Non-fiction

The Middle of Everywhere: The World's Refugees Come to Our Town
RC 921

by Mary Pipher

read by Beth McNeil

3 cassettes

The newest members of America's family-the refugees-have fled oppressive regimes to live in Lincoln, Nebraska, and in every town across the United States. Bringing with them their own endurance to survive in the face of tragedy, they often come with nothing except the desire to live the American dream. Their stories show how recent immigrants from numerous countries and religious traditions offer a wider perspective on the world.
Contains some strong language.

Danes in America: Kansas and Nebraska
RC 956

edited by John W. Nielsen; translated by Ninna Engskow

read by Marie Johnson

2 cassettes

Accounts of early Danish settlers describe pioneer life in Kansas and Nebraska. Virtually all the material comes from volume two of the original work (Danske i Amerika), published in 1916.
 

Many Nebraskans look forward to summer. Many authors like summer as well. Here are some great books which are set in the good ol' summertime:

RC 46315 Memories of Summer: When Baseball Was an Art and Writing About It a Game, by Roger Kahn

A sportswriter's memoir of "the gilded era of baseball," the postwar years before million-dollar salaries, television networks, and player strikes. Recounts his experiences covering the Brooklyn Dodgers and offers observations on Willie Mays, Leo Durocher, Mickey Mantle, and other stars.

RC 46715 Devil's Rim, by Sam Brown

Concho Smith is headed to Mexico in the summer of 1898 when he comes across Judith Van, who is trying to mend a broken gate on her ranch. Her husband has been crippled by a fall from a horse, and she really needs help with the ranch work. Concho stops to help and ends up staying and facing problems. Strong language and some violence.

RC 48128 The Plum Thicket, by Janice Holt

A grandmother returns to the dusty Arkansas town where she spent her most unforgettable summer with her own grandparents in the early 1900s. At age eight, with acute perception but little understanding, she became a central character in a tense drama involving her aunt, her grandmother, a young doctor, and a housemaid.

RC 49957 Dreamer: A Novel, by Charles Johnson

During the tense summer of 1966 in Chicago, Martin Luther King Jr. and his followers are trying to quell outbreaks of violence. Matthew Bishop introduces King to Chaym Smith, who could easily pass as King's double. Their struggle against racial prejudice and social upheaval is presented from Bishop's point of view.

RC 51995 The Head Game: Baseball Seen from the Pitcher's Mound, by Roger Kahn

The author discusses the psychology and physics of baseball pitching, as well as some of the major personalities immortalized in the history of the sport.

RC 52160 Dying for Chocolate, by Diane Mott Davidson

To escape from her abusive ex-husband, caterer Goldy Bear accepts a summer job cooking for a retired general. After one of her suitors dies in a car accident, she joins another, Detective Tom Schulz, in the investigation. And soon her son, Arch, is in danger. Some violence and some strong language.

RC 52222 Actor, by Parnell Hall

New York private investigator Stanley Hastings accepts the lead in a summer theater production on behalf of an old college chum. The once-aspiring thespian meets an assortment of fellow players, including a soap opera star. Then the stage manager is murdered. Some descriptions of sex and some violence.

RC 52378 Truth & Bright Water, by Thomas King

Summer in a Montana reservation town moves in unexpected directions after Tecumseh and his cousin Lum witness a woman dancing on a clifftop and then leaping into the river below. Tecumseh helps a trompe l'oeil artist make a derelict church "disappear" but cannot deal so easily with Lum's unhappiness. Some strong language.

RC 52617 How I Survived My Summer Vacation: And Lived to Write the Story, by Robin Friedman

The summer before starting high school, Jackie is determined to finally write his novel, but he keeps getting distracted by his embarrassing New Age parents, his buddies, the swim team-and his first girlfriend. For grades 6-9.

RC 53067 The Smoke Jumper, by Nicholas Evans

Julia Bishop meets Ed Tully first but soon is introduced to his best friend and fellow forest firefighter Connor Ford. That summer a catastrophic fire forces Julia to choose between the two men she has come to love. Some explicit descriptions of sex, some violence, and some strong language.

RC 53732 Summer Moon, by Jill Marie Landis

Kate Whittington, who grew up in a Maine orphanage, impulsively answers an advertisement for a mail-order bride for Reed Benton of Texas. But when she arrives, she discovers her husband knows nothing about her. And he has just recovered his son who was captured by the Comanche years earlier. Some explicit descriptions of sex.

RC 54579 Holding Up the Earth, by Dianne E. Gray

Fourteen-year-old orphan Hope, spending the summer on a Nebraska farm with Sarah, her latest foster mother, reads family documents left by four previous generations of teens: Abigail, the first homesteader; Rebecca, a hired girl; Sarah's mother, Anna; and Sarah. For grades 5-8.

RC 54777 Summer of Storms, by Judith Kelman

Thirty-three-year-old photographer Anna Jameson returns to work in New York City three decades after her sister is murdered there during a hurricane. As she investigates the past and uncovers family secrets, she becomes a target of the killer, who is still very much alive. Some violence and some strong language.

Here are more books recorded in our own studios during past years that are still great to read. To order, please check the box next to the RC number and mail this page to the Talking Book and Braille Service; or contact your Readers Advisor.