, in her quest to solve
the mystery of a murdered girl and to quell the rising power members of the
KKK. With help from her lover, Frank Capillupo, Liz eventually solves
the mystery after traveling northeast to Sterling and Greeley, attending a rodeo,
and surviving a gunshot wound. Downing's text shines with its historical
connections to Colorado's past and its presentation of a strong, determined,
and intelligent female who solves crimes and genuinely cares about the well-being
of all of Colorado's inhabitants. Liz O'Brien notes that Denver is forcibly
segregated, and that the town is run by Anglo-Saxon Protestant males. By
inserting issues of racial discrimination, poverty, and illegal alcohol trade,
Downing encourages readers to reconsider their ideas about Denver and Colorado
as they learn more about the history of the places they call home.
Fire in the Hole (1996).
A fascinating historical novel that uses the coal mining strikes of 1914-17
as the impetus. The novel's protagonist, Alex MacFarlane, a Denver lawyer,
temporarily moves to Trinidad, Colorado to represent Stefan Vaska, a coal miner.
Because she serves as the courageous and intelligent force behind saving
the miners, Alex offers a new imagining of the West. Downing's text is
accessible to readers from a wide range of reading levels and reading interests.
The story offers readers an introduction to the history of Colorado mining
and inspires readers to participate in their own historical research by finding
out more about Colorado's history. Downing mixes the historical text with
love stories, mysteries, and tragedies, and, thus, illustrates what many students
and Coloradoans may too quickly dismiss as ancient past.
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E
Epstein, Vivian Sheldon
The ABCs of What a Girl Can Be (1980).
Although somewhat dated (1980), this children's book provides contemporary
readers with both a sense of how American society viewed women's potential in
the the 1970s and 1980s and a chance to see where American girls and women are
today. Epstein provides both illustrations and descriptions of the professions
a young girl may choose. These professions include Astronaut, Coal Miner,
Inventor, and Union Leader. Importantly, Epstein prefaces and concludes
the collection with poems that acknowledge some girls may want to be teachers,
mothers, and homemakers. The text, therefore, encourages female readers
to find theirown path in life and to be happy in the choice, so long
as it is indeed a choice they make.
History of Colorado's Women for Young People (1998).
In this collection, Epstein focuses on Colorado for her descriptions of
what women have overcome and what they have become. She profiles approximately
30 women, including Linda Alvarado, Cleo Parker Robinson, and Amy Van Dyken,
and provides brief comments in a twenty-page list of other women of accomplishment.
Accessible to young adult readers, this text chronicles a history of Colorado's
women and their contributions to American culture. Readers may wish to
use this text as a reference piece rather than a as a narrative.
History of Women for Children (1984).
Epstein's later text about the history of women provides an overview of
women's positions in much of Western cultures from prehistoric to late-20th
Century times. While Epstein provides over two pages of lists of women's
achievements in music, writing, and politics, her tone and word choice demonstrate
a frustration not only with the presentation of “history” up to
this point (1984), but also with the patriarchal social and political structures
that govern the Western world. Because of these rhetorical strategies,
some youth readers may benefit from additional explanations and readings. Epstein
certainly has cause for frustration, but her tone is a bit jaded. Even
so, this text is by no means out of date considering the struggle women continue
to wage for equality.
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Fergus, Jim
One Thousand White Women: The Journals of Mary Dodd
(1999) . Winner of the Mountains and Plains Booksellers Association
Regional Book Award, Fergus's novel brings about an intriguing mixture of fiction
and nonfiction, as he reconstructs the fictional tale of Mary Dodd's journey
from an insane asylum in Chicago to the lands of the Cheyenne. As part
of an underground peace treaty, known as the BFI or Brides for Indians, project,
President Grant agrees to send 100 white women to the Cheyenne. Women
who volunteer for the program range from those in asylums, like Mary, to Christian
evangelists, to tourists wanting a free ride to the West, to African-American
women who want to leave the discrimination found east of the Plains. Constructed
as a series of notebook journals that Mary kept upon release from the asylum,
the novel traces her steps up to her death when a vast number of Cheyenne, including
women and newborns, are murdered by the US Calvary. Fergus's novel encourages
readers to reconsider the past from a non-Euro-American and non-male position.
Even as he complicates standard accounts of history, his text lends support
to a kind of segregationist politics: Though Mary finds love with her
Native American partner, she can never give up her true love with John Bourke,
the Army captain with whom she commits adultery and who ultimately fathers her
child. A compelling subject that requires readers to reconsider and continue
questioning cultural institutions.
Finley, Mary Peace
Soaring Eagle (1998). Finley
begins her collection of novels about Julio, a young man growing up in New Mexico,
with this novel. She offers readers a large image of the mixing of cultures
and nations in the 1840s in what is now the Southwest portion of the US, and
this image requires readers to review their own ideas of the contemporary Southwest.
Julio sets out with his father for Bent's Fort in Colorado, but just a
few days into their journey, Apaches kill his father. Julio and his faithful
dog, Chivita, must continue on alone. A group of Cheyenne adopt Julio
into the tribe after rescuing him from snow blindness and potential hypothermia.
The narrative then follows Julio's life with the Cheyenne as they make
their way to Bent's Fort, and Julio must confront notions of identity, biological
and cultural. Finley includes English, Spanish, and Cheyenne languages
in her text.
