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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (March 9, 1984)
C *«6l '6 ' Aepv» J I 4 ast>3 jv The month of March has been declared Texas Book Month in a proclamation signed by Gov. Mark White on Feb. 23, 1984. The procla mation urged Texans to cele brate Texas Book Month by learning about the state's his tory, government, industry, arts, literature and folklore by delving into the state's "trea sure trove of books." As part of White's 'cele bration of Texas Book Month, he has taped a public service announcement to be distrib uted free to all Texas tele- vision stations. The public Children choose books for award service spot, sponsored by the University of Texas Press, features White asking Texans to take part in what he calls a "real Texas adventure, read ing." The announcement will air this month. Texas Book Month was es tablished to spread the word about the many good books about Texas, written by Texas authors, published locally, funded by nonprofit institu tions and associations, car ried in libraries, sold in bookstores and made avail able through other sources. Texans pick their State big enough for both Texan, non-Texan writers By ERIN K. PYLE Reporter Encouraging children to read might be the most important reason for having the Bluebon net book award, which is cho sen by children, says a local el ementary school librarian. Gracia Smaistrla, a librarian at College Hills elementary school, says the Bluebonnet award is given to a children's book that is considered by chil dren to be the outstanding book of the year. Each year, 20 children's books are chosen by a panel of librarians, teachers, and profes sors at Sam Houston State Uni versity in Huntsville. The books are sent to school libraries, and voted on by Texas school chil dren in grades three to six. School libraries participate on a volunteer basis. They order the books and require the chil dren to read at least five to be eligible to vote, Smaistrla says. The winning book from each school is sent to the creator of the Bluebonnet, Dr. Janelle Pa ris, a professor at Sam Houston, who tabulates the votes. The re sults for this year's award will be announced in April at the Texas Library Association con vention at Corpus Christi. Paris says she started the award in 1977 because she felt it was a great way promote a reading incentive program for children. "I kept putting off starting the award because I was work ing on my Ph.D and did not have the time," Paris says, "but as soon as I finished, I began to devote my time to it." The Bluebonnet awards not only honor authors, they also give children the opportunity to express their reading prefer ences. Teachers can learn how children feel about life by the books they read, Paris says. Paris says the awards have been successful. To promote them, bookmarks, pictures of previous winning authors and gold seals to put on winning books are sold to school librar ies, Paris says. Each of the books usually has an underlying message to the children. These books are not necessarily outstanding literary accomplishments, but they do deal with children's problems and help them to develop a pos itive outlook on life, Paris says. Among the winners of the Bluebonnet award are: Bill Wal lace, author of A Dog called Kitty, and Judy Blume, author of Super Fudge. Paris said one of the books up for consideration this year, Nothing's Fair in Fifth Grade by Barthe DeClements, is an ex ceptionally good book for chil dren, because it deals with the peer pressure a fifth grader ex periences at school. By BONNIE LANGFORD Staff Writer The great state of Texas is fa mous for being the home of oil wells and cattle ranches, but the Lone Star doesn't shine so brightly with bragging rights for writers. Don't worry, Texas writers do exist. Not all of them are tall cowboys, whose favorite past time is horseback riding. Not all of them write about Zane Grey, but where is the dividing line? Take Max Apple, for example, who has written The Oranging of America and Other Stories — a tale of Howard Johnson — and Zip: A Novel of the Left and the Right. Can this short, urban Michigan-born writer, who now lives in Houston, be counted amidst the Texans? Does the line need to be stretched even further, as Texas writer J. Frank Dobie did when he was teaching a Texas litera ture course, and included a mere tourist like Willa Gather? She wrote Death Comes for the Archbishop, a novel about French priest, Joseph Lamy, who had as much influence in the Southwest as Spanish con- quistadores. Why not? Texas deserves the best of both worlds, both Tex ans and non-Texans writing about the state. For starters, there's Blood and Money, by Thomas Thompson. This book hit the bookstands with all the ingre dients for a successful book. It's about rich Texans and murder, in Houston. William Hoffman's newest release, Texas — A Year With the Boys, should be interesting reading. It's about Texas' eccen tric millionaires who spend their time searching for the Ti tanic, Big Foot or Noah's Arc. The book is non-fiction and proves the old saying "fact is stranger than fiction." University of Texas history professor Norman Brown has written another "can't lose" combination; the title — Hood, Bonnet, and the Little Brown Jug: Texas Politics from 1921- 1928— gives that away. It's the tale of Texas politics during the "Ma" Ferguson era. Mariam Ferguson, who is Texas' only woman governor, was elected after her husband was removed from the office. The title comes from the Ku Klux Klan's well-known sym bol, the sun bonnet of the fe male governor and her pro-li quor stance. In the classic Texas writers vein, there is Katherine Anne Porter, who was bom near Brownwood. One of her better- known books. Ship of Fools, is a comical irony about a ship sailing from Mexico to Ger many. Larry L. King, a Texan who is better known for his musical. The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas, wrote his first novel in 1966. The One-Eyed Man, is a tale of southern politics, that reeks of Texas atmosphere. One of A.C. Greene's novels, A Personal Country, is another interesting journey through the state. His almost autobiographi cal story tells of West Texas — as he says in the book, it's a "ca pital W" to describe a frame of mind, outlooks and expecta tions. People connected with Texas A&M also have published books that are more interesting than the average textbook. Dr. Frank Vandiver has writ ten several historical books- Mighty Stonewall was written while he was a history profes sor at Rice University. The book contains plenty of human inter est background about the life of Thomas Johnathan Jackson, as it gives the story of this famous warrior's life. Texas A&M history professor Henry C. Dethloff has an unique compilation of stories about the University in his A Centennial History of Texas A&M, 1876-1976. Some of the tales he has included give the reason why there are so many Aggie jokes. Texas writers aren't limited to fiction, though, because the state provides an excellent source for stories about every thing from the country-side we see to the food we eat. Some interesting reading for flora fans can be found in Cacti of Texas and Neighboring States, by Del Weniger. The book is a compact field guide of all the cacti of Texas, New Mex ico, Oklahoma, Arkansas and Lousiana. Each plant, except for those that are extinct, is pictured in color. The book may provide a record to other cacti that may soon become extinct. Another field book on plants is Texas Wildflowers, by Camp bell and Lynn Loughmiller; it includes 375 color pictures of natures' native beauties. Texas Auto Trail: the North east, by Myra Hargrave Mcll- vain, provides the reader a guide for escaping from the big cities of Dallas and Fort Worth into the fascinating small and see "Author" page 14