YouTube has just released a new sub-site called YouTube EDU, aggregating thousands of free lectures from over a hundred universities across the country,including MIT, Yale, Harvard, Stanford, and many more.

Western Writers of America, Inc., was founded in 1953 to promote the literature of the American West and bestow Spur Awards for distinguished writing in the western field. The founders were largely authors who wrote traditional western fiction, but the organization swiftly expanded to include historians and other nonfiction authors, young adult and romance writers, and writers interested in regional history.

The Spur Awards, given annually for distinguished writing about the American West, are among the oldest and most prestigious in American literature. In 1953, when the awards were established by WWA, western fiction was a staple of American publishing. At the time awards were given to the best western novel, best historical novel, best juvenile, and best short story.

Craig Johnson, recently appearing in our own White Mountain Library, and mentioned several times in this blog won the Spur for Best Western Short Novel for Another Man’s Moccasins.

His books include:

Cold Dish

Death Without Company

Kindness Goes Unpunished

Another Man’s Moccasins

And Out in May: The Dark Horse.

Buckaroo Book Award Book Lists

Sponsored by the Wyoming Library Association and the Wyoming State Reading Council, the Buckaroo Book Award will provide the opportunity for Wyoming children in grades Kindergarten through third to select favorite books they have read or have listened to and to honor the authors of these books.

Its purpose is to help Wyoming students in grades K-3:

• Become acquainted with the best contemporary authors.
• Become aware of the qualities of good books.
• Accustom younger children to concepts of choice, critical reading, and voting procedures which will help them participate in choosing other book awards.
• To honor an author whose book has been enjoyed by Wyoming children.

Buckaroo Book Award Winner2009:

Bad Dog, Marley! by John Grogan

1st Place Runner-up: Knut: How One Little Polar Bear Captivated the World by Isabella, Craig and Juliana Hatkoff and Gerald Uhlich

2nd Place Runner-up: Puff, the Magic Dragon by Peter Yarrow

Buckaroo Book Award Nominees for 2009-2010 are:

A Visitor for Bear – Becker, Bonny

Lightship – Floca, Brian

A Couple of Boys Have the Best Week Ever – Frazee, Marla

Monarch and Milkweed – Frost, Helen

Snoring Beauty – Hale, Bruce

Uh-Oh, Cleo – Harper, Jessica

Birds – Henkes, Kevin Danny

Diamondback – Jackson, Barry E.

The Incredible Book-Eating Boy – Jeffers, Oliver

Skunkdog – Jenkins, Emily

Pinkalicious – Kann, Victoria & Elizabeth

Bats in the Library – Lies, Brian

Cowboy Camp – Sauer, Tammi

Millie Waits for the Mail – Steffensmeier, Alexander

Help Me, Mr. Mutt!: Expert Answers for Dogs with People Problems – Stevens, Janet & Crummel, Susan Stevens

The 2009 winners of the Indian Paintbrush Book Award are:

Winner is Crank by Ellen Hopkins

2nd place: Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince by J. K. Rowling

3rd place: School’s Out Forever by James Patterson

Sponsored by the Wyoming Library Association and the Wyoming State Reading Council, the Indian Paintbrush Book Award provides the opportunity for Wyoming youth in grades 4-6 to select a favorite book and honor its author.

Its purpose is to help Wyoming students in grades 4-6:

• Become acquainted with the best contemporary authors
• Become aware of the qualities that make a good book
• Set a goal to read at least three good books
• To honor an author whose books Wyoming students have enjoyed.

Libraries stressed, yet needed more than ever Alicia Caldwell writes:

“Not long ago, on a Sunday afternoon, my son and I pulled into the parking lot of Denver’s Schlessman Family Branch Library. I was surprised by what I saw. The place was like Best Buy during Christmas week. We had to hunt for a parking space and, when we got inside, it was wall-to-wall people. The recession is driving people back to libraries, which prognosticators had not long ago written off as another likely victim of the digital age.”… Denver Post, Mar. 22

Read the entire informative article here.

The Big Rich The Rise and Fall of The Great Texas Oil Fortunes by Bryan Burrough

Rising from humble beginnings through hard work and shrewd dealings, Roy Cullen, H. L. Hunt, Clint Murchison, and Sid Richardson forged the Lone Star State’s wealthiest oil dynasties.  their influence shifted the balance of power in American politics, sending three Texans to the white House and bankrolling the modern conservative movement.  While hobnobbing with presidents and movie stars, the Big Rich created the legend of the swaggering Texas oilman with island hideaways, sprawling ranches, and long-horned Cadillacs.

Dead Silence by Randy Wayne White

At the posh New York City’s Explorer’s club, ford anxiously awaits the arrival of Barbara Hayes-Sorrento, a U.S. senator serving on an important congressional intelligence subcommittee-and a potential love interest.  While she’s exiting her limo, ford witnesses the unthinkable: a group of men brazenly kidnapping her. Rushing to her aid, Ford foils the attempt, but not before the criminals abduct a teenager touring the city with the senator.  Hours later, a ransom order arrives.  The kidnappers want recently seized documents belonging to Fidel Castro.  And if they don’t get them, the kidnapped young man will be buried alive.

