Books

• The First Fifty Years: Per Mar Security Services. Research Editor and Writer.
• The Writing Group Book: Creating and Sustaining a Successful Writing Group (Chicago Review Press, 2003). My essay: “Dominating the Ugly Jade Dragon of Jealousy.”

• Together at the Doorway: An Anthology of Published Works. Served as editor and coordinator for the Quad Cities Branch of the National League of American Pen Women, Inc.
• The Kahl Legacy: the history, the man, the vision Scott Community College Foundation.
• More Than 125 Years of Tradition: The Outing Club. Davenport, Iowa: The Outing Club.
• Alcoa Davenport Works: The First Fifty. Alcoa Mill Products. Bettendorf/Riverdale, IA .

• The Mel Foster Story: 75 Years of Shaping the Quad-Cities. The Mel Foster Co., Inc.

• Roots and Recipes: Six Generations of Heartland Cookery. Co-authored with Vernadine Berry. Pelican Publishing Company, Gretna, LA.
• Dribbles, a children's picture book. New York: Clarion Books. Illust. by Elizabeth Sayles.
• To Keera with Love: Abortion, Adoption, or Keeping the Baby. Co-authored with Kayla Becker. Sheed and Ward, Kansas City, MO. Supported by a Faculty Development Grant from St. Ambrose University, Davenport .
• The First 100 Years: A Pictorial History of Lindsay Park Yacht Club, Lindsay Park Yacht Club, Davenport, IA.
• The Swedish Connections, personal experience non-fiction, Sutherland Publishing, Ft. Meyers, FLA. My master's essay. The bestselling author, David Morrell was on my committee.
• Lyons: 150 Years North of the Big Tree, pictorial history, Lyons Business & Professional Association, Clinton, IA.
• Miss Rochelle and the Lost Bell, children's picture book, Quest Publishing, Rock Island, IL.

Recommended Books

A Sampling of Books for Reading and Writing

• Browne, Renni and Dave King. Illustrations by George Booth. Self-Editing for Fiction Writers: How to Edit Yourself Into Print. HarperCollins Publishers, 1993.
• George, Elizabeth. Write Away: One Novelist’s Approach to Fiction and the Writing Life. New York: HarperCollins Publishers, 2004.
• Giblin, James Cross. The Giblin Guide to Writing Children’s Books, 4th Ed. West Redding, CT.: Writer’s Institute Publications, 2005. Suggested reading by genre and ages. An excellent overview by this editor and writer.
• Hacker, Diana. A Writer’s Reference. Boston, New York: Bedford/St. Martin’s.
• Herman, Jeff and Deborah Levine Herman. Write the Perfect Book Proposal: 10 That Sold and Why. New York: John Wilen & Sons, Inc., 2001.
• Keyes, Ralph. The Courage to Write: How Writers Transcend Fear. New York: Henry Holt and Company, 1995.
• Lerner, Betsy. The Forest for the Trees: An Editor’s Advice to Writers. New York: Penguin Putnam, 2000.
• Litowinsky, Olga. It’s a Bunny-Eat-Bunny World: A Writer’s Guide to Survivng and Thriving in Today’s Competitive Children’s Book Market. Walker Publishing Company, 2001.
• Lukeman, Noah. The First Five Pages: A Writer’s Guide to Staying Out of the Rejection Pile. Simon & Schuster, 2000.
• Marcus, Leonard S. Ed. and Collected by. Dear Genius: The Letters of Ursala Nordstrom. New York: HarperCollins Publishers, 1998.
• Morrell, David. Lessons From a Lifetime of Writing: a novelist looks at his craft. Cincinnati, OH., Writer’s Digest Books, 2002. Among the best texts on what not to do in dialogue.
• Rubie, Peter. The Everything Get Published Book: Everything and everyone you need to know to become a successfully published author! Avon, MA: Adams Media Corporation, 2000. A reference that literary agents and industry professionals recommend.
• Rubie, Peter. Telling the Story: How to Write and Sell Narrative Nonfiction. New York: HarperCollins Publishers, 2003.
• Seuling, Barbara. How to Write a Children’s Book and Get It Published. New York: Simon & Schuster Macmillan, Rev., 1991.
• Spratt, Steven D. and Lee G. Spratt. Networking at Writer’s Conferences: From Contacts to Contracts. New York: John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 1995. Worth the search for it.
• Strunk, William Jr. and E.B. White. The Elements of Style. New York: Macmillan, Tierney, Susan M. Ed. Children’s Writer Guide to 2006. West Redding, CT.: Writer’s Institute Publications, 2006.
• Ueland, Brenda. If You Want to Write: A Book About Art, Independence and Spirit. Saint Paul, MN., Graywolf Press, 1987.
• Yolen, Jane. Guide to Writing for Children. Boston, MA., The Writer, Inc., 1989. Prolific children’s author of poetry and prose.
• Yolen, Jane. Take Joy: a book for writers. Waukesha, WI, The Writer Books, 2003.
• Zinsser, William. On Writing Well. New York, NY: HarperCollinsCollegePublishers.

