We Heard It When We Were Young


Book Description

We Heard It When We Were Young tells the story of a young boy, first-generation Mexican American, who is torn between cultures: between immigrant parents trying to acclimate to midwestern life and a town that is, by turns, supportive and disturbingly antagonistic.




An Ocean in Iowa


Book Description

A “funny and supremely moving”novel about a seven-year-old navigating a world of turmoil by the author of What’s Eating Gilbert Grape (Harper’s Bazaar). Seven-year-old Scotty Ocean decides that seven is going to be “his year.” But soon after his birthday, his artist-turned-alcoholic mother abandons the family—leaving Scotty and his two older sisters alone with their father. As his perfect year falls apart, Scotty begins to act out during school and takes a series of increasingly wild actions to try to win his mother back—and, when that doesn’t work, to replace her. Funny and deeply affecting, An Ocean in Iowa traces Scotty’s desperate attempt to hold on to his childhood while the foundation of his family disintegrates. As Scotty’s year as a seven-year-old flies by—and the dreaded eight approaches—Peter Hedges explores how Scotty sheds his childhood in a one-eighty of the year he hoped would be so perfect. Beautifully written, and with careful attention to period detail, this compelling coming-of-age novel sets the private turmoil of a disintegrating family against the backdrop of the Vietnam War and the turbulent 1960s. “A delightful romp through the age of seven with an endearing character who revels in life’s smallest details.” —The Christian Science Monitor




Storm Lake


Book Description

"A reminder that even the smallest newspapers can hold the most powerful among us accountable."—The New York Times Book Review Watch the documentary Storm Lake on PBS. Iowa plays an outsize role in national politics. Iowa introduced Barack Obama and voted bigly for Donald Trump. But is it a bellwether for America, a harbinger of its future? Art Cullen’s answer is complicated and honest. In truth, Iowa is losing ground. The Trump trade wars are hammering farmers and manufacturers. Health insurance premiums and drug prices are soaring. That’s what Iowans are dealing with, and the problems they face are the problems of the heartland. In this candid and timely book, Art Cullen—the Storm Lake Times newspaperman who won a Pulitzer Prize for taking on big corporate agri-industry and its poisoning of local rivers—describes how the heartland has changed dramatically over his career. In a story where politics, agri­culture, the environment, and immigration all converge, Cullen offers an unsentimental ode to rural America and to the resilient people of a vibrant community of fifteen thousand in Northwest Iowa, as much sur­vivors as their town.




Iowa Underground


Book Description

Take a mysterious and fascinating tour through Iowa's underground treasures. This guide will reveal the state's subterranean attractions including show and wild caves, springs, mining sites and other geological and man-made sites. If you are a sport caver, a scientist, or curious tourist, this guide will give you all you need to know to begin exploring Iowa's underground world. IN THIS BOOK YOU'LL FIND - Detailed directions with helpful tips and precautions. - Descriptions of various lead- and coal-mining museums. - Fun stories and legends, including cave fairies, trolls, and ghost towns. - Additional information about Iowa's coal-mining past. - Facts about underground biological life. "A uniquely written perspective on the underground wonders of Iowa, by a premier Midwest cave historian." --Gary K. Soule, Speleo Historian and Trustee, American Spelean History Association




Good Night Iowa


Book Description

Good Night Iowa includes walleye fishing, Iowa Great Lakes, the State Capitol Building, Iowa State Fair, Adventureland, Blank Park Zoo, Des Moines Art Center, Iowa City, Herbert Hoover Presidential Library and Museum, National Mississippi River Museum and Aquarium, and Effigy Mounds National Monument. This adorable board book allows children to explore all the famous sights, attractions, and landmarks to state of Iowa has to offer. No stalk of corn has been left unturned! This book is part of the bestselling Good Night Our World series, which includes hundreds of titles exploring iconic locations and exciting, child-friendly themes. Many of North America’s most beloved regions are artfully celebrated in these board books designed to soothe children before bedtime while instilling an early appreciation for North America's natural and cultural wonders. Each book stars a multicultural group of people visiting the featured area’s attractions as rhythmic language guides children through the passage of both a single day and the four seasons while saluting the iconic aspects of each place.




The Lost Continent


Book Description

"I come from Des Moines. Somebody had to." And, as soon as Bill Bryson was old enough, he left. Des Moines couldn't hold him, but it did lure him back. After ten years in England he returned to the land of his youth, and drove almost 14,000 miles in search of a mythical small town called Amalgam, the kind of smiling village where the movies from his youth were set. Instead he drove through a series of horrific burgs, which he renamed Smellville, Fartville, Coleslaw, Coma, and Doldrum. At best his search led him to Anywhere, USA, a lookalike strip of gas stations, motels and hamburger outlets populated by obese and slow-witted hicks with a partiality for synthetic fibres. He discovered a continent that was doubly lost: lost to itself because he found it blighted by greed, pollution, mobile homes and television; lost to him because he had become a foreigner in his own country.




Demystifying the French


Book Description

"Demystifying the French: How to Love Them, and Make Them Love You is aimed at first-time visitors to France as well as long-term expatriates. Designed to help readers 'crack the code,' avoid common mistakes, and get off on the right foot with the French, the book begins with five easy-to-follow essential tips 'for even brief encounters' by introducing a few French phrases and how to say them that will pave the way for a positive experience in France. The tips are followed by 10 chapters that go into a deeper explanation of French habits, manners, and ways of viewing the world. Hulstrand shares the perspective she has gained in nearly 40 years of time spent living, working, teaching, and traveling in France, and illustrates the principles she is discussing with sometimes touching, and often amusing, personal anecdotes... Reflections contributed by David Downie, Adrian Leeds, Harriet Welty Rochefort, and other well-known commentators on Franco-American cultural differences provide additional perspective and depth. A glossary of French terms that is both substantive and whimsical provides surprising insights into historical as well as cultural reasons for the French being 'the way they are.' Aimed mainly at an American audience, this book will be helpful for anyone who wants to better understand the French, and have fun while doing so."--Amazon.com.




Me? I'm From Iowa


Book Description




Landforms of Iowa


Book Description




Iowa Curiosities


Book Description

Your round-trip ticket to the wildest, wackiest, most outrageous people, places, and things the Hawkeye State has to offer!