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By Jerry Bilek, on November 21, 2011, 8:50 am
Third and Long
 “This novel is so good-hearted, so life-affirming, it’s a joy to read. . . . What Katz does so well is evoke the feelings of love the people have for their town and their close connections, even when the football team keeps losing. Katz clearly has compassion for all of his characters, and some of his descriptions of their feelings are so beautiful you’ll want to read whole paragraphs several times.” —Mary Ann Grossman, St. Paul Pioneer Press
“Katz has offered us a smart, moving, beautiful and important book.” —E. J. Dionne Jr., syndicated columnist, NPR commentator
A haunted stranger seeking a second chance in life helps a struggling Midwest factory town rediscover its better self. Think: Friday Night Lights meets It’s a Wonderful Life.
Winner of the 2011 Independent Book Publishers Association Award for popular fiction, Third and Long tells the story of a dying Midwest factory town that finds new life when a former Notre Dame football star is hired as the local plant manager. Soon he is handed not just the job of saving Made Right clothing, but the far more daunting task of saving the town.
 Laced with keen insights into contemporary issues—the importance of community, pitfalls of the global economy, the skewed importance of sports in the lives of people who desperately need a victory—Third and Long is a moving portrait of a vanishing America hanging by a thread, with perhaps just enough time remaining for one last miraculous play.
Bob Katz is the author of several widely praised books, including Hot Air, a novel about a charismaticLatin American revolutionary who comes to the U.S. for a speaking tour of Midwest colleges, which was optioned for a movie by MGM, and the nonfiction book Elaine’s Circle about an Alaskan schoolteacher.
White Truffles in Winter
“Beautifully layered and lovingly detailed, White Truffles in Winter is a tale of extraordinary people entangled in a captivating love story. Filled with lush and decadent longing, this novel will dazzle the mind as well as the senses.” —Diana Abu-Jaber, author of Birds of Paradise: A Novel
A breathtaking novel, rare and moving, about the world’s greatest chef and his unruly heart.
White Truffles in Winter imagines the world of the remarkable French chef Auguste Escoffier (1846-1935), who changed how we eat through his legendary restaurants at the Savoy and the Ritz. A man of contradictions—kind yet imperious, food-obsessed yet rarely hungry—Escoffier was also torn between two women: the famous, beautiful, and reckless actress Sarah Bernhardt and his wife, the independent and sublime poet Delphine Daffis, who refused ever to leave Monte Carlo. In the last year of Escoffier’s life, in the middle of writing his memoirs, he has returned to Delphine, who requests a dish in her name as he has honored Bernhardt, Queen Victoria, and many others.
 How does one define the complexity of love on a single plate? N. M. Kelby brings us the sensuality of food and love amid a world on the verge of war in this work that shimmers with beauty and longing.
N. M. Kelby is the critically acclaimed author of In the Company of Angels, Whale Season, White Trufflesin Winter, and the Florida Book Award winner A Travel Guide for Reckless Hearts, among others. She lives in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
Both books are available at Monkey See Monkey Read in downtown Northfield.
By Griff Wigley, on November 19, 2011, 7:17 am
Fit To Be TRI’d ("Minnesota’s newest source for all your Triathlon and multisport needs") has moved into the ground floor of the Tiny’s Building and is in the middle of their grand opening this weekend.
I stopped by on Thursday to chat with owner Tom Bisel and to take a few photos before the crowds showed up:
   
