Reading Recommendations: Mad Dogs and an Englishwoman, Travels with Sled Dogs in Canada's Frozen North, Polly Evans

A Mission to find out everything possible about the howling, tail wagging world of sled dogs. Fool's errand! Or the adventure of a lifetime? The intrepid world traveler was about to find out.

In the dead of winter, Polly Evans ventured to Canada's far northwest, where temperatures plunge to minus forty and the sun rises for just a few hours a day. But though she was prepared for the cold, she never anticipated how profoundly she'd be affected by that blissful and austere place. In a pristine landscape patrolled by wolves and caribou, the wannabe musher was soon learning the ropes of arctic dogsledding, careening across the silent tundra with her own team of yapping, leaping canines.

Shivering but undaunted, Polly follows the tracks of the legendary Yukon Quest, a dogsledding race more arduous than the Iditarod, witnessing a life and death spectacle she'll never forget. Along the way, she makes a stop at the Santa Claus house in North Pole, Alaska (where the post office delivers unstamped mail), and witnesses the astonishing northern lights weaving green and red across the sky. And before the snow melts in Spring, Polly will have discovered a deep affection for the loving, mischievous huskies whose courage and enthusiasm escort her through the delights and dangers of living life at the extreme, in some of the most forbidding places on Earth.

And, Early Texas Schools, a Photographic History Text by Mary S. Black, Photographs by Bruce F. Jordan

Schools in Texas experienced phenomenal development during the states first century, beginning with informal open air classrooms and one room schools in the 1830's and continuing up to the modern elementary, secondary, and post secondary schools built with oil money in the 1920's and 1930's. Many of these schools remain today and offer a unique starting point for learning about the history of education in Texas. To preserve this history, Mary Black and Bruce Jordan set out to find and photograph historically significant school buildings across the state. This documentary record they present in Early Texas Schools shows how ardently Texans of all races and walks of life have aspired to educate their children, succeeding even in the face of geographical isolation, poverty, and racism.

No other view of the first century of education in Texas has been published making Early Texas Schools an invaluable record for all who want to know what came before the schools of today, in which students can make connections and access information literally around the globe.

And, Tending Roses, Lisa Wingate

The lessons that most enrich our lives often come at unexpected moments and from unexpected places. That's what Kate Bowman learns when she moves temporarily, with her husband, Ben, and baby son, to her grandmother's Missouri farm. She arrives at a time of crisis and indecision, struggling with the demands of being a new mother, a not so new wife, and a well meaning but often impatient granddaughter. The family has assigned her and Ben the job of convincing Grandma Rose, who's become increasingly stubborn and forgetful, to move off the land that means so much to her and into a nursing home. Kate knows such a change would break her grandmother's heart. But what is right for her grandmother? And what is right for her family and herself?

Just when Kate despairs of finding answers, she discovers her grandmother's journal. And the story goes from there-

Don't forget Lisa Wingates appearance here with us November 16th. Put the date and time 2 p.m. on your calendar.

See you there!