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 If You Liked Until They Bring the
Streetcars Back by Stanley Gordon West
ADULT FICTION
Giordano, Marie. I Love You Like a Tomato 2003
ChiChi Maggiordino lives with her Italian immigrant family -
mother, grandmother, and brother - in Minneapolis in the
1950's. Her American father was killed in the war, her
brother's lungs are weak, and Chi will do anything to get
God's attention, even learn to use the Evil Eye as her
grandmother taught her, to help her mother find love and her
brother get healthier.
Keillor, Garrison. Lake Wobegon Summer 1956 2001
Fourteen-year-old Gary suffers from all the hormonally
induced anxieties of an adolescent boy, but bears the added
burden of having a family that belongs to an evangelical
group called The Brethren whose definitions of appropriate
behavior are much stricter than those most parents impose on
their teenagers. Until now, Gary has been a good boy, but he
is now exploring what it means to be "bad" as defined in
1950s Lake Wobegon.
Landvik, Lorna. Patty Jane’s House of Curl 1995
Two sisters run a beauty parlor in Minneapolis which they
have turned into a women's support center. One sister is
Patty Jane, whose husband skipped town just before she gave
birth to their daughter. The other sister is Harriet, whose
rich boyfriend was killed in a plane crash before they could
marry. Set between the 1950s and the 1980s, the story moves
between heartbreak and laughter, leaving readers rooting for
the novel’s spunky heroines.
O’Connor, Sheila. Where No Gods Came 2003
Faina McCoy is a young girl caught in a perilous scheme of
elaborate lies. Abruptly uprooted against her will from her
father, Faina finds herself half a continent away on the
doorstep of a mother who abandoned her years before - but
who can't live without Faina now. Alone, persecuted, and
exploited, Faina must fend for herself as she searches for
love and answers, navigating the streets of a strange city
and forging bonds of feeling with liars and outlaws.
O’Rourke, Michael. O’Banion’s Gift 2003
While engaged in handling a difficult divorce suit in
present-day St. Paul, lawyer Riley McReynolds becomes
obsessed with tracking down the teenage girl who absconded
with a large amount of money which Dion O'Banion, an Irish
gangster, had stolen from Al Capone, and for which O'Banion
had been executed by Capone and his associates in 1924.
Rennebohm, Peter. Blue Springs: A Suspense Novel 2004
It was supposed to be a special weekend, a time for
eleven-year-old Charlie Nash to spend quality time with his
father and much loved dog, Taffy. The hunting weekend falls
apart immediately as his drunken father runs another car off
the road, has a dangerous confrontation with other hunters,
and is arrested on the way home. The disastrous weekend
forces Charlie to consider running away from all the chaos.
Set in 1955 Minnesota, Charlie's journey with Taffy takes
the reader on a roller-coaster ride of action, mystery, and
adventure as the boy is pursued by not one, but two
separate, but equally focused killers intent on ending his
life.
Roers, Walter. The Pact 2000
Two brothers, Michael and Ron Dougherty, and their friend
Ricky Stedman, have a seemingly innocent childhood during
the late 1940s in Minneapolis. Their innocence is shattered
by the brothers' recognition that their father has a
drinking problem and is growing increasingly abusive.
Michael and his friend Ricky, who has family secrets of his
own, make a pact that Michael will soon regret.
Smith, Betty. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn 1943
Young Francie Nolan, having inherited both her father's
romantic temperament and her mother's practical nature,
struggles to survive and thrive growing up in the slums of
Brooklyn in the early twentieth century.
West, Stanley Gordon. Amos: To Ride a Dead Horse 2000
Reminiscent of the institutional cruelties and rebellion of
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, Amos exposes the injustices
inflicted on aged residents of a poor farm in 1960's
Montana. This is West's first novel, made into a Hallmark
Hall of Fame movie produced by and starring Kirk Douglas.
West, Stanley Gordon. Blind Your Ponies 2001
A high school English teacher and basketball coach unites
the disparate inhabitants of the village of Willow Creek,
Montana, in pursuit of the state high school basketball
championship.
West, Stanley Gordon. Finding Laura Buggs 1999
Sandy Meyer learns at age twelve that she was adopted. She
conducts a search to learn about her birth parents without
the knowledge of her adoptive parents or her friends, which
leads her into a suspense-filled brush with evil. This is
West's second novel about the St. Paul Central High School
class of 1950.
West, Stanley Gordon. Growing An Inch 2003
Donny Cunningham was 4 feet 11 inches tall at the age of 14
when his mother died. At 17, he has not grown an inch.
Raising his two younger brothers and a sister, trying to
keep the social worker from putting them into a foster home
due to his father's alcoholism, Donny faces challenges that
require him to grow in other ways. This is West’s third
novel about a member of the St. Paul Central High School
class of 1950.
Williams, Bob. Excelsior: An Historical Novel of Lake
Minnetonka 1982
In 1887, Lake Minnetonka was one of the most popular resorts
west of Saratoga. Three boyhood friends seek to change the
course of their lives through love, adventure, or career.
Hearts and fortunes rest on the outcome of a steamboat race
over the Fourth of July.
TEEN FICTION
Hautman, Pete and Mary Logue. Snatched 2006
Roni is too curious for own good – this is both a problem
and an asset for Roni in her job as the crime reporter for
her high school newspaper in Bloodwater, Minnesota. She
teams up with Brian, a freshman science geek, to investigate
the beating and kidnapping of their new classmate, Alicia,
who has the lead in the high school’s production of the The
Crucible. First in the new Bloodwater series by this
Minnesota mystery-writing pair.
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