   
Saturday schedule of grand opening events:
- Newton Natural Motion Clinic: 8:00 – 10:00 a.m.
- Newton FAQ Session: 10:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.
- Nordic Waxing Clinic: 2:00 – 4:00 p.m.
I was glad to see the "Tiny’s is for lovers" ceiling tile for Cameron and Morgan was still there.
By Jerry Bilek, on November 17, 2011, 11:03 pm
The Least Cricket of Evening
A beautiful collection of meditative essays on the everyday nothings of life in which meaning can be found. In the tradition of the meditative essay, the writing of Robert Vivian begins with a mundane moment and, through the delicate workings of curiosity, contemplation, and inspiration, reveals unsuspected meaning.
 In this second collection of essays, Vivian finds his occasions in Midwestern towns and European cities. He explores the spiritual significance of circumstances and places and those who inhabit them, from the Jewish dead in a long-neglected cemetery in Poland to a dog slaughtered on a highway fronting the Black Sea to gunshots ringing out in rural Michigan. Again and again, Vivian probes what such phenomena suggest about the times we live in—and what they share with every time that ever was.
Robert Vivian is a professor of English and creative writing at Alma College in Michigan and a core facultymember in the low-residency MFA program at the Vermont College of Fine Arts. His stories, poems, and essays have appeared in numerous publications, and his plays have been produced in New York City. He is the author of Cold Snap as Yearning and the Tall Grass Trilogy, which includes The Mover of Bones, Lamb Bright Saviors, and Another Burning Kingdom, all available from the University of Nebraska Press.
Artisan Pizza and Flatbread in Five Minutes a Day
Praise for Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day
“Soon the bread will be making itself… The crusty, full-flavored loaf that results may be the world’s easiest yeast bread.”–The New York Times
“If holiday gift-givers are aiming to buy one new cookbook title for the bakers in their lives, they should look no further.” –Minneapolis Star-Tribune
From the bestselling authors of the hugely popular Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day featuring the authors’ signature approach to yeast dough that the Chicago Sun-Times has called “quite simply, genius,” this new a cookbook applies their same revolutionary approach to bread-making to pizza and flatbreads. With nearly half a million copies of their books in print, Jeff Hertzberg and Zoë François have proven that people want to bake their own bread—as long as they can do it quickly and easily. When fans hailed their pizza and flatbread recipes as the fastest in their books, Jeff and Zoe got busy creating all new recipes for lightning-fast pizzas, flatbreads, and sweet and savory tarts from stored, no-knead dough.
 Jeff Hertzberg, M.D., is former practicing physician with 20 years of experience in health care as a practitioner, consultant, and faculty member at the University of Minnesota Institute for Health Informatics. He grew up eating New York pizza and spent years trying to figure out how to make dough that was convenient enough to use for daily pizza, flatbreads, and loaves. He lives in Minneapolis with his wife and two daughters.
Zoë François is a pastry chef trained at the Culinary Institute of America, but she is a pizzaiola at heart. While writing this book, she traveled far and wide to eat every pizza and flatbread she could find. In addition to tossing pizzas, she creates desserts on her pastry blog zoebakes.com. She lives in Minneapolis with her husband and two sons.
The authors met in their children’s music class in 2003 and wrote the best-selling Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day and Healthy Bread in Five Minutes a Day. Pizza or bread questions are answered at www.PizzaIn5.com.
Both books are available at Monkey See Monkey Read in downtown Northfield.
By Jerry Bilek, on November 9, 2011, 7:24 am
The Hum and the Shiver
In this valley, songs live . . . and kill. The Hum & the Shiver is the first novel in a new series that spins a new Celtic mythology in the mountains of Tennessee and has drawn comparisons to the magical realism of Charles de Lint and to Holly Black’s Modern Faerie Tales series. No one knows where the Tufa came from, or how they ended up in the Smoky Mountains of East Tennessee, yet when the first Europeans arrived, they were already there. Dark-haired, enigmatic, and suspicious of outsiders, the Tufa live quiet lives in the hills and valleys of Cloud County. While their origins may be lost to history, there are clues in their music — hints of their true nature buried in the songs they have passed down for generations.
 A resident of Mt. Horeb, Wisconsin, Alex Bledsoe worked as a reporter, editor, and photographer before taking up writing full time. His Eddie LaCrosse series has earned rave reviews from critics, including starred reviews from Publishers Weekly and Booklist. Alex builds buzz for his novels and discusses a myriad of current event and pop culture topics on his blogwww.alexbledsoe.com/blog, and is a regular contributor to Tor.com where his insightful pop culture posts are always sure to spark intriguing conversations among readers.
The book is available at Monkey See Monkey Read in downtown Northfield.
By Griff Wigley, on November 8, 2011, 11:41 am
 I get regular updates on Gretchen Falck’s Forza! studio (on Professional Drive behind Casey’s). Why?
My wife Robbie is a ‘Forzite,’ hooked since March, 2010, doing everything from kettlebells, TRX Suspension training, and resistance stretching to a whole variety of body weight exercises. (That’s Robbie in the foreground of the photo on the right, swinging a kettlebell.) She just loves it.
Gretchen is hosting a Forza! open house tomorrow, Wed. Nov. 9, 5-7:30 pm. She’s mixing in exercise with the arts by unveiling a new mural:
Other Forzites [including Robbie] will be on hand to answer questions and demonstrate some of the tools of the trade. Look for them in their black Forza! t-shirts. Come see this beautiful mural, enjoy some healthy snacks and the company of some truly great people!
I’ve stopped the studio a few times in the past few weeks to take photos of her classes for her website. Here are a few:
   