Friggens, Myriam
Tales, Trails, and Tommyknockers: Stories from Colorado's
Past (1979). Friggens collects a variety
of stories from Colorado's history with the intent of stimulating young readers
to learn more about their state. She addresses the young readers throughout
the narrative, and thus encourages the readers to move from passive receptacles
to active participants. Published in 1979, the text sometimes carries
with it cultural and stylistic formats of the period, but Friggens's passion
for the topic continues to connect with readers of the present. This text
can serve as an important introductory learning tool for Colorado history. It
can interest readers in a particular subject, and those readers can move to
additional resources for learning more about that subject.
Furman, Evelyn E. Livingston.
My Search for Augusta Pierce Tabor, Leadville's First Lady (1993).
The Tabors certainly hold a well-known place in Colorado's history, and,
in her first-person account, Furman retraces many of the steps Augusta took
from New England to Colorado to California. Furman sets out to redeem
the memory of Augusta, who is often dismissed or misunderstood in historical
accounts of her husband, Horace, and his second wife, Baby Doe. Looking
through many of the Tabor letters and diaries, Furman depicts Augusta as a hard-working,
intelligent, and, until the end of the marriage, devoted wife. In Furman's
narrative, Augusta comes across as concerned about the future and her children's
welfare, and, unlike Horace, disinterested in accumulating more wealth than
one could conceivably use in one's lifetime. Although the narrative is
sometimes hard to move through and the research sometimes questionable, Furman's
text should be included on any reading list of Tabor, mining, or Colorado's
women reading lists. Because Furman's text is so accessible, youth and
young adult readers will also enjoy it.
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G
Galvin, James
Fencing the Sky (1999). Known
primarily for his poetry, James Galvin made a stunning entrance into novel-writing
with this narrative about the changing Western landscape. Importantly,
Galvin reminds readers from the beginning that our current concept of “landscape”
in America always already includes humans, and the humans in this novel control
and initiate the changes that, according to the locals in the novel, can only
lead to the destruction of the West. Galvin chooses a nonlinear narrative
structure that only further questions the notions of history and the West. The
narrative follows a collection of characters, specifically Mike Arans and his
horse, as they respond to the construction of ranchettes and their owners. While
the novel will certainly appeal to readers from a rural background, Fencing
the Sky will also contribute to any reader's notions of western America
from contemporary and historical perspectives.
Lethal Frequencies (1995). In
this collection of poems, Galvin explores the vastness of life as he moves from
subject to subject, and then intertwines those subjects back together. Potentially
seen as a companion piece to The Meadow, Lethal Frequencies
contains many of the characters from the memoir, and while some of the poetic
treatments may seem familiar to readers of the memoir, Galvin also includes
descriptions that push readers' conceptions of the characters to a new horizon.
New views of old friends, such as roads, weather, and philosophy, comprise
the bulk of these poems. Galvin's poems review, often from the perspective
of a rural inhabitant, the seemingly trivial aspects of life by placing those
aspects within the contexts of life's great questions of life and death. Lethal
Frequencies makes a fine addition to any reader's collection.
The Meadow (1992). Adored by
readers and critics, Galvin's memoir about place and its inhabitants continues
to impress readers. Like Fencing the Sky, The Meadow
will simultaneously strike chords with readers from rural backgrounds and challenge
the assumptions about the American West. Similarly, readers who enjoy
memoirs and biographies will find The Meadow a delightful narrative.
Galvin pushes the confines of prose as a genre by filling it with poetry
and employing a nonlinear narrative model. These techniques allow Galvin
to breathe life back into the characters and the place. As these historical
figures appear before readers, they encourage a review of place, identity, and
possibility. Galvin's narrative poses questions even as it wraps readers
into a mindset of peace and comfort.
The Geography of Hope: Poets of Colorado's Western Slope (1998). A much-needed collection of Colorado poets, this anthology presents poems from twelve Western Slope poets, including James Tipton and Luis Lopez. The poems move beyond merely capturing life and land on the Western Slope and encourage readers to move beyond their physical space when reading the poems. Lopez combines Spanish and English in some of his poems, reminding readers of the dynamic space that Colorado is. In “Ambition,” Bruce Berger combines memories of powerful and aggressive friends with those personalities that writers create when composing texts. The poems span a great number of thematic elements, including mining, snowfall, Allen Ginsberg, and the act of being born. A welcome collection.
Glick, Daniel
Powder Burn: Arson, Money, and Mystery on Vail Mountain (2001).
Glick puts his investigative journalism training to work as he learns
more about the 1994 arson on Vail Mountain. What Glick uncovers are vast
and intertwining histories of not only Vail Mountain but also of Colorado and
several other Western states. The narrative of this text may be familiar
to many Coloradoans, but the tale will most likely strike a chord with other
western inhabitants, who may see connections between their own states and hometowns
and area developments frequented by wealthy out-of-towners. Powder
Burn also draws attention to the lack of equilibrium among Americans, with
the top five percent controlling more wealth than the bottom fifty percent have
combined. Glick includes several interviews with a wide array of suspects,
investigators, citizens, and bystanders. Powder Burn engages
and informs.
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H
Hanley, Victoria
The Seer and the Sword (2000).
