Ellen Baumler writes about Montana History. She finds interesting stories and shares them with humor. Two of her titles that I really enjoy are Montana Moments and More Montana Moments. The stories are short and well told. They are great read-alouds.
She has also written a collection of "Ghost Stories": "Montana Chillers: 13 True Tales of Ghosts and Hauntings"; Spirit Tailings: Ghost Stories from Virginia City, Butte, and Helena.
For a flavor of her writing check out her blog Montana Moments http://ellenbaumler.blogspot.com/. It was from Ellen's work that I first learned about Camel's in Montana during the Gold Rush era.
Another writer I have recently been introduced to is Lauren Tarshis. She is the writer of the historic fiction series "I survived". The books are written for kids but are solidly researched. I am currently reading "I Survived the San Francisco Earthquake, 1906" to my 5th graders. The books provide the hook and background knowledge for working with primary sources around the event.
When I told my students that Lauren Tarsis was a female author they looked at me and said, "The author is a girl? How do you know?"
"She was in Billings in October and I got to hear her talk about her books at a luncheon."
It is always fun to find new reads and authors? What are some of your favorites?