   
By Griff Wigley, on November 3, 2011, 7:16 am
 Ed Kuhlman stopped by my corner office at GBM this morning with his Coldwell Banker South Metro realtor hat on, a follow-up to an email I got from Dianne Kyte a few days ago:
Griff - Be sure to drop in at our Open House this Thursday, November 3, 5-8 PM. We will be serving food and beverages and will be featuring the artwork of Northfield artist Rikki Kobl Nelson. This event is open to the public, but is also a B2B Chamber event.
In the photo, Ed is pointing to a blog post photo I took back in July when Coldwell Banker South Metro moved into the old Present Perfect space in downtown Northfield, between the HideAway Coffeehouse & Winebar and the Hogan Brothers Acoustic Café.
By Griff Wigley, on October 31, 2011, 9:46 am
By Jerry Bilek, on October 31, 2011, 8:07 am
Wonderstruck
 Expanding upon the genre-breaking form he invented in his trailblazing debut novel,The Invention of Hugo Cabret, Brian Selznick creates another awe-inspiring, multilayered reading experience.
Wonderstruck weaves together two compelling independent stories, set fifty years apart — Ben’s story, which takes place in 1977, is told in words; Rose’s story in 1927 is told in pictures. Ever since his mother died, Ben feels lost. At home with her father, Rose feels alone. When Ben finds a mysterious clue hidden in his mother’s room, and when a tempting opportunity presents itself to Rose, both children risk everything to find what’s missing. Rich, complex, affecting and beautiful, Wonderstruck is a stunning achievement from a uniquely gifted artist and visionary.
Bluefish
Thirteen-year-old Travis has a secret: he can’t read. But a shrewd teacher and a sassy girl named Velveeta are about to change everything in this witty and deeply moving novel. With sympathy, humor, and disarming honesty, Pat Schmatz brings to life a cast of utterly believable characters — and captures the moments of trust and connection that make all the difference. Schmatz addresses an issue — illiteracy — that is very real, but does so in a fresh, teen-friendly voice, and the masterfully realized characters include not only the main character, Travis, and his new friend, outrageous Velveeta, but also a brilliant teacher and a determined, dedicated librarian. The characters in this book come from very sad circumstances, but this is ultimately a very hopeful and, indeed, entertaining read.
 Growing up in rural Wisconsin, Pat Schmatz‘s passions were reading, basketball, and the woods. She lived in Michigan, California, and Minnesota before landing back in central Wisconsin. She still travels whenever she can, from Japan to Rhode Island to Vancouver to New Zealand. When she’s not traveling, Pat does administrative work for the Legal Aid Society of Minneapolis. She is currently at work on a new novel.
Both books are available at Monkey See Monkey Read in downtown Northfield.
By Griff Wigley, on October 26, 2011, 11:49 pm
 I got an email late last week from Leah Rich at Neuger Communications Group, alerting me to an open house tomorrow, Oct 27, from 4-6 pm at their new HQ on Bridge Square in the heart of downtown Northfield.
They moved into the site of the former downtown location of Community Resource Bank a month ago under a lease-to-own arrangement with the First National Bank of Northfield which had foreclosed on the previous owner of the building, Mendota Homes.
  
So I talked Leah and VP Penny Hillemann into giving me a tour on Monday, an excuse to take some photos of their new space. Office manager Carol O’Neill greeted me at the door.
  