Winner of the 2001 Colorado Book Award, The Seer and the Sword
offers young adult readers the chance to explore the worlds of fantasy and early-modern
history. Set in fictional lands, the novel traces the lives of Princess
Torina and Prince Landen, as their worlds dramatically shift due to war, conquest,
and deceit. Both must relearn life: Torina learns to understand
how to support and think for herself, and Landen learns to adapt to the non-peaceful
ways of the world around him. Hanley writes Torina as a strong female
character, who shuns typically stereotypes of girls and, instead, learns to
shoot a bow and arrow and loves riding horses. Landen, on the other hand,
has several characteristics typically associated with women. He hates
war and killing and he openly exhibits sympathy and caring. Landen puts
these traits on hold when King Kareed, Torina's father, kills Landen's father
and takes Landen captive. After Kareed is killed by a traitorous friend,
Torina and Landen separately flee the kingdom to set up new lives. Although
accessible both to advanced youth and to young adult readers, the novel does
contain a significant number of killings and druggings, but these scenes, while
central to the plot development, do not make up the bulk of this engaging text.
Harmon, Susan
Colorado Ransom (1992). Genre
fiction: western. An inobtrusive but determined young woman, Olivia,
takes the lead in this story of mining battles in late-19th Century Colorado.
After her older housemate is killed, Olivia finds herself connected with
Richmond, the inheritor of the housemate's property and mine. Similar
to Harmon's other work, the narrative incorporates the struggles that Native
Americans encountered as the population of Euro Americans consistently rose.
Although Olivia begins the novel afraid of her Native American neighbors,
she ends the novel becoming close friends with a Native American couple. Harmon
offers and accessible and action-filled look at the fictionalized history of
the West.
Spirit of the Bear (1994). Genre
fiction: western. Harmon sets this story in the mountains of the
mining/trapping town of Elk Fork, Colorado, and the narrative begins with a
group of women coming to Elk Fork as mail-order brides, one of whom is Elizabeth
Butler. She is, not surprisingly, paired by the matchmakers with the one
male, Trap McCrae, least interested in marrying. He soon leaves her to
reunite with his Native American wife, Blue Flower, a Ute. The narrative
then transfers to Elizabeth and Blue Flower's relationship, which begins and
ends with fleeing from white men, warring Ute factions, and warring Arapahos.
The tale ends with Elizabeth alone—Trap and Blue Flower have left
to live together—but determined to live in Trap's abandoned wilderness
home and protected by a guide, Deck. A good text for those who like adventure
stories and for re-imagining women in the late 19th Century. Accessible
to young adult readers.
Haruf, Kent
Plainsong (1999). A stunning
collection of the stories and lives of inhabitants of Holt, Colorado. Told
from the perspectives of these people, both young and old, readers receive more
than a glimpse into this small town on the High Plains. Instead Haruf
moves us into their worlds, into their triumphs, tragedies, and fears, and makes
us question the whys and hows of daily life rather than merely experience that
life. Haruf exquisitely and truthfully captures each character, from the
young, unmarried pregnant Victoria, to the bachelor and aging McPheron brothers
who accept her into their too-long lonely farmhouse. Haruf's prose welcomes
readers, regardless of the backgrounds and past experiences, into a world that
alternates between the familiar and the unknown. Readers from small towns,
from rural villages, and from urban lofts will enjoy visiting with these people
from Holt, and readers will work at redefining the notion of an outcast.
The Tie that Binds (1984). Alternating
between the most painful events in human existence and the beauty of human love,
Haruf's debut novel chronicles the lives of neighbors Edith Goodnough and Sanders
Roscoe and their families. Set in the High Plains of Colorado, the novel
looks at the lives of rural dwellers and, as we become more intimate with the
characters, the novel makes less clear the distinctions among rural, urban,
and suburban. Haruf refuses to provide reasons for some of the violent
and tragic acts that Edith Goodnough endures and witnesses, and his refusals
are precisely what simultaneously frustrate and intrigue his readers. Readers
must determine for themselves whether the reasons really do exist or if human
existence is one that precludes us from finding and knowing those persistent
questions of life and death. Haruf leaves the narrative open for readers'
participation, a participation that invites us all to the dance of humanity.
Hobbs, Will
Beardream (1997).
Pairing once again with illustrator Jill Kastner, Hobbs retells for youth
readers a Ute narrative of the Bear Dance. Readers follow Short Tail,
a young Native American boy, as he searches for Great Bear to awaken him and
bring Spring to the land. Great Bear, or Grandfather, who does not awaken
in a very good mood, eventually appreciates Short Tail so much that he takes
Short Tail to view the bears who live in the forest participate in a dance to
celebrate the end of winter. They teach Short Tail the dance and ask him
to teach the dance to the members of his tribe, and, as a result, we learn the
reasons behind the Bear Dance and how the Native Americans learned the dance.
Howling Hill (1998). As described on the
book jacket, Hobbs named the protagonist, a wolf cub named Hanni, “after
the Nahanni River” of the Northwest Territories. With beautiful
illustrations from Jill Kastner, readers follow Hanni in her quest to return
to her pack after she falls into a river and is swept away from her family and
friends. Hanni's quest is complicated by the fact that she has not yet
learned to howl, and, thus, she cannot call to her pack but must instead embark
upon a long journey. She meets a brown bear, who is late to hibernate,
and the bear takes her as far as he can before he falls asleep in a cave. As
she continues on the journey alone, she learns about self reliance and the interconnectedness
of life as she finally learn to howl and reunites with her pack. Youth
readers will enjoy reading the tale to others.
Hogan, Linda
The Woman Who Watches over the World: A Native Memoir (2001).
