KMS Library Newsletter for December 2007

Author of the Month:  John Erickson

John R. Erickson, a former cowboy and ranch manager, is gifted with a storyteller's knack for spinning a yarn.  Through the eyes of Hank the Cowdog, a smelly, smart aleck Head of Ranch Security, Erickson gives readers a glimpse of daily life on a ranch in the West Texas Panhandle.    

Ericson graduated from the University of Texas in 1966 and studied for two years at Harvard Divinity School.  He began to publish short stories in 1967 while working full-time as a cowboy, farmhand, and ranch manager in Texas and Oklahoma.

In 1982, however, Erickson was at his rope's end.  "I was working out in the cold; there was 8 inches of snow on the ground," he says, "I had just gotten a couple of rejection slips from New York publishers; and, I had a wife with two kids and another one on the way."  So, with $2000 in borrowed money, Erickson started his own publishing company, appropriately named Maverick Books.

Hank the Cowdog made his debut in the pages of The Cattleman, a magazine for adults.  An obvious favorite of readers, Erickson included two of Hank's humorous stories in Maverick Book's first publishing effort, The Devil in Texas (1982).  Erickson began selling books from his pickup truck at cattle auctions, rodeos, and just about any place cowboys gathered.

So in 1983, 2,000 copies of The Original Adventures of Hank the Cowdog were published, and sold out in 6 weeks.  Not long after that first printing, the book was recorded word-for-word on audiotape.  Since then, every Hank book has been recorded, making Hank the longest running successful children's series on audio ever.

Erickson was born in Midland, Texas.  By the age of 3, he had moved with his family to Perryton, Texas where he lives today with his wife, their youngest son, and a dog named Sophie, on their very own ranch.  His advice to young writers is, "Write about something you know.  Try to leave your readers better off than they were before.

Books in the KMS Library by the author:

Cowboy Country. Call #: 978er4c; Alkali County Tales. Call #:FEr4a; The case of the Halloween Ghost. Call #: F/Er4c; Cowboys Are a Separate Species. Call #: F/Er4c; Cowboys Are Old Enough to Know Better. Call #: F/Er4ca; The
Case of the Black-hooded hangman. Plus 40 more books. (see list in the library)

New Books in the KMS Library:

May-Bird: Among the Stars, by Jodi Lynn Anderson.  Call #: PB/And

Still trapped in the Ever After, ten-year-old May Bird struggles to decide whether to save the world of her ghostly friends from the evil Bo Cleevil or to return to her West Virginia home.

Midnight Rider by Joan Hiatt Harlow.  Call #: PB/Har

Fourteen-year-old Hannah, an orphan indentured to the family of a British general in Boston in 1775, begins attending secret meetings disguised a s a boy, then passing messages and warnings to the revolutionaries using her beloved horse, Promise.

 Firewing by Kenneth Oppel. Call #: PB/Opp

"A companion to Silverwing and Sunwing" -- Cover.  Griffin, a young bat, is sucked into the "Underworld," and his father follows to rescue him.

The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan. Call #: PB/Rio

Percy, expelled from six schools for being unable to control his temper, learns the truth from his mother that his father is the Greek god Poseidon, and is sent to
Camp Half Blood where he is befriended by a satyr and the demigod daughter of Athena who join him in a journey to the Underworld to retrieve Zeus's lightning bolt and prevent a catastrophic war.

Olivia Kidney and the Secret Beneath the City by Ellen Potter.  Call#: F/P85o.

While preparing for her participation in a wedding, adjusting to being a student at a school for the arts, and dealing with surprise visitors at home twelve-year-old Olivia ventures into the New York City subway tunnels in search of a man who might help her friend Frannie.

Elijah of Buxton. by Christopher Paul Curtis.  Call #: F/C94e

Eleven-year-old Elijah Freeman, the first free-born child in Buxton, Canada, which is a haven for slaves fleeing the American South in 1859, uses his wits and has stolen money that was to be used to buy a family's freedom.

Titanic Stories

The Sixth Grade have been working on travel flyers for trips on the RMS Titanic and now doing PowerPoint Presentations on the video taped.  Later in the month they will be working on quizes and word finds as well as studying the Titanic and its sinking on April 14-15.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!!!!