The open space and windows looking out on Bridge Square and Division are stunning. Even cooler is the extent to which local organizations were involved in the renovation. From the press release:
The list of area people and organizations that played a significant role in the renovation include: Bierman’s Home Furnishings and Flooring, Blesener’s Quality Exteriors, City of Northfield, Custom Glass & Mirror, First National Bank of Northfield, Jennifer Wolcott, Keith Pumper Plumbing & Heating, Inc., Koktavy & Daleiden Painting, LLC, Lamperts Yards, Inc., Lars Stromayer, Nerstrand Custom Cabinets, Northfield Construction Company, Northfield Economic Development Authority, Schulz Electric, Inc., ServiceMaster by Ayotte, SMSQ Architects and Southern Minnesota Woodcraft. Northfield Construction Company served as the general contractor and Krech, O’Brien, Mueller & Associates was the principal architect of the renovation.
Founder and CEO Dave Neuger was unavailable while I was there. He was busy installing another gong, this time under the table in the big conference room. Gong? Yep. Ask him about the gong.
By Griff Wigley, on October 21, 2011, 9:44 pm
The Froggy Bottoms River Pub reopened tonight. Shannon Mills and Laurie Hoheisel now own the pub, leasing the space from former owner and current building owner David Hvistendahl.
Catch their updates on the Froggy Bottoms Facebook page. Tuesday’s story on Nfld Patch: Froggy Bottoms River Pub to Reopen Friday
See my album of 15 photos (large slideshow, recommended) or SLOW CLICK this small slideshow:
By Jerry Bilek, on October 17, 2011, 6:11 am
In Caddis Wood
Told from the alternating perspectives of a husband and wife, In Caddis Woodexplores the competing rhythms of romantic love, family life, and professional ambition, refracted through the changing seasons of a long marriage. Beneath the surface, affecting their collective future, beats the resilient and endangered heart of nature. As the memories multiply and the family gathers at their longtime summerhouse in the woods of Wisconsin, Hallie and Carl’s grown-up daughters offer unexpected avenues toward forgiveness and healing. With warmth and generosity, Mary François Rockcastle captures the way that the aging mind imbues the present with all the many layers of the past as she illuminates the increasingly unbreakable bonds borne of a shared life.
 “As she did in her debut, Rockcastle once again melds family drama with a palpable sense of place. . . . Suffused,appropriately, with imagery of the natural and man-made worlds, Rockcastle’s skillful pacing weaves together the family’s tumultuous history with its uncertain present. A mature love story offering a clear-eyed glimpse of the challenges and rewards of a long marriage.”—Publishers Weekly
American Boy
The bestselling author of Montana 1948returns to Milkweed Editions with American Boy, a classic tale of desire, betrayal, and coming of age in 1960’s Minnesota. Already chosen as one of the top 20 Indie Sleeper hits for Fall 2011, as well as an IndieNext selection for October, American Boy is shaping up to be the Midwestern novel of the year.
“Watson has penned some of the best contemporary fiction about small-town America, and his new novel does not disappoint. . . . With his graceful writing style, well-drawn characters, and subtly moving plot, Watson masterfully portrays the dark side of small-town America. Highly readable and enthusiastically recommended.” —Library Journal (starred review)
Larry Watson is the author of seven widely acclaimed novels, including the best-selling Montana 1948. Over the course of his career, Watson has been praised for the “unflinching honesty and complete respect” he shows to his characters (Booklist), and his novels have been called “captivating and haunting” (Washington Post), “remarkable” (Baltimore Sun), “utterly mesmerizing” (The Nation), and lauded as small masterpieces which “pull you immediately into [their] depths and settle inside your bones for a long and haunting stay” (San Francisco Chronicle). Larry Watson lives in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, with his family.
Both books are available at Monkey See Monkey Read in downtown Northfield.
By Griff Wigley, on October 16, 2011, 7:11 pm
 
Today was Abby Benson’s last day at Goodbye Blue Monday where she’s worked for over three years. Proprietors Dan Riggins and Katherine Dominguez along with several of her co-workers gave her a little send-off this morning. The 2011 St. Olaf grad is also known to the Northfield community for her work with STOGROW and the SEEDS Farms (see this Relish.com article about her). She’s heading to Portland, OR for a life of quiet desperation productive and satisfying experience doing who-knows-what.
I know her dad, Marty Benson, from playing racquetball and her mom, Jean Callister-Benson from way back when she worked at the Y in Faribault. As parents, they are reportedly thrilled that they no longer have Abby’s expensive mouth to feed proud that Abby’s launching her life as a full-fledged adult.
By Griff Wigley, on October 14, 2011, 4:29 pm
I brought my X-Caliber down to Milltown Cycles today so Ben Witt could service the bottom bracket. I took some photos while he worked on it.
See the album of 10 photos (large slideshow, recommended) or SLOW CLICK this small slideshow:
By Griff Wigley, on October 13, 2011, 11:55 pm
 
