1. Click on the spot to find
books from each region
By
Wendy Howk
Map source: http://www.lonestarcalendar.com/Portals/68cd30b4-0d50-4dd5-bb8a-9954946f324c/Regional%20Map.gif

2. Big Bend Country
• Author Pat Mora – grew up in El Paso
– Yum! !MmMm! !Qué rico! –native foods
– The Rainbow Tulip - immigrants
– Tomás and the Library Lady – migrant workers
– Pablo’s Tree – celebrating family & traditions
– Delicious Hullabaloo – animal life in desert
– The Gift of the Poinsettia – traditions & legends
– Doña Flor: A Tall Tale About a Giant Woman
with a Great Big Heart – Tall tales, foods,
people Click for more
http://www.patmora.com/

3. Big Bend Country
• Sherry Garland – “fifth generation Texan, born
in the Rio Grand Valley” – raised on a dairy
farm in central Texas and Weatherford, TX
– Indio – Native Americans along Rio Grande, arrival
of Spaniards in 1500’s – young adult
• David Rice –
– Crazy Loco –“Loosely based on the author’s
own Mexican American childhood in South
Texas” http://www.asu.edu/brp/dist/young_adult/Rice-Crazy_Loco.html
Click for more
http://sherrygarland.swiftsite.com/

4. Big Bend Country
• Claudia Guadalupe Martinez – raised
in El Paso
– The Smell of Old Lady Perfume – “straddling two
borders, the figurative one between childhood and
adolescence and the real one between Ciudad
Juarez from El Paso” http://www.cincopuntos.com/products_detail.sstg?id=137
• Xavier Garza – native of Rio Grande valley
– Charro Claus & the Tejas Kid: The story of
Santa’s primo and his little sidekick – bilingual,
mariachis, sombreros, and flying burritos
http://www.cincopuntos.com/products_detail.sstg?id=144
Back to Map

5. Panhandle Plains
• John Erickson – Perryton, Texas
– Hank the Cowdog series (16 books) – Hank
the Cowdog is the head of ranch security on
a ranch in the Texas Panhandle.
http://www.hankthecowdog.com/books/01.htm
• Carolee Dean – young adult years in
Lubbock and Happy, TX
– Comfort – small town life –young adult
http://www.caroleedean.com/
Click for more

6. Panhandle Plains
• Holly Bea – grew up in Arlington and attended
Texas Tech in Lubbock
– Lucy Goose Goes to Texas - fictional migration of
Canadian geese to Texas
• Anne Bustard – taught, owned a bookstore,
and professor in Austin, TX
– Buddy: The Story of Buddy Holly – rock ‘n’ roll star
from Lubbock, TX
– T is for Texas – photographs of TX symbols
http://www.hollybea.com/mainstream_books.htm Click for more
http://www.annebustard.com/

7. Panhandle Plains
• Kimberly Willis Holt – Amarillo
– Piper Reed series – military family (common to
many Texas authors and families)
– When Zachary Beaver Came to Town – rural, small
town life
Back to Map

8. Texas Hill Country
• Tom (illustrator) & Janice (author) Shefelman
– Austin
– A Paradise Called Texas – history , immigrant from
Germany to Texas Frontier, Fredericksburg
– Willow Creek Home – sequel, Comanche territory
– Spirit of Iron – sequel, Texas Rangers, Lipan
Apache
– Comanche Song – Native Americans in Texas
– Sophie’s War – Texas during Civil War, German
Texans
Click for more
http://www.shefelmanbooks.com/aboutbooks.htm

9. Texas Hill Country
• Kathi Appelt
– Miss Lady Bird’s Wildflowers – history of Piney
Woods and Hill Country
• Susan Stevens Crummel – family history
in the Hill Country
– Tumbleweed Stew – takes place on a Texas
ranch in the Hill Country
• Cynthia Leitich Smith – now makes
her home in Austin
– Tantalize – a gothic thriller set Austin - YA
http://kathiappelt.com/articles/books_for_older_readers
http://www.susanstevenscrummel.com/books.htm Back to Map
http://www.cynthialeitichsmith.com/index.html

10. Prairies and Lakes
• Susan Stevens Crummel – lived in Dallas,
Corpus Christi, Kerrville, Austin, and Ft. Worth
“The people, the language, flora, and fauna are
in your blood.”
– Ten-Gallon Bart series– fun-paced wild west
adventures
– Jackalope – jackrabbits, cranky
coyotes, and horns!
– The Great Fuzz Frenzy - prairie dogs
Click for more
http://www.susanstevenscrummel.com/books.htm
"Library Student Project." Message to Susan Stevens Crummel. 13 Apr. 2010. E-mail.

