Books at the Museum--2023 edition

 

Books at the Museum, a program begun last winter, enters its second season this year, with three new entries, each of them drawn from the neighborhood. Last year's three were all Orange Citites, born and raised; this year we venture out of the county, but not far--southern edge of Lyon County, Doon to be precise.

But the first is set right here in far eastern Sioux County, among the early immigrants to the Granville area, where it follows the foibles of an Irish Catholic family, observed closely and endearingly by author Josephine Donovan, as they homestead land only recently wrestled from the Yankton Sioux.

Granville still advertises itself with signs that say "Home of Black Soil," and it is that. Good soil too, as are most acres around here (a chunk recently sold for $30,000 an acre). Those signs used to put "Black Soil" in quotes, meaning the novel we'll be reading. Sadly enough, it's not as popular as it once was, but it's still full of life.

Josephine Donovan grew up a mile or north of Granville, where she inherited a journal her father, the homesteader, had kept of those early days in the frontier of northwest Iowa, the last corner of the state to be, well, colonized. Generally, the major conflict of the novel is not us vs. them, but us vs. it--meaning, the land. Creating a home was no easier than cutting up that mammoth grassy plain, breaking it in, so to speak--and Donovan, taking her cues from her father's memoir, brings us along on the saga. 

In a perfect world--meaning, one I draw up! --every kid who grows up in Sioux County reads Black Soil, every one, so they know they have a past, a history, so they know that the world in which they live is its own kind of character, not just corn and beans. Don't hold your breath on that one, but do have a look at Black Soil. It's a wonderful book and a great museum on its own.

Registration is $50, in by January 15--proceeds go to the museum. 

Interested? Write or message me.