Gittel
Laurie Schneider ’98 MA Amer. Stu.
Fitzroy Books, an imprint of Regal House Publishing: 2025
Eighth grader Gittel Borenstein—her first name means “good” in Yiddish—dreams of becoming an actress or writer during what’s surely to be her last year of formal education. It’s winter 1911 in rural Wisconsin, and the smart, spirited, outspoken 13-year-old is grappling with cultural and personal identity after fleeing pogroms in Eastern Europe with her family. As winter melts into spring and summer 1912, Gittel navigates matters relevant to contemporary middle-grade-readers: friendship, family dynamics, bullying, bigotry, and loss. The young heroine of this coming-of-age novel, a sort of Jewish version of Anne of Green Gables–meets–Little House on the Prairie, is a delight.
The Diamond King
Marq Evans (’03 Busi.)
The McCaw: 2025
Artist Dick Perez has been called the “Picasso of Baseball” for his beautifully painted baseball cards. This captivating documentary by director Marq Evans tells the story of how Perez, official artist of the National Baseball Hall of Fame and the Philadelphia Phillies, transformed the commemoration of America’s most iconic pastime.
Read more and listen to a podcast with Evans about The Diamond King.
Down the Rabbit Hole: Slowing the Spread of Misinformation and Propaganda on Social Media
Lacey J. Faught ’10 Comm. and Adrienne Harvey
Digital Literacy Publishers: 2024
“Where is my mind when I’m scrolling?” asks Lacey Faught, owner and founder of Vancouver-based social media agency Spry. She coauthored an easy-to-follow, Alice-in-Wonderland-themed guide to recognizing, challenging, and mitigating the impact of misinformation and propaganda online. The book’s simple Three-Click Method describes what people should check before resharing content. Part workbook, part handbook, Down the Rabbit Hole equips social media users with powerful tools to help them navigate their favorite platforms—and not get completely sucked in.
Let’s Live A.L.O.H.A.
Gerry Ebalaroza-Tunnell ’11 Soc. Sci.
Plowline Publishing: 2024
This award-winning children’s book emphasizes qualities such as empathy, adaptability, and the wisdom found in Hawaiian culture. Using the acronym A.L.O.H.A., the story encourages kids to ask thoughtful questions, listen attentively, observe their surroundings, make decisions with heart, and adapt to life’s ever-changing situations.
Global Campus alum, children’s author wins WSU alumni award (June 18, 2025)
The Big Bays of Lincoln County
Ed Vande Voorde ’83 Forest & Range Mgmt.
2024
This rural coming-of-age novel, inspired by real events, centers around Cap and Snap, a pair of draft horses, and Ira and Eva, country kids from different communities, as they all grow up together. The story delves into Amish culture and agriculture, echoing the simple life of bygone times. Ed Vande Voorde, of Parma, Idaho, operated a dairy farm with his dad for more than two decades before writing this story, honoring the animals and way of life he loves so much.
Becoming Walla Walla: The Transformation of Cayuse Country, 1805–1879
Dennis Crockett
WSU Press: 2024
From Indigenous peoples’ interactions with explorers Meriwether Lewis and William Clark to the allotment plan for the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation, this well-researched history of the Walla Walla Valley documents the region’s dramatic cultural transformations of the 1800s. Dennis Crockett spent three decades as a professor of art history and visual culture at Walla Walla’s Whitman College.