READING THE WEST AWARDS 2014
These adult and children’s titles exemplify the best in writing and/or illustrations whose subject matter is set in the region or invokes the spirit of the region: Arizona, Colorado, Kansas, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, and Wyoming.
FICTION
The Son by Philipp Meyer
Part epic of Texas, part classic coming- of-age story, part unflinching portrait of the bloody price of power, The Son is an utterly transporting novel that maps the legacy of violence in the American West through the lives of the McCulloughs, an ambitious family as resilient and dangerous as the land they claim....Yet, like all empires, the McCulloughs must eventually face the consequences of their choices. Harrowing, panoramic, and vividly drawn, The Son is a masterful achievement from a sublime young talent.
NONFICTION
The Emerald Mile by Kevin Fedarko
In the spring of 1983, massive flooding along the length of the Colorado River confronted a team of engineers at the Glen Canyon Dam with an unprecedented emergency that may have resulted in the most catastrophic dam failure in history. In the midst of this crisis, the decision to launch a small wooden dory named "The Emerald Mile" at the head of the Grand Canyon, just fifteen miles downstream from the Glen Canyon Dam, seemed not just odd, but downright suicidal.
The Emerald Mile, at one time slated to be destroyed, was rescued and brought back to life by Kenton Grua, the man at the oars, who intended to use this flood as a kind of hydraulic sling-shot. The goal was to nail the all-time record for the fastest boat ever propelled--by oar, by motor, or by the grace of God himself--down the entire length of the Colorado River from Lee's Ferry to Lake Mead. Did he survive? Just barely.
CHILDREN'S
The Last Ride of Caleb O'Toole by Eric Pierpoint
Caleb O'Toole promised his dying mother that he'd keep his sisters safe. But safety is over a thousand miles away in the rugged Bitterroot Mountains. Monstrous tornadoes and hungry wolves wait for them on the path ahead. But with the infamous Blackstone Gang hot on their trail, Caleb has no choice.
THE OTHER NOMINEES
Fiction:
Loteria by Mario Alberto Zambrano
The Carrion Birds by Urban Waite
Monument Road by Charlie Quimby
Nonfiction:
Dead Run by Dan Schultz
The Heart of Everything That Is by Bob Drury & Tom Clavin
Between Urban and Wild by Andrea Jones
Seven Summers by Julia Corbett
Children's:
Ivy Takes Care by Rosemary Wells
Thunderstorm by Arthur Geisert
Relic by Renee Collins
What If You Met a Cowboy by Jan Adkins
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Title unavailable, please email for information.