When I was up at St. Olaf’s Buntrock Commons a couple weeks ago for the Eat Local Challenge, I noticed a big NDDC poster outside of The Lion’s Pause with the headline: Locate your business in downtown Northfield.
NDDC Executive Director Ross Currier published an Oct. 3 blog post that explains. An excerpt:
One of the new initiatives that this group developed was alumni entrepreneur recruitment. In addition to promoting downtown Northfield as a marketplace, we wanted to promote it as a business location, particularly to the graduates of Carleton and St. Olaf Colleges. We introduced the concept for the first time at this year’s Homecoming Weekends.
I knew this poster was in the works because back in early August, Ross had asked me to contribute photos for it and they needed one additional: a photo of creative class types working in a coffeehouse.
 All month long, I kept watching for a good photo op from my early morning corner office at GBM but it never quite came together.
So on Aug. 29, noticing that I had the raw material for a photo, I asked the laptop users to switch tables. I then asked Nancy Amerman who was sitting with a group of runners to sit at my laptop for the photo. Perfecto.
It should be noted that Nancy felt no shame over helping to perpetuate this fraud, whereas at least I felt conflicted. And yet she calls herself a Christian. Go figure.
By Griff Wigley, on October 8, 2011, 7:25 am
  
I stopped by Reboot Computers on Bridge Square on Wed. to meet proprietor Travis Freudenberg who, earlier in the week, had submitted a LoGro banner ad (free for a month).
Travis does all the usual computer servicing and repair (PCs and Macs), including:
- System diagnostics
- Virus removal
- Data transfer
- Data recovery
- Custom system builds
- Wireless network setup
- Hardware sales and installation
You can follow Reboot Computers on Facebook or on Twitter.
  
Travis is also an accomplished bass guitar player. From the bio page of one the bands he currently plays with, Rare Medium (Jazz/Funk):
Travis Freudenberg is an electric bassist with over 15 years of electric bass recording and performance experience. A graduate of the University of Minnesota Morris, he received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Jazz Studies and, oddly enough, Biology in 2001. While in attendance at UMM, Travis recorded, toured, and performed with a variety of different groups, including UMM Jazz Ensemble 1, No Smoking, The Black and Blue Note Jazz Quartet, and the Booty Police.
Travis was a featured soloist with UMM Jazz Ensemble 1 at the 2000 Montreaux Jazz Festiva in Montreaux, Switzerland and also at the 2000 Vienne Jazz Festival in Vienne, France. He was honored with the Keith Carlson Memorial Jazz Award as Outstanding Jazz Musician at UMM in 2000.
He also plays with the hard rock group, Not One Stone. Here’s a clip of the song Catching You from their School of Salmon album:
By Jerry Bilek, on October 8, 2011, 6:50 am
We’ve been selling games for five years. But lately we’ve added even more non-book items to our bookstore. New games, magnetic poetry, toys, and t-shirts are arriving daily.
Magnetic Poetry arrived last week. We have some of the Essential Word Magnets, Kids, Voices, and Little Words magnets.
  
Our latest shipment of toys and puzzles just arrived from Melissa and Doug.These are high quality toys, puzzles, and art supplies. They built to last and reasonably priced.
Geotoys is a new product line we discovered about a week ago. We started with Geocards and Geopuzzles.
 
We’ve been selling literary t-shirts fromUnshelved.com. Their next shirt should be available by November. It’s my favorite one yet.
This is only the beginning. We’ll be adding new items all the time.
By Griff Wigley, on October 5, 2011, 9:33 pm
  
