1st edition, November 1, 2012

Madam Librarian Recommendation
Trish Hull, Manager Magna Library, Utah Library Association President Elect. Salt Lake County Library Services--Magna Library recommends the following book: Following Atticus--I am not a dog person, but this is one of my favorite books of the year. It made me laugh, cry and inspired me to be better and do more. You will fall in love with Atticus and want to start hiking.

Following Atticus
by Tom Ryan

After a close friend died of cancer, middle-aged, overweight, acrophobic newspaperman Tom Ryan decided to pay tribute to her in a most unorthodox manner. Ryan and his friend, miniature schnauzer Atticus M. Finch, would attempt to climb all forty-eight of New Hampshire's four thousand- foot peaks twice in one winter while raising money for charity. It was an adventure of a lifetime, leading them across hundreds of miles and deep into an enchanting but dangerous winter wonderland. At the heart of the amazing journey was the extraordinary relationship they shared, one that blurred the line between man and dog.

Canyonland Press were not able to reach Mr. Ryan, so we are sharing his link and public Bio.

Tom Ryan is the founder of the Newburyport, Massachusetts, newspaper the Undertoad and served as its publisher and editor for more than a decade. In 2007 he moved to the White Mountains of New Hampshire with miniature schnauzer Atticus M. Finch. Over the last five years, Tom and Atticus have climbed more than 450 four-thousand-foot peaks. After raising thousands of dollars for Angell Animal Medical Center in Jamaica Plain, Massachusetts, the pair was inducted into the Massachusetts Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Hall of Fame. Tom currently writes the popular The Adventures of Tom & Atticus column in the Northcountry News and Mountainside... Read More...

Grammar Fun!
By: Amy Durham

This month, I thought I’d take a look at something important to all of us… grammar. Whether you’re good at it, bad at, love it, or hate it, grammar is a part of our society that is many times woefully neglected. We are forced to ignore many proper grammatical tactics when “tweeting”. On Facebook, grammar seems largely absent, despite the fact that we aren’t limited on the number of characters in our posts.

So today, I decided to take a humorous look at grammar, and demonstrate just how easy it is to be correct… or incorrect! Who knows, maybe I’ll encourage someone to take a closer look at the grammar they use in their everyday life!

There are grammatical errors that really bother me alot. Oops, I mean a lot . Yes, that's right... a lot is two words. It seems I see it written as one word so often I’ve stopped noticing. Which bothers me alot. Dang it! I mean a lot!

I try not to be a grammar snob. Really, I do. But despite my best efforts, I have grammar pet peeves. Its true. Yikes, I mean it's true. Read on to learn a few more common grammatical errors that pop up all too often.

Sometimes its (I mean it's ) difficult to turn off you're internal proof-reader (uh oh... I mean your internal proof-reader) when your reading other people's writing. Drat, that should be... when you're reading other people's writing.

Of course, it does make a difference who's writing (I mean whose writing) your (oops... I mean you're ) reading. If its a young person (oops, that should be it's ) whose (I mean who's ) doing the writing, sometimes you need to cut them a little slack. But there are times when even experienced writers make mistakes, even myself. Oh wait... that should be me.

It’s also important to note that their (Uh oh, that should be there! ) are 3 versions of a particular word that cannot be used interchangeably, because there not the same. (Wait! That should say … because they’re not the same!) So be clear on their, there, and they’re, and don’t use their when you actually mean they’re or there.

So if your (you're) writing a letter or a paper, be sure you take the time to do alot (a lot) of proofreading, so that you find those common mistakes that are easy to fix. Its (It's) a little thing that can make alot (a lot) of difference in the long run. You never know who's (whose) eyes might be on you're (your) writing, and you want to make a good impression, because you never know how their (they’re) going to be affected by you’re (your) writing. Take it from myself (me) .