Local authors make gift-giving easy this holiday season

For many, Christmas morning is about opening up presents and finding months' worth of reading under the tree.

Books have always made great gifts, and there are always a great selection of Alaska authors to choose from. Many Valley authors have titles out this holiday season that can make gift-giving easy.

When giving books to those in the Lower 48, an Alaska-based theme is always popular. If you are looking for a true portrait of the way Alaska was, and the way it is today to Natives in the Bush, then the coffeetable-sized Alaska Native Ways is a great pick.

The book is unlike any other coffeetable book about Alaska. It is in a class by itself.

Alaska Native Ways contains essays from Natives around Alaska about core cultural values the people hold true to their hearts.

Phil Kelley, a Wasilla author, has an essay in the book as well. Evan Corrall provides the photographs, which give a great glimpse into Native life.

Velma Wallis' Raising Ourselves is another fantastic selection for those wanting to get a look at Native life. The Gwich'in author has received rave reviews for the book, as well as for her previous book Two Old Women, which has won numerous international awards.

A fictional account of life above the Arctic Circle can be found in Wasilla author Avril Johannes' new book, When the Wolf Calls.

Johannes spent a great deal of time in northern Alaska during her life, and she brings many of those experiences to print in this new book.

Another historical fiction work is actually a republished book. Many people know the story of Tisha, which has been an international bestseller for years.

Her grandson, Brian Johnson, lives in Wasilla and recently republished Dark Boundary, which is his grandmother's account of schoolteacher Ole Hanson's life growing up in Eagle, Alaska during the Gold Rush era.

The book is an honest view of the way of life at the turn of the century was in Alaska.

"It is funny, it is sad, it is everything," Johnson said. "It's a story about survival and life back then. She touches on some of the racism that was going on back then between the Indians and the white people who were coming there to mine."

If you've got a history buff on your list, A River Between Us is the selection for them. Trapper Creek author Ken Marsh brings together more than a century's worth of historical anecdotes into one collection.

"I've been a history buff for 30 years, and I've spent the last three and a half years putting everything into the book," Marsh said. "As you look through the stories, you'll see that there is always a river involved. The mine was on 'this' or 'that' side of the river. Prospectors had to come up the Yentna River to get to the gold. Everything involved a river, and really, it still does today."

And local authors haven't forgotten about the youngest readers, either. Two new children's books by local authors are sure to be a hit this holiday season.

Winter Is, written by Willow author Ann Dixon, is another in a long line of award-winning titles for Dixon. Solo Flite, written by Marianne Schlegelmilch, is another children's book that will even entertain adults.

Solo Flite is also a good book to purchase for another reason -- all of the money raised goes to the Blood Bank of Alaska.