Larry Watson, Montana 1948 - The bare bones of the story, about a young boy and his family and the secrets they keep, are good. Unfortunately, the boy/narrator can't decide which tone to use, so his character is inconsistent and overly wise and observant for his years, and his reflections on life, love, and people's true characters are dull and take away from the story. It's a clear violation of the "show, don't tell" rule, and in this case it would have deepened the story if we had seen the characters developing rather than being told that they did.
Nina Silber, Daughters of the Union - This is a really well-done look at the various roles women took during the Civil War, both at home and amongst the larger world. Specific examples and excerpts from letters underscored the author's points and made them personal, and her survey of the time period and the changing roles of women was wide-ranging and interesting.
Mark Twain, Life on the Mississippi - This was more of a biographical study than I had been expecting, but Twain's reminiscences of what it was like learning to pilot a steamboat were fascinating, and his tale of revisiting the river and the ways in which it, its denizens, and its environs had changed very poignant.
Allan Wolf, New Found Land - The story of the Lewis and Clark expedition, told in poetry. The author's consistent use of different verse styles for each character, and his grasp and differentiation of each character, were excellently done. Unfortunately the overall thrust of the work was a bit too self-consciously meaning-filled for enjoyable reading. It felt as though the author was thrusting the meaning insistently at the reader all the way through, which detracted from his obvious enthusiasm for the subject matter and the project.