Picture Books

• Crimi, Carolyn. Boris and Bella. San Francisco, CA. Harcourt, 2004.
• Danziger, Paula. Barfburger Baby, I Was Here First. New York: G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 2004.
• Esbaum, Jill. Stink Soup. New York: Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 2003.
• Fleming, Candace. Muncha, Muncha, Muncha. Atheneum Books for Young Readers, 2002.
• Fleming, Candace. The Hatmakers’s Sign: A Story by Ben Franklin. New York: Scholastic, 1998.
• Hopkinson, Deborah. A Band of Angels, An Anne Schwartz Book: Atheneum Books for Young Readers, Simon & Schuster, 1999.
       Apples to Oregon. Atheneum Books for Young Readers, 2004.
       Bluebird Summer. New York: Greenwillow Books, 2001.
       Girl Wonder: A Baseball Story in Nine Innings. New York: Simon & Schuster Books for
            Young Readers, 2003.
• Johnson, Angela. I Dream of Trains. New York: Simon & Schuster, 2003.
• Kennedy, Frances. The Pickle Patch Bathtub. San Francisco, CA: Tricycle Books, 2004.
• Martin, Jacqueline Briggs. On Sand Island. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 2003.
• Timberlake, Amy. The Dirty Cowboy. New York: Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 2003.
• Wheeler, Lisa. Porcupining: A Prickly Love Story. Boston: Little Brown and Company, 2002.
       Turk and Runt. New York: Atheneum Books for Young Readers, 2002.

Fiction:
Titles perhaps less familiar, but good reading for contemporary books

• Avi. Anything by this author. The End of the Beginning: Being the Adventures of a Small Snail and an Even Smaller Ant. Harcourt, Inc., 2004. Crispin, Blue Heron, The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle.
• Choldenko, Gennifer. Al Capone Does My Shirts. New York: G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 2004. Newbery Honor. No wonder a Sid Fleischman humor award winner.
• Curtis, Christopher Paul. Bucking the Sarge. New York: Wendy Lamb Books, 2004.
• Czech, Jan M. Grace Happens. New York: Viking, Penguin Young Readers, 2005.
• Hannigan, Katherine. Ida B. New York: Greenwillow/HarperCollins, 2004.
• Henkes, Kevin. Olive’s Ocean. Greenwillow Books, 2003.
• Kadohata, Cynthia. Kira-Kira. New York: Atheneum Books for Young Readers, 2004. Newbery winner.
• Love, D’Anne. Semiprecious. New York: Margaret McElderry Books, 2006.
       The Puppeteer’s Apprentice, 2005. Historical titles great for pleasure and study.
• Lyon, Melissa. Upstream. New York: Wendy Lamb Books, 2005. Loved this book.
• Lyon, Steve. The Gift Moves. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co., 2004. Fine fantasy.
• Moranville, Sharelle Byars. Over the River. New York: Henry Holt and Company, 2002. A Higher Geometry, 2005.
• Murray, Martine. The Slightly True Story of Cedar B. Harley. (New York: Arthur A. Levine/Scholastic, 2002.
• Napoli, Donna. Breath. New York: Atheneum Books for Young Readers, 2003.
• Napoli, Donna. Gracie: The Pixie of the Puddle. New York: Dutton’s Children’s Books, 2004.
• Thomson, Sarah L. the manny. New York: Dutton’s Children’s Books, 2005.
• Yee, Lisa. Millicent Min: Girl Genius. New York: Arthur A. Levine/Scholastic, 2003.
• Yolen, Jane and Bruce Coville. Armageddon Summer. San Diego, CA.: Harcourt, Inc., 1998. A novel that continues to haunt me.

Nonfiction

• Bredeson, Carmen. After the Last Dog Died. Washington, D.C.: National Geographic, 2003.
• Byrd, Robert. Leonardo: Beautiful Dreamer. New York: Dutton’s Children’s Books, 2003.
• Fleming, Candace. Ben Franklin’s Almanac. Atheneum Books for Young Readers, 2003.
• Freedman, Russell. The Voice That Changed the Nation: Marian Anderson New York: Clarion 2005.
• Ketchum, Liza. Into a New Country: Eight Remarkable Women of the West. Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 2000.
• Sis, Peter. The Tree of Life. New York: Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 2003.
• Yoder, Carolyn. George Washington, The Writer. Honesdale, PA: Boyds Mills Press, 2003.