Life Sentences by Laura Lippman

When successful memoirist Cassandra Fallows returns home to Baltimore in search of her next best-seller, the starts exploring the story of a childhood friend accused of killing her infant son.  but as she digs deeper into her friend’s life, Cassandra unearths secrets about her own past that cast her dearest memories in a new light.  Now Cassandra must decide if uncovering the truth is worth the pain of revealing what really happened on that forgotten day.

Handle With Care by Jodi Picoult

Charlotte O’Keefe’s daughter is born with brittle bone disease and faces endless suffering.  Confronting unthinkable medical costs, Charlotte considers a troubling solution.  she might win a large enough financial settlement to cover a lifetime of expenses-if she goes to court and says she would have terminated the pregnancy had she known of her daughter’s condition.  but the emotional ramifications of such a claim may be too great a price to pay.

Genghis Bones of the Hills by Conn Iggulden

As Genghis approaches a strange new territory, he confronts obstacles and enemies more formidable than anything or anyone he’s ever faced.  Rocky mountains tower around him.  the arid plains offer no respite.  and most daunting of all, Shah Ala-uh-Din Mohammed opposes Genghis with thousands of passionate Arab warriors.  Amidst all this, a sibling rivalry reaches the boiling point, as two of Genghis’ sons compete for their father’s favor-and the right to succeed him.

The Lost Quilter an Elm Creek Quilts Novel by Jennifer Chiaverini

When Sylvia Bergstrom Compson discovers a stash of letters in the attic of Elm Creek Manor, she traces a remarkable tale back to 1859.  Then escaped slave Joanna spent a brief period at Elm Creek Farm until she was captured and returned to bondage, leaving her son in the care of the Bergstrom family.  Now, if Sylvia is to determine the ultimate fate of Joanna and her son, she must rely on one important clue-the meticulous heirloom quilt Joanna stitched and left behind.

Another Country by James Baldwin

Set in Greenwich Village, Harlem and France, among other locales, Another country is a novel of passions-sexual, racial, political, artistic-that is stunning for its emotional intensity and daunting sensuality, depicting men and women, blacks and whites, stripped of their amskes of gender and race by love and hatred at the most elemental and sublie.  In a small set of friends, Baldwin imbues the best and worst intentions of liberal American in the early 1970′s.

LiveStation is free TV – whoo hoo!

from LibrarianInBlack by LibrarianInBlack

Another entry to the free television online fray, LiveStation.com offers access to free international television, some which you might not have access to through your satellite or cable package (or even because of geographic differences in offerings). These include AlJazeera, BBC World News, Euro News, France 24, and more. What an awesome thing to point  immigrant or second-language speaking users to!

Thanks Sarah Houghton-Jan!

A Mad Desire to Dance by Ellie Wiesel

Doriel, A European expatriate living in New York, suffers from a profound sense of desperation and loss.  His mother, a member of the Resistance, survived World War II only to die in an accident, together with his father, soon after  Doriel was a child during the war, and his knowledge of the Holocaust is largely limited to what he finds in movies, newsreels, and books-but it is enough.

Nose Up, Eyes Down by Merrill Markoe

At forty-seven, Gill is the world’s oldest twenty-two-year-old man.  He lives rent-free as a handyman in the L.A. summer house of a couple of rich retirees who only come out for vacations.  Gruff, shrewdly observant, but perplexed and beleaguered by women since his nasty divorce, Gil has been dating Sara, an animal communicator, long enough to converse freely with all four of his dogs.

The Mighty Queens of Freeville by Amy Dickinson

Amy Dickinson has made a career out of helping others, through her internationally syndicated advice column “Ask Amy”. In The Might Queens of Freeville, Amy dickson shares her remarkable story.  this is the tale of Amy and her daughter and the people who helped raise them after Amy found herself a reluctant single parent.

In A Strange City by Laura Lippman

Every year on January 19th, a mysterious cloaked figure leaves a tribute of three roses and a half bottle of cognac on Edgar Allan Poe’s grave.  Witnessing this quintessential Charm City ritual, Tess and other onlookers are shocked when two admirers appear in full costume.  Even more stunning, while one escapes after depositing his gift, the other crumbles-the victim of an assassin’s bullet.

The Somnambulist by Jonathan Barnes

Set amidst Victorian London’s seamy, fog-shrouded underworld, The Somnambulist features a quirky illusionist and his eight foot side kick – a milk guzzling albino mute.

The Help by Kathryn Stockett

In 1962 Jackson, Mississippi, two African-American maids and one white Junior League socialite- seemingly as different from one another as can be, will nonetheless come together for a clandestine project that will put them all at risk.  And why? Because they are suffocating within the lines that define their town and their times. And sometimes lines are made to be crossed.

‘The Decider’ to Become ‘The Author’

As widely expected, former president George W. Bush, like many past occupants of the Oval Office, is writing a book. But rather than penning a more traditional presidential memoir, Mr. Bush plans to write about twelve difficult personal and political decisions he has made in his life.