At times touching, at times excruciatingly painful, Hogan's account of
growing up as a Native woman insists upon the reader's attention. Hogan
shares with readers several intensely personal moments as she moves through
the the growth of a youth. Hogan expands her memoir by focusing not simply
on her own periods of growth but also includes those of her daughters'. At
first glance, it may seem that this text encourages readers to merge their own
experiences of growing up with those in the text, and, certainly, too often
readers can only "get into" texts with which they can identify. Hogan,
however, does not allow such an identification to occur, and many readers thank
her for this distancing. Her text stands apart in a way that every text
should stand apart from readers. Hogan's text demonstrates the dangers
of collapsing and, thus, ignoring difference, its benefits, its drawbacks, and
its history.
Hunt, Inez and Wanetta
Draper
Colorado Crazy Quilt (1971). Hunt
and Draper include various stories and pieces of trivia they encountered both
in early editions of Colorado periodicals and in interviews with Colorado residents.
Their first story provides information about one of Colorado Springs's
early Chinese residents and his family, and other sections of the text introduce
readers to a famous, but somewhat forgotten, actress, Lady Blythe Marvin. The
writers take a journalist approach and provide little narrative additions and,
instead, provide readers with as many facts as possible. This is not to
say that some fictionalizing does not occur, but the rhetorical structure may
leave some readers wanting more. Accessible to advanced youth readers
and beyond.
Hurd, Jerrie
Miss Ellie's Purple Sage Saloon (no date).
Genre fiction: western, romance. Set in late 19th Century
Colorado, this text tackles women's suffrage, temperance, and women's health.
Hurd's narrative aligns two disparate women—Ellie, a saloon owner,
and first wife of Seth, and Marta Mae, the childless and frail second wife—in
a fight for temperance and, ultimately, freedom from the oppressive clutches
of Marta Mae's over-controlling father (and, by extension, social patriarchy).
Hurd reimagines history of Colorado by placing women more in the forefront
of daily life, and for her historical reconsiderations, this text deserves a
read.
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Jackson, Helen Hunt.
Nelly's Silver Mine ((1878) 1930).
A children's novel well worth the time for children of all ages. Because
of the historical language used, this text may be more appropriate for youth
readers of an advanced reading level and for young adult readers. The
novel, however, should not be neglected by adults. Jackson, who moved
to Colorado Springs later in her life, gives contemporary readers an informative
and adventurous look at Colorado at the turn of the 20th Century. Focusing
on Nelly and Rob March and their family, the novel traces the western migration
of many Americans, and Jackson includes struggles, financial and cultural, in
her narrative. Although the novel does provide a look at Colorado mining,
it does not focus specifically on mining. Jackson also demonstrates the
resourcefulness of young girls and women, re-imagining the past by placing women
in a more prominent role than they usually see in historical discussions. Similarly,
Jackson notes the health benefits of Colorado air and weather. Nelly's
Silver Mine also includes immigrants from across the Atlantic, and thereby
offers a broad look at notions of “Coloradoan.”
Westward to a High Mountain: The Colorado Writings of Helen
Hunt Jackson ((19th Century) 1994). Collected
and edited by Mark I. West, this collection is a must for any readers interested
in reliving life in late-19th Century Colorado. These nonfiction accounts
by Jackson paint clear and beautiful paintings of the Colorado landscape and
its inhabitants. As a new resident to the state, Jackson comments significantly
upon the people of the area for the benefit of her eastern readers. She
spends time describing the beauty of the area and the emotions she encounters
when being at the top of the Rockies and surrounded by the good people she has
with her. Appropriate for all reading levels but may not be accessible
to youth readers.
Jones-Eddy, Julie
Homesteading Women: An Oral History of Colorado, 1890-1950
(1992) . An outstanding collection of oral histories from Colorado's
early Euro-American female residents who lived the bulk of their lives in the
northwestern area of the state. Jones-Eddy conducted all of the interviews
with the women, and she organizes the interview responses around themes. This
structure allows readers to find sections that most interest them, but because
the information is so compelling, readers will surely move forward and back
to cover all the information contained in the text. Jones-Eddy's interviews
cover a wide range of topics; the text includes memories of why and when the
women first came to live in the area, what kinds of chores boys and girls had,
issues of birth control and pregnancy, aspirations of work after high school,
and medicinal practices. Jones-Eddy's text gives readers of all ages and
backgrounds the kind of history that, unfortunately, dies with each generation.
In addition to collecting information that most history books leave out,
Jones-Eddy's work encourages readers to consider issues of place in all its
transitory and permanence.
Jorgensen, Christine T.
A Love To Die For (1994). Genre
fiction: mystery. A Stella the Stargazer mystery, Jorgensen quickly
moves away from Stella's workplace frustrations into her detective skills. Jorgensen
incorporates domestic violence into the narrative, and, when mixed with the
fact that several women die in the novel, creates a surprise end when we discover
who the initial murderer is. Jorgensen's text is accessible to young adult
readers and focuses on women's roles in contemporary society. Jorgensen
also includes comments about women's use of food as a drug and the lives of
single women.
You Bet Your Life (1995). Genre
fiction: mystery. Set in the fictional mountain gambling town of
Silverado, Colorado, Stella the Stargazer embarks upon another violent-packed
mystery. Jorgensen again includes themes of domestic abuse and money-hungry
people, but the number of characters and their relationships among one another
make the storyline somewhat difficult to follow at times. Jorgensen ultimately
suggests that women who are single may actually have the correct idea.
Josephson, Gretchen
Bus Girl (1997). In this extraordinary
collection of poems about life in Denver, Josephson defies stereotypical notions
of the capabilities of an individual with Down's Syndrome. Josephson makes
few over references to her life with the Syndrome and, instead, depicts life
as she sees it: work, love, and observation of others. Her poems
suggest we all more carefully consider how we identify with place and the contemporary
American lifestyle. She subtly questions treatment of the homeless, materialism,
and the American working life. These poems are readily accessible to advanced
youth readers and beyond, and, while the language may at times seem to lack
complexity, the starkness of the language removes the blinders of acceptance
that all too many of us wear when encountering issues that we find uncomfortable.
