Isle of Books Presents Last Best Books: "

Legend Keepers: The Promise

by Bruce Smith

Wildlife biologist, veteran, and writer (not to mention Distinctly Montana contributor) Bruce Smith has returned with the third in his series of young adult novels about Garson Strangewalker and Buddy, a remarkable kid mountain goat and their quest to try and save the glacier they both love. As with the previous volumes, the exciting and fast-paced narrative manages to work as both a primer on environmental issues and as an enchanting narrative in its own right.  And in this final story, the allegory is made plainer than ever: the solution will require the help of both the animal and human worlds. We'll all have to work together, Smith tells us, and manages to deliver his message with hope. Highly recommended for children and grandchildren.

This Place the Gods Touched Earth

Poetry by Montana's Poets Laureate 2005-2025

by Various

Published by Montana Arts Council in partnership with the Montana Historical Society Press, this beautiful hardcover volume contains poems by each of Montana's 11 past and current Poets Laureate from 2005 - 2025. From their pens flow images of Montana as only they can describe it: sensuous, sensitive, hard-scrabble, yielding. Each poet, including Greg Pape, Sheryl Noethe, Henry Real Bird, and the current writer, Chris La Tray captures some aspect of Montana's grandeur better than anyone else. We are lucky to have them all, and this volume deserves a spot on every Montanan reader's shelf.

Edward S. Curtis, Printing the Legends: Looking at Shadows in a West Lit Only by Fire

by Dr. Larry Len Peterson

This handsome volume would be well worth the investment if only for its value as an art book. With 250 illustrations, it serves as an impressive centerpiece for any coffee table or Western art lover's shelf. But the accompanying text by Peterson, author of The American West Reimagined and American Trinity: Jefferson, Custer, and the Spirit of the West, both fascinating and philosophical in ways that most history texts are not, has plenty of insightful observations and surprising revelations about Curtis's work. Curtis has been written about many times in the past, but somehow Peterson finds previously unplumbed depths to explore. Highly recommended. Buy it!