Wish You Were Dead Named to Tayshas Reading List

The Tayshas list is produced by the Texas Library Association. The books on it are recommended for reading by Texas teens. But unlike the other state nominations, I don't think they vote on their favorite.

Wyoming Update

Drove down to Wright this morning to visit the junior high there. Passing endless miles of yellow prairie grass, a herd of grazing bison, and an enormous coal strip mine. Some teachers and students here come from so far away that they board in housing built beside the school all week and go home on the weekends.

Later, back at the Gillette public library, I couldn't help noticing some of the more Wyoming-centric titles: Good Snakekeeping, Understanding Lameness (in horses), and Cost Effective Welding.

A Week in Gillette Wyoming

I'm spending the week in the clean coal capital, speaking in schools. Yesterday my hosts Sue and Cliff were kind enough to drive me out to the Black Hills to visit Devil's Tower (Sorry it's sideways. I'm the tiny red dot at the bottom.)

Here in northeast Wyoming it's rolling hills, sagebrush and cattle grazing land for as far as the eye can see, mile-long coal trains, pick up trucks, and lots of sky. Devil's Tower is massive. 1,280 feet high (The Empire State Building is 1,250). An extraordinary-looking monolith (figuring significantly in Close Encounters of the Third Kind).

The school kids are fun and funny. Some camoflage clothing, but lots of hoodies, torn jeans, and sneakers, too. Today the girls were telling me how they ride their horses up to the drive-thru window at McDonald's.

If I Grow Up Now In 4th Hardcover Edition

The paperback has been out for quite some time, so it's gratifying to see that the hardcover is still selling.

Boot Camp Nominated for Virginia Young Readers Award

It's basically the same idea as the other state awards. Students will choose their favorite from a list of about ten recently published books. In addition to Virginia, Boot Camp has been nominated in Illinois, Georgia, and Iowa.