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King, Robert.
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Lund, Jillian
Way Out West Lives a Coyote Named Frank (1993).
A fun story for readers of all ages, Frank gives youth readers
entertaining stories and a glimpse into the life of an active coyote and his
friends. Lund draws upon the trickster myth of the coyote and merges it
with the life of many American youths. Frank often gets into trouble,
but he mostly just likes to have fun. He has several friends with whom
he likes to play, but sometimes he likes to be alone and learn about his world
on his own. Lund engages and creates several “mysteries” of
the West such as cairns and petroglyphs, and into each one, she inserts Frank.
Lyon, Suzanne
Bandit Invincible: Butch Cassidy, A Western Story
(1999) . Genre fiction: western. Drawn from William
T. Phillips' 1935 text of a similar name, Lyon fictionalizes the information
in the text and historical information about Butch Cassidy's life and loves.
She traces his criminal career and inserts his relationship with historical
figures that he may have known and with whom he may have had relationships.
The novel offers a fictional insight into this well-known western bandit,
and readers may be inspired to do some additional research of their own. Lyon
also reminds readers that the West in the 19th Century was not inhabited solely
by Euro Americans. The novel includes characters who are African American
and Native American. While female characters play a role in this novel,
the narrative belongs to the mythological and often romanticized notions of
Cassidy, who, although committed crimes for his own financial benefit, comes
to life as a breathing human in this depiction. Accessible to young adult
readers.
Lady Buckaroo: A Western Story (2000).
Genre fiction: western, romance. Accessible to young adult
readers, Lyon retells the changes in rodeo in the early part of the 20th Century,
and she specifically focuses on how women's roles and participation in rodeo
changed drastically and quickly. The central character in the story, Lael
Buckley, roams the country participating as a trick rider in western shows,
as a stunt rider in Tom Mix's Hollywood movies, and as a valid contestant for
an all-around title at rodeos. She finds and loses love and friendship
throughout the course of the novel, but even though she decides to leave rodeo
because it is pushing out women, she ends up content with a suitor. The
story contains some predictable moments, but Lyon makes an important contribution
not only to the history of the west but to the history of rodeo in America.
She also questions the notions of sense of place as a physical location
because Lael is always “home” when she's around rodeo, horses, friends,
or ranches.
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McManus, Carol Crawford
Ida: Her Labor of Love (1999).
McManus notes in the preface to this text that while the text is based
on facts discovered in researching her grandmother, McManus has created significant
details and the narrative surrounding the facts. Because of the additions,
Ida reads more like a fictional account than a biography. With
this element taken into account, readers can determine in what capacities this
text is useful. While we may not know precisely how Ida felt on her wedding
night or burying her children who died young, the information about the consistent
moves she made from town to town and house to house and the numerous children
she birthed into her 40s lends an important contribution to Colorado and women's
history. The text also offers insights into women's health issues from
the late-19th and early-20th centuries.
Mills, Claudia
Gus and Grandpa (1997). This wonderful
collection of related stories entertains young readers as they improve reading
and memory skills. The tales follow Gus and his Grandfather as they spend
days together on or off of Grandpa's rural home. Skipper, Gus' dog, also
appears in the stories. Gus learns about responsibility and sharing as
he trains Skipper and celebrates Grandpa's birthday. Mills' stories build
upon one another so that, by the end of the third story, readers have reviewed
parts of the previous two stories. The repetition of words on each page
may remind some readers of the popular Dick and Jane series.
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Nagda, Ann Whitehead
Dear Whiskers (2000). In this
story for 7-10 year old readers, Jenny and her fourth grade class are writing
letters to and receiving letters from members of the second grade class. The
fourth graders pretend to be mice—Jenny names her mouse Whiskers—who
live in the second graders' desks. Jenny's pen pal, Sameera, writes only
one letter, which is poorly written. Discouraged, Jenny asks her teacher
for a new pen pal, but her teacher instead sends her to meet Sameera, who has
recently immigrated from Saudi Arabia. Jenny learns that Sameera can neither
speak nor write very much English and begins a quest to help Sameera. With
a lot of creativity and helpfulness, the two girls form a strong and educational
friendship.
Nine [Women] Poets: Alive
and Writing in Colorado (1979). In this
brief collection from 1979, poet Terra brings together selections from readings
given for the Colorado Women in the Arts Month, May 1979. She includes
her own poems and those by Les Baca, Pandoura Carpenter, Elinor J. George, Pat
Kriebel, Mary Martha Miles, Maxine Brown Phillips, Pat Keuning Urisote, and
Pat Wagner. The poems often focus on issues of the burgeoning feminist
movement of the period, and the poets discuss rape, female sexuality and desire,
and the constructions of femininity. Although it does not contain a large
number of poems, this collection offers insight into Colorado women's perspectives
of the late 1970s.
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Pettem, Silvia
Separate Lives: The Story of Mary Rippon
(1999) . Pettem researches, with the materials available to her,
the life of one of the University of Colorado Boulder's first female faculty
members, Mary Rippon, and Pettem discovers that the past holds far more questions
than answers. In a clandestine affair, Rippon marries and bears a child
with one of her students, Will Housel, and the relationship remained secret.