11. Prairies and Lakes
• Debbie Leland – author and librarian from
Bryan-College Station
– The Jalapeño Man – a Texas twist to the
Gingerbread Man, complete with plenty of
wildflowers
– The Little Prairie Hen – Attwater’s Prairie Chicken,
pecan pie, prairie dogs, buffalo, and horned toads
at the Coastal County Fair
– Aggie Goose Rhymes – self-explanatory 
“Texas has such great pride and traditions that
I could draw on these for my books.”
http://www.debbie-leland.com/booksns.html Click for more
"Texas Author Study." Message to Debbie Leland. 13 May 2010. E-mail.

12. Prairies and Lakes
• Helen Ketteman – lived 9 years in Dallas,
writes many fractured fairy tales
– Waynetta and the Cornstalk
– Bubba the Cowboy Prince
– Armadilly Chili & Armadillo Tattletale
http://helenketteman.com/sample-the-books/
• Ray Villareal – Dallas native
– Alamo Wars – students put on a play to
commemorate their deceased teacher
– My Father the Angle of Death – tween fiction for
reluctant male readers - WWF
Back to Map
http://app1.kuhf.org/houston_public_radio-news-display.php?articles_id=1219145999

13. Piney Woods
• Kathi Appelt
– The Underneath – set in East Texas
• Jill Alexander – grew up in rural East Texas
– The Sweetheart of Prosper County – small town
politics, roosters, Future Farmers of America
(for young adult readers)
• Helen Ketteman
– The Three Little Gator – set in an east
Texan swamp, fractured fairy tale of the
three little pigs  Click for more
http://kathiappelt.com/articles/books_for_older_readers
http://helenketteman.com/book-three-little-gators/ http://www.jillsalexander.com/

14. Piney Woods
• Tom Townsend –
– The Ballad of Ol’ Hook - rodeo, bull-riding, and
growing up in a small Texas town – young adult
– The Ghost Flyers – UFO sightings in East Texas –
historical fiction – tween/young adult
Back to map
http://www.tomtownsend-toyland.com/

15. South Texas Plains
• Carmen Tafolla – native of San Antonio
“I believe in a sense of place, that you carry your place with
you, that those who came before you, and the dirt on which
they stood, seeps into your life even before you are born.”
– What Can You Do With a Rebozo? – Mexican-
American child, native clothing
– What Can You Do with a Paleta? – sights , sounds and
tastes
– That’s Not Fair!: Emma Tenayuca’s Struggle for Justice
- pecan shellers strike 1930’s
– Baby Coyote and the Old Woman – ecology (looks
more like Arizona than Texas )
http://www.carmentafolla.com/childrens.html
"Texas Author Study." Message to Carmen Tafolla. 12 May 2010. E-mail. Click for more

16. South Texas Plains
• Diane Gonzales Bertrand – native of San
Antonio
– The Empanadas that Abuela Made
– The Last Doll – rites of quincenera
– My Pal Victor –
– We Are Cousins
– Family, Familia – family reunion in San Antonio,
traditions
Click for more
http://www.cynthialeitichsmith.com/lit_resources/authors/interviews/DianeGonzalesBertrand.html

17. South Texas Plains
• Sherry Garland
– In the Shadow of the Alamo – story of a young
Mexican soldier
– A Line in the Sand: The Alamo Diary of Lucinda
Lawrence – Gonzales, TX 1836
– Voices of the Alamo – from ancient to present day
• Jacqueline Kelly – El Paso, Galveston,
Austin
– Evolution of Calpurnia Tate – historical fiction,
1899,rural Texas
Click for more http://sherrygarland.swiftsite.com/
http://www.jacquelinekelly.com/index.html

18. South Texas Plains
• Viola Canales – grew up in McAllen
– Tequila Worm – Latina traditions and coming of age
• Naomi Shihab Nye – San Antonio
– Is This Forever, or What?: Poems and Paintings from
Texas – poetry and images of Texas
– Going Going – changes in hometown
San Antonio
“Both roots and sense of place are major
themes in her body of work.”
http://www.americanpoems.com/poets/Naomi-Shihab-Nye
Click for more

19. South Texas Plains
• Manuel Luis Martinez – born & raised in San
Antonio – novels for young adults
– Crossing – immigration from Mexico
– Drift – a “troubled” son left in San Antonio with his
grandmother, decides to run away to L.A.
“My work is dedicated to bringing the voices of the rarely-
heard, out into the public sphere. My stories come from my
past, the westside barrio of my youth, the tales my abuelitos
and abuelitas told about their migrant lives, the music my
father played, the faith of my mother.”
http://www.manuelmarinez.info/Site/About_Me.html
Back to Map

20. “I like the landscape and the
warmth. I like the
Gulf Coast gentle lilt of the language. It's
easy on my ears.”
"Library Student Project." Message to
Kathi Appelt. 13 Apr. 2010. E-mail.
• Kathi Appelt – grew up in Houston, also lived
in Pasadena, Bridge City, Nacogdoches, Dallas,
Richmond, Bryan and now College Station.
– The Best Kind of Gift – historical, country house
warming
– Bubba and Beau Meet the Relatives – series