Laura Baker Services Association (LBSA) now has a big fundraising board on Bridge Square. The light bulbs in the shape of a heart change from white to red as the "Inspiring Possibilities, Realizing Dreams" campaign gets closer to the goal of $1,300,000. They’re currently at about 82% there.
Jane Fenton, LBSA’s Director of Community Relations, and Paul Krause, fundraising consultant, were overseeing the high-tech installation process (take bulb out of box; screw it in; repeat as necessary) at around noon today.
What’s the plan?
Our goal is to construct two new cottages, just like Wright Cottage and to renovate Elwell and Baker Halls. Once the new cottages are built, the aged Margaret Graves Hall will be razed and a beautiful Recognition Garden created in its place.
More fundamentally, we are creating homes for our Oak Street clients, a place where they can dream and be inspired and where the staff can work with them in ways not possible today. To date, we have already completed the restoration and Elwell and Baker and now move forward to make the new cottages a reality. Please help make this dream come true, for our clients, for Laura Baker Services and for our entire community.
See the Making the Case (PDF) document for more details and the four videos by Cheryl Buck, Bob Bonner, Sandi Gerdes and Eric Stratton about the campaign.
By Griff Wigley, on October 2, 2011, 10:06 pm
 I missed it yesterday but Curtis Tiano took this photo of the first four people to park their rear ends on the new outdoor seating at the Goodbye Blue Monday.
L to R front: Alex Beeby, Jane Moline, Justin Stets, Rick Estenson. They were supervised by GBM co-owner Dan Riggins.
There is a Philadelphia connection to these seats but I don’t know what it is. Vet stadium seats?
  
By Griff Wigley, on September 30, 2011, 10:04 pm
  
Earlier this evening I coaxed Contented Cow bartender Rich Larson and server Erica Johnson into posing with the poster for tomorrow night’s Beatles Tribute, 6pm – 11:30pm.
More than twenty musicians and bands are coming together for a night of brilliant music.
Rich performs with two other guys, Nate and Neil, at 6:45 pm. See tentative schedule here.
And who did that cool Abbey Road in rural Northfield poster? Poster maker Doug Bratland, a member of the Bratlanders, who I later ran into at the opening of Northfield Ties: A Photography Invitational at the NAG. See many of Doug’s posters on his Tumblr, Dig and Be Doug.
Update 10/1 6:30 am: Doug has these other Abbey Road/Northfield images on his blog:
  
By Griff Wigley, on September 28, 2011, 10:26 am
By Griff Wigley, on September 25, 2011, 10:34 pm
       