She has the child while on sabbatical in Switzerland, and, thus, no faculty
members even know she was pregnant. She leaves the daughter, Miriam, in
the care of a Catholic boarding school/orphanage, and pays for Miriam's care
and Will's schooling abroad when she returns to teaching duties. She and
Will eventually divorce, but Mary never cares for Miriam as a mother. Miriam
moves from family to family with Mary's financial backing. Impressively,
even after their divorce, Mary continues to support Will in his career choices
and his new family. Although not intimate with her own daughter, Rippon's
students in Boulder dedicated many of their creative projects to her. Through
this biography, Pettem asks readers to question issues of social institutions,
of the past and the present, that, instead of making people happy, often hurt
people. Accessible to young adult readers.
Peters, Julie Anne.
Keeping You a Secret (2003). A
young adult novel, Keeping You a Secret offers readers an emotionally-stirring
account of a high school senior who understands not only that she is a lesbian
but that she is in love with a new transfer student. The blossoming of
love between Holland and Cece comes with the loss of Holland's family. Although
she became pregnant at a young age and was disowned by her parents, Holland's
mother cannot break the cycle and throws out Holland when she learns of Holland's
sexual orientation. The pain that Holland experiences at home and at school
comes through to readers at a level of basic human emotion. Peters situates
the narrative in the Denver suburbs, and thus connects not only to Western or
urban readers, but also to Coloradoans. A recommended text to young adult
and adult readers.
The Stinky Sneakers Contest (1992).
An educational story for youth readers, The Stinky Sneakers Contest
focuses on two friends, Earl and Damian, and presents a well-known but never
old jealousy scenario: Earl wishes he were spoiled with material possessions
like Damian is, and Damian wishes he had the strong family structure that Earl
has. Earl has a typical nuclear family, and Damian lives with his mother,
who is divorced from his father. Throughout their relationship, we learn,
Damian consistently wins contests between him and Earl because Damian does not
“play by the rules.” They both enter a stinky sneakers contest,
and through what Earl thinks of as cheating but what Damian considers intelligent
strategies, Damian creates the most stinky sneakers possible. Though he
expects one more defeat, Earl is surprised when the judges declare him the contest
winner. He later learns that Damian assured his loss by putting odor eaters
in his shoes because he believes Earl should win. Although their friendship
was strained, they end the story with as strong a bond as they have ever had.
Pritchett, Laura
Hell's Bottom, Colorado (2001). Winner
of the Milkweed National Fiction Prize and Mountains and Plains Regional Book
Award. A extremely rewarding collection of 10 related stories about the
Cross family, grandparents, children, and grandchildren. The stories are
told from a variety of viewpoints: omniscient third-person and individual characters.
Pritchett provides a believable characterization of a ranching lifestyle. Although
quite accessible, these stories are filled with the pain of violence, physical
abuse, murder of humans and animals. These tragedies are offset by moments
of intense tenderness, beauty, and laughter. Several of the stories revolve
around identity-building, whether in the form of a middle-aged woman rediscovering
her desire for her husband or young children struggling to relocate childhood
after the violent murder of their mother. A text that clearly deserves
a trail of literary awards.
Propst, Nell Brown
Those Strenuous Dames of the Colorado Prairie
((1982) 1994) . Propst covers a tremendous number of Colorado
Prairie women who were born in or moved to the area in the late-1800s. While
Euro-American women remain Propst's focus, she does include information about
Asian-American, African-American, and Native-American women. Because Propst's
scope is so vast, some readers may leave wanting more information about particular
women and their experiences on the Plains. Propst includes some narrative
to the discussion, but she devotes most of the text to relating factual information
about the women. The experiences range from education, to suffrage, to
rodeos. Accessible to young adult readers, this text provides new perspectives
on the history of and inhabitants of the Colorado Prairies.
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Rich, Helen
The Spring Begins (1947). Published
in 1947, Rich's novel tells the story of Angie Thomas Sweet, an 18 year-old
young widow living in the fictional town of Buckbush, which seems to mimic the
early 20th century town of Breckinridge. Buckbush is an isolated mining
town situated along a river between two formidable mountain passes. After
her elder husband dies, Angie takes in boarders, for whom she provides food
only. Although she is courted by a fine young man and boarder, Toby, she
falls for Pandy, a man all the women of Buckbush pine for. After living
with him for a few months, Angie soon finds herself alone when Pandy, a restless
sort, abruptly leaves town. While the text loosely follows the tenets
of a romance, readers will also be interested in Rich's descriptions of women's
lives in the mid-1920s. Additionally, this text provides some intriguing
images of Colorado mining life and helps readers question the stability of place.
If something like contemporary Breckinridge—full of tourists, skiers,
and money—only a few decades ago resembled a ramshackle collection of
buildings and people, who is to say that our current towns will always create
a parallel to our individual identities?
Robertson, Janet
The Magnificent Mountain Women: Adventures in the Colorado
Rockies (1990). An informative collection
of women who hiked, scaled, and, sadly, died on the mountains of Colorado. Robertson
notes in her preface that she was unable to collect information about Native
American women who spent time in the Colorado Rockies, but she provides extensive
information about the first Euro-American women to climb the state's peaks.
