INSIDE - North Dakota Library Association

North Dakota in Print
A Sheldon, North Dakota, teen has
penned her first novel, Appaloosy.
Author Mattie Richardson is 16
years old and has always loved to
write. Appaloosy is a historical
fiction story told from an Appaloosa
horse’s point of view during the
Nez Perce War of the late 1800s.
Richardson says the book will “mainly appeal
to girls ages 8-14 who love horses.” The book
was self-published through Morris Publishing in
Nebraska. Richardson appeared at the Summer
Reading Kick Off in Bismarck on June 2 at the
Capitol grounds.
Eric Bergeson has released his third book, Back
on the Farm: a Collection of Essays ($16.95, 296
p.). Bergeson grew up in rural Fertile, Minnesota,
and earned his Master’s degree in History from
the University of North Dakota. Bergeson’s
weekly column, “Down on the Farm,” appears
in papers in Minnesota and North Dakota. For
more information or to order copies of Bergeson’s
books, visit the Country Scribe Publishing website
at www.countryscribepublishing.com/.
A CD release party was held in Killdeer on April
10 to launch the latest CD from Quintana Biffert
of Halliday, who has been singing since she
was eight years old. Call His Name ($15, CD)
is a gospel CD and was recorded in Branson,
Missouri last October. Biffert’s first CD was
entitled Dream. Now 18, Biffert has received
recognition for her talent and has a bright future.
The Country Gospel Music Association (CGMA)
named her their International Teenage Performer
of the Year in both 2008 and in 2009 as well
as their International Yodeler of the Year. For
more information, visit www.myspace.com/
quintanabiffert or call 701-938-4341.
Norma Heazlett Rittal of Grand
Forks has penned Dumpling
($28.50, hardcover; $20.90,
pbk.; $12.50, download; 55 p.),
a children’s book. Dumpling
is a baby cloud and is wrapped
into the Old Testament stories of
Noah, Miriam, and Moses. The
Compiled by Marlene Anderson, Editorial Committee Member
The Good Stuff - Page 20 - June 2010
book is illustrated with photos of clouds, most
taken along the Red River Valley. The book is
available online from lulu.com.
Homesteading, a production
from Prairie Public Broadcasting,
premiered on Prairie Public on
April 6, 2010. Kim Stenehjem
produced the documentary which
features footage shot in Minnesota,
North Dakota, and South Dakota locations
and interviews with historians, stories told by
descendants of homesteaders, and dramatic
readings from pioneer diaries and letters. The
documentary examines the diversity of the
settlers’ ethnic, social, and economic classes
and their motives for becoming homesteaders.
It also addresses the land boom that was made
possible by the railroads, the Native American
tribes who lived on the Great Plains, and the
challenges that pioneers faced, including disease,
drought, illness, death, prairie fires, isolation, and
loneliness. The production is funded in part by
the North Dakota Humanities Council, North
Dakota Council on the Arts, the Minnesota Arts
and Cultural Heritage Fund through the citizens
of Minnesota, and the members of Prairie Public.
Former Fargo radio talk show host Ed Schultz is
the author of a new book released by Hyperion
Press on June 1. Killer Politics: How Big
Money and Bad Politics Are Destroying the
Great American Middle Class ($25.99, 224
p., hardcover) “focuses on the concerns of the
middle class in these times of great economic
distress.” Schultz now anchors MSNBC’s “The
Ed Show” and also hosts “The Ed Schultz Show,”
which airs on more than 100 radio stations.
Schultz is also the author of Straight Talk from the
Heartland: Tough Talk, Common Sense, and Hope
from a Former Conservative (2004).
Mr. Wheat: a Biography of U.S. Senator Milton
R. Young ($29.99, 560 p. + 11 minute DVD,
softcover) is the first biography of North Dakota’s
longest serving U.S. Senator. The book by Andrea
Winkjer Collin with Richard E. Collin also
features Race of the Century: Guy vs. Young 1974
North Dakota U.S. Senate Election by Allan C.