For each month we’ll highlight books, some new, some old, some for adults, some for children.

Tales of Old-Time Texas

by J. Frank Dobie

While it could be guessed that a Texan or two might judge “Texan” and “universal” to be repetitive, here is a classic collection of Texas tales that crosses a variety of borders.  Sometimes natural history, sometimes folk-tales, tall-tales, legends, sometimes history (untouched by stiff political “handling”), often they are a fine mix of all of the above and something else besides.  Tales unpacked from the earth and memory of big grand Texas and woven by a gifted storyteller who clearly enjoys listening to a yarn or two as much as telling them, yes, they are universally, heck, cosmologically TEXAN.

Everything That Rises Must Converge

Mystery and Manners: Occasional Prose

by Flannery O’Connor

Two posthumous collections of Miss Flannery O’Connor: one is a collection of her later short stories, the other a collection of prose.  The latter, of course, will enrich one’s understanding of this formidable artist, her fiction, and her approach to art. But it is also a great help to those who are first encountering her fiction, or who have experienced little and don’t wish to go back.  The short story collection represents her at her artistic peak.  Unfortunately, all too often her novels (Wiseblood, The Violent Bear It Away) are the first experience or the introductory experience of her work and that experience is often felt as long, protracted, and profoundly strange (to speak gently), with some interesting ideas added to the mix.  The overarching comedic sense of her art—she notes that laughter is a good sign someone is engaging her work—is rarely felt, if at all, in her novels.  Her work is intense (and delightful). I suggest you open the best—her short stories—and dare the longer journeys when…well, I’ll leave that to you.

The Mad Scientists’ Club

by Bertrand R. Brinley

An oldie and goodie, here is a collection of fun “retro” stories for children that deserves a little attention.

For Middle-Schoolers and Beyond

For High-Schoolers and Beyond

For Children of All Sorts