Her research continues into the late 20th Century with Gudrun “Gudy”
Gaskill, who was integral in the construction of the Colorado Trail. Robertson's
text provides reader with the humorous and harrowing lives of women who spent
time in the heights of the Rockies. Many of the stories focus upon Long's
and Pike's Peaks, and these emphases give readers a developed discussion about
the history of women who hiked in an area. Robertson also makes up for
the lack of information about female hikers and mountain climbers. She
notes early in her discussion that most of Colorado's peaks are named for men,
but Robertson remedies this absence of women from this aspect of history because
she demonstrates clearly and thoroughly that women were indeed present in the
early and contemporary ascents of Colorado's Rockies.
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Saner, Reg
Essay on Air (1984). In this
collection, Saner again represents Colorado, its landscape, animals, and human
inhabitants, but goes beyond the local to include poems that evoke European
nations and cultures. In this combination, readers understand how alike
differences can be. In “Aspen Oktoberfest,” the speaker of
the poem calls to mind not only the beauty of the place in the autumn but also
Holocaust imagery, as the mind moves from Germany to Hitler's ugly past. Place,
in poems such as this, becomes fluid, and descriptions of one mountain range
in Colorado may, for other readers, bring images of ranges in the Alps or Canada.
Accessible to young adult readers, too.
So This Is the Map (1981). A
selection of the National Poetry Series, Saner's collection of poems stirs emotions
and images in readers, whether they know or have never seen Colorado. Saner
looks at the West of the late-20th Century and reads it against the mythologized
notions of the West that have been present in America for decades. We
find, as readers, that while the mythology is still around, the landscape and
the inhabitants struggle against and to fulfill those expectations of western
life. Saner paints with language exquisite portraits of the landscape
of Colorado and he combines these poems of beauty with the experience of filling
up one's gas tank off the Interstate in the Eastern Plains of the State. These
poems play a large role in helping readers understand that notion of how identity
is formed by and dependent upon a sense of place because, while the inhabitants
are secure in their identity and place, were they to look at themselves through
a stranger's eyes, they may actually understand themselves better. A good
collection for readers of all ages.
Schwartz, Steven
A Good Doctor's Son (1998). When
picking up this text, you will read a compelling novel by a faculty member at
Colorado State University. The protagonist, David Nachman, tells his coming
of age story in a small community in Pennsylvania. Early in the novel,
David kills a young girl because he is racing a car, backward, illegally, and
the narrative focuses on his attempts to reassimilate into American life after
the accident. Schwartz includes a kind of rationalized spiritual crisis,
as David, a Jew, learns about Quakers and Protestants in his quest to move on
into life after Sarah Vale's death. David also searches for companionship
with women, some who want to offer it, some who can't, and one who does. His
family life also consistently changes around him, as his parents remain married
but living in separate rooms and with separate lives. While the story
line is often depressing, Schwartz writes a narrative that few readers can easily
put down. Accessible to young adult readers.
Semple, James Alexander, ed
Representative Women of Colorado: A Pictoral Collection of
the Women of Colorado Who Have Attained Prominence in the Social,
Political, Professional, Pioneer and Club Life of the State
((1911) 1914). A fascinating text simply as it stands. In
honor of his late wife, Zola, Semple collected these images (portraits and photographs)
of prominent women in the state and included a brief biographical description
of each woman. Semple includes over 500 women in the collection, and although,
this text would not be one that most people would pick up and read, in the traditional
sense of the term, it does hold some important information for contemporary
readers. First, because the text is predominately composed of images,
the book provides readers a glimpse into the faces and fashions of the late-19th
and early-20th Centuries. While many of the women are urban dwellers,
others are homesteaders, and readers can see the results of a life of physical
labor in Colorado. Second, Semple often refers to the married women as
“Mrs. Z. X. Synder,” for example, and readers find out about these
women's husbands through the name, even though the collection is of the women.
Finally, often the women have risen to prominence because they are famous
men's daughters or wives. Even with some of these peculiarities, Semple's
collection can be a valuable reference to certain students, researches, and
readers.
Simmons, Dan
Hyperion (1990). Genre fiction:
science fiction. Simmons's text is incredibly ambitious and successful.
He combines elements of Geoffrey Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales
with futuristic individuals, environments, and scenarios to create an engaging
and compelling narrative that will delight readers. The world of Hyperion
provides a backdrop and destination for the seven pilgrims on the journey, and
the journey creates the opportunity for the pilgrims to tell one another their
stories and reasons for going to Hyperion. Readers will find numerous
responses to other works of Western literature, and because of this strategy,
the novel creates an opportunity for dialogue among different texts. Simmons's
use of the science fiction genre also allows readers to think more carefully
about events and issues that are occurring currently that resemble or could
lead to events depicted in the novel. The roles of religion, art and artists,
politics, war, and science in society sit at the core of this novel.
Singleton, Elyse
This Side of the Sky (2002). In
her debut novel, Singleton, a well-respected journalist, tells the story of
two women, Lilian Mayfield and Myraleen Chadham, as they grow up and grow old
together in the years before, during, and after World War II. As a young
African-American woman in Mississippi, Lilian's only thought is to get away,
and she does so with Myraleen. They first travel to Philadelphia, learning
that racial discrimination is not confined to the South, and they then travel
to Europe, as members of a WAC unit. Although each woman is attracted
to and sometimes connected to men who are their lifelong lovers, their relationship
with each other and their communities plays the central role in the novel. Singleton's
research provides a powerful backdrop to the women's lives, and Singleton the
issues of American race relations to the front of the discussion without making
readers feel silenced. This novel would be interesting to pair with other
texts who look at the historical period from another cultural perspective.