Cynthia Gilbertson’s new Northfield Yarn store (Shops at 314 Division) held a grand opening yesterday. Robbie and I paid a visit late in the day after the hordes had diminished (see the Nfld Patch article with more photos) but in plenty of time for me to wolf down some of the tasty treats and take a few photos of the color-infested shop.
On the Northfield Yarn website:
 We carry a broad range of yarns in a kaleidoscope of colors, along with a good selection of tools, notions, and patterns. Whether you’re a beginner or an expert, planning a starter project or an heirloom sweater, you’ll find what you need at Northfield Yarn.
While yarn is our primary product, we also feel strongly about something less tangible: the community that forms when people share an interest in needlecraft. Northfield Yarn is always looking for opportunities to bring people together, so we offer classes, knit-alongs, community stitch nights, and anything else we can think up. (For more information about these events, click on the “Classes & Events” tab at the top of this page.) We also believe in just plain hanging out. There is no purchase necessary to enjoy the shop’s comfortable seating and natural light.
By Jerry Bilek, on September 23, 2011, 7:37 am
Bohemian Girl
“Harriet’s observations of the world and her small place in it are insightful and often touching. And Svoboda often displays a poet’s touch with language and imagery.” —Publishers Weekly
A picaresque in the American vein, Terese Svoboda’s new novel is the Bohemian answer to Willa Cather’s iconic My Ántonia. Lifting the shadows off an entire era of American history in one brave girl’s quest to discover who she is,Bohemian Girl gives full play to Svoboda’s prodigious talents for finding the dark and the strange in the sunny American story—and the beauty and the hope in its darkest moments.
 Young Harriet’s father sells her as a slave to settle his gambling debt with an eccentric Indian—and her story is just beginning. Part Huck Finn, part True Grit, Harriet’s story of her encounter with the dark and brutal history of the American West is a true original.
Terese Svoboda is the author of five volumes of poetry and four novels, including Tin God (Nebraska 2006); a collection of short stories, Trailer Girl and Other Stories (available in a Bison Books edition); and a nonfiction book,Black Glasses like Clark Kent: A GI’s Secret from Postwar Japan, winner of the Graywolf Nonfiction Prize.
Good Graces
Lesley Kagen returns with the sequel to her national bestselling debut, Whistling in the Dark. “Kagen does a remarkable job of balancing the goofiness of being an 11-year-old with the sinister plot elements, creating a suspenseful yarn that still retains an air of genuine innocence. Readers who enjoyed the first book are in for a treat.” —Publishers Weekly
 Whistling in the Dark captivated readers with the story of ten-year-old Sally O’Malley and her sister, Troo, during Milwaukee’s summer of 1959. The novel became a New York Times bestseller and was named a Midwest Honor Award winner. In Good Graces, it’s one year later, and a heat wave has everyone in the close-knit Milwaukee neighborhood on edge. None more so than Sally O’Malley, who remains deeply traumatized by the sudden death of her daddy and her near escape from a murderer and molester the previous summer.
Lesley Kagen is a writer, actress, and restaurateur. She lives in Wisconsin. Visit her web site at www.lesleykagen.com
Both books are available at Monkey See Monkey Read in downtown Northfield.
By Griff Wigley, on September 20, 2011, 6:01 am
I’ve been working with veterinarian Dr. Rich Lorang and his wife Virginia Lorang to revamp the website for Countryside Animal Hospital & Kennels. The vet clinic and newly acquired kennel operation serve the cities of Dundas and Northfield as well as the surrounding Rice County area.
Dr. Rich has begun to blog, along with staffer Jess Renderos. You can also visit the Countryside Animal Hospital & Kennels Facebook page and follow Dr. Rich Lorang on Twitter.
By Jerry Bilek, on September 15, 2011, 10:21 pm
Loon
 The haunting call of a loon is quintessential summertime for many people, and it’s also the state bird of Minnesota. These majestically beautiful birds breed on northern lakes during the spring and
summer, and when fall arrives, they migrate to open coastal waters. This gorgeously illustrated prose poem follows two baby chicks through this cycle. We witness their birth, and how they learn to swim, find food, and avoid predators such as snapping turtles and big bass. In the fall, they imitate their parents as they learn to fly and are eventually large and strong enough to make their own migration to the coast.
An afterword supplies other interesting facts about the common loon, which some scientists believe has inhabited lakes and oceans for millions of years.
  Susan Vande Griek is a teacher and writer. Her junior novel, A Gift for Ampato, received high praise from teachers and journalists alike and was shortlisted for the Geoffrey Bilson Award for Historical Fiction. She divides her time between Halifax, Nova Scotia, and St. Andrews, New Brunswick.
Karen Reczuch has illustrated many children’s books, including The Auctionby Jan Andrews, Just Like New by Ainslie Manson, and The Story of Life on Earth, winner of the BC Book Prize for illustrated children’s lite
Northwest Angle
 William Kent Krueger’s next nail-biting suspense in his critically-acclaimed, award-winning series, featuring private detective Cork O’Connor.
With his family caught in the crosshairs of a group of brutal killers, detective Cork O’Connor must solve the murder of a young girl in the latest installment of William Kent Krueger’s unforgettable New York Times bestselling series.
During a houseboat vacation on the remote Lake of the Woods, a violent gale sweeps through unexpectedly, stranding Cork and his daughter, Jenny, on a devastated island where the wind has ushered in a force far darker and more deadly than any storm.
Amid the wreckage, Cork and Jenny discover an old trapper’s cabin where they find the body of a teenage girl. She wasn’t killed by the storm, however; she’d been bound and tortured before she died. Whimpering sounds coming from outside the cabin lead them to a tangle of branches toppled by the vicious winds. Underneath the debris, they find a baby boy, hungry and dehydrated, but still very much alive. Powerful forces intent on securing the child pursue them to the isolated Northwest Angle, where it’s impossible to tell who among the residents is in league with the devil. Cork understands that to save his family he must solve the puzzle of this mysterious child whom death follows like a shadow.
“Part adventure, part mystery, and all knockout thriller” (Booklist), Northwest Angle is a dynamic addition to William Kent Krueger’s critically acclaimed, award-winning series.
William Kent Krueger’s next nail-biting novel featuring private detective Cork O’Connor. “Part adventure, part mystery, and all knockout thriller” (Booklist), Northwest Angle is a dynamic addition to William Kent Krueger’s critically acclaimed, award-winning series.
During a houseboat vacation on the remote Lake of the Woods, a violent gale sweeps through unexpectedly, stranding Cork and his daughter, Jenny, on a devastated island where the wind has ushered in a force far darker and more deadly than any storm. Amid the wreckage, Cork and Jenny discover an old trapper’s cabin where they find the body of a teenage girl. She wasn’t killed by the storm, however; she’d been bound and tortured before she died. Whimpering sounds coming from outside the cabin lead them to a tangle of branches toppled by the vicious winds. Underneath the debris, they find a baby boy, hungry and dehydrated, but still very much alive. Powerful forces intent on securing the child pursue them to the isolated Northwest Angle, where it’s impossible to tell who among the residents is in league with the devil. Cork understands that to save his family he must solve the puzzle of this mysterious child whom death follows like a shadow.
 William Kent Krueger is the award-winning author of ten Cork O’Connor novels, including Heaven’s Keep and Vermilion Drift. All are available from Atria Books. He lives in the Twin Cities with his family.
Both books are available at Monkey See Monkey Read in downtown Northfield.
By Jerry Bilek, on August 31, 2011, 11:25 pm
Killing Kate
 The next page-turner in Julie Kramer’s bestselling series featuring TV reporter Riley Sparks, the most irresistible heroine since Janet Evanovich’s Stephanie Plum.
As TV reporter Riley Spartz discovers a serial killer drawing angel-shaped chalk outlines around the bodies of his victims, she unearths an eerie legend dating back nearly a century. Tracking the story to an Iowa cemetery, Riley finds an infamous Black Angel monument that may be connected to the string of homicides throughout the Midwest. Now she is up against a delusional young man who believes the statue is urging him to kill.
 Julie Kramer is a freelance network news producer. She formerly ran WCCO-TV’s nationally award-winning investigative unit in Minneapolis. Her debut thriller, Stalking Susan, won the Minnesota Book Award and the RT Reviewers’ Choice Award for Best First Mystery, was a finalist for the Mary Higgins Clark Award, and is also a finalist for the Anthony Award. She lives with her family in White Bear Lake, Minnesota.
Love Lies Bleeding
 In the vein of Jennifer McMahon’s Promise Not to Tell and The Lovely Bonesby Alice Sebold comes a haunting story about the lengths to which people will go to keep their pasts buried. Love, Lies, Bleeding is a winning combination of family drama and gripping mystery.
To what lengths would you go to keep a past buried?
Samantha Moore is the golden girl—with a perfect job, a perfect man, a perfect life—until a random act of violence changes everything. Unconscious for two months, Sam awakens from her coma a different person—bitter, in constant pain, and forced to endure medications that leave her nauseous, paranoid, and struggling to keep a grip on reality.
Furious with her family for sending her away to a small, remote town to recuperate—placed completely under a physical therapist’s care and robbed of what little freedom she has left—Sam lashes out at the “nice people” all around her who claim to have only her best interests in mind. But are her violent outbursts the by-product of her condition . . . or something else entirely? Strange things are happening here—and either Samantha Moore is losing her mind or her friendly new neighbors are far more dangerous than they appear to be. . . .
 To what lengths would you go to keep a past buried? Samantha Moore is the golden girl—with a perfect job, a perfect man, a perfect life—until a random act of violence changes everything. Unconscious for two months, Sam awakens from her coma a different person—bitter, in constant pain, and forced to endure medications that leave her nauseous, paranoid, and struggling to keep a grip on reality. Furious with her family for sending her away to a small, remote town to recuperate—placed completely under a physical therapist’s care and robbed of what little freedom she has left—Sam lashes out, with violent outbursts the by-product of her condition–or something else entirely? Strange things are happening—and either Samantha Moore is losing her mind or her friendly new neighbors are far more dangerous than they appear to be.
Jess McConkey (aka Shirley Damsgaard) is an award-winning writer of short fiction. She lives in a small Iowa town and is currently working on her next novel.
Both books are available at Monkey See Monkey Read in downtown Northfield.
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Laced with keen insights into contemporary issues—the importance of community, pitfalls of the global economy, the skewed importance of sports in the lives of people who desperately need a victory—Third and Long is a moving portrait of a vanishing America hanging by a thread, with perhaps just enough time remaining for one last miraculous play.
How does one define the complexity of love on a single plate? N. M. Kelby brings us the sensuality of food and love amid a world on the verge of war in this work that shimmers with beauty and longing.
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