Stevens, Janet
Coyote Steals the Blanket: A Ute Tale
(1993) . Winner of the Colorado Children's Book Award, Stevens's
retelling of this Ute narrative offers many lessons to youth readers. Readers
learn more about why the coyote plays the role of the trickster figure in many
Native American stories. Unable to leave well enough alone, coyote steals
a blanket and must run from a rock inhabited by a spirit of the desert. Unwilling
to take responsibility for his actions and too stubborn to give up the blanket,
coyote cons several animals of the desert to stop the rock. The rock,
however, can only be stopped if coyote returns the blanket, and the unsuspecting
animals are no match for the rock. Although coyote eventually leaves the
rock and the blanket, Stevens suggests coyote will be back for more adventures.
How the Manx Cat Lost Its Tail (1990).
Stevens retells this biblically-connected tale about the manx cat who,
stubborn and unwilling to come when Noah called for it, lost part of its tail
in the ark's door when it closed. After some embarrassment, recuperation,
and rehabilitation, the cat learns to exist without its tail. Youth
readers may see many similar traits of stubbornness and independence in cats
of today, but the readers also learn that, while we sometimes want to be our
own bosses, others may have more information that can help us make better choices
and decisions.
Tops and Bottoms (1995). A
Caldecott Honor Book. Stevens draws upon several sources—European
folk tales, slave stories of the American South, and Native American stories—to
develop this tale of ingenuity meets procrastination. A family of rabbits
cons a bear, who owns the farm near which the rabbits live, out of several years'
worth of crops. Bear does not want to work and works out a deal with the
rabbit family, alternating between receiving the tops and the bottoms of the
crops grown in the field. Youth readers learn about teamwork and crops,
but, importantly, they also learn to consider carefully decisions before they
agree to anything.
Stevens, Janet and
Susan Stevens Crummel
My Big Dog (1999). This tale
of adapting focuses on a cat, Merl, and his experiences with the family addition,
a dog. Youth readers who have cats or dogs will certainly see familiar
faces in this story. Merl wants to be left alone in his house with his
toys and human companions, but the new dog only wants to play and follow Merl.
After failed attempts at leaving the dog abandoned outside, Merl decides
to leave, and then his experiences begin. Merl eventually learns that
the dog may actually be more of a help than a hindrance.
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Tipton, James
Letters from a Stranger (1998). Alternately
heartwarming and heartwrenching, the poems of James Tipton depict loves lost,
unrequited, and consummated. Tipton redefines love to include a oneness
with the environment, and that love captures the disconnection many contemporary
Americans have created. The poems may remind readers of Walt Whitman's
poems that both celebrate life and death and desire a communion of the poet
with all around him. The endearing forward by Isabel Allende set up readers
for a unique reading experience that Tipton delivers. Tipton moves readers
across continents while connecting peoples, cultures, and lives with love.
Todd, Mark
Wire Song (2001). A strong
collection of poems that capture the ranching life in rural Colorado. Todd's
poems provide both an introduction to and a return to the lives ranchers, ranch
hands, and rural residents. The poems often demonstrate the contemporary
conflicts among mythological ideas of the Wild West, the current struggles and
delights of 21st Century ranching life, and urban encroachment upon formerly
uninhabited or private lands. Todd describes these ranchers and their
lives and provides information about a newcomers' attempts to fit in with these
oldtimers. Themes: ranching, horses, houses, suicide and death,
landscape and family, Westerners, and immigration.
Turnbull, Belle
The Tenmile Range (1957). Published
in 1957, Turnbull's collection of poems offers an historical perspective on
mining and early-20th century life in Colorado. Turnbull combines formal
structures, such as a variety of sonnet forms, with shorter forms and prose-poems.
In “History,” she personifies the mountain environment as
“Twice raped” from the scars of over-trapping and mining. She
also paints a variety of pictures of the women who lived in the mountain towns,
and these women contribute a great deal to the economy and perseverance of the
inhabitants. Other women cannot tolerate the mountain climates and lose
their minds and lives because of the winters and the solitude. A brief
but compelling collection for readers today.
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Urisote, Pat Keuning
Choosing the Moon (1981). Urisote's
collection of poetry gives reader an extended study of women's issues in the
latter half of the 20th Century. She selects topics, such as menstruation
and breast cancer, typically associated with women and discusses them openly
and, sometimes, painfully, but gives these topics voice nonetheless. Women
readers will certainly find some kinship with the women in the poems. Urisote
then moves onto additional topics, including women aging and women's response
to cultural fairy tales that suggest some handsome male will “rescue”
a lady in distress. Urioste's language is comfortable and accessible,
and young adult readers should be encouraged to peruse this collection. At
the same time, adult readers may find a familiar face waiting in the words.
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Womanthology: A Collection
of Colorado Women Poets (1977). Editors
Janet H. Yench and Kathy B. Riley make it clear in the opening of the 1977 collection
of poems that, in publishing this text, they completed their goal of creating
a collection of poems written and published (with the exception of the binding)
by women. The poems in the collection offer readers a fascinating study
of the status of the women's movement of the 1970s in Colorado. Over 100
pages of poems cover a breadth of topics, including rape, aging, women's rights,
and travel. A large number of the poems stem from the frustrations many
women in the 1960s-1980s felt when trying to recreate what a woman could do
in society. Because of this content, some of the poems may seem dated
to contemporary readers, but, conversely, many readers may experience these
same frustrations because of contemporary discrimination based on gender, sexual
orientation, or race. The collection provides an important look at a history
often dismissed or ignored.
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Page last updated
April 23, 2004
For page information please contact
Dr. Rita Jones at RitaJones@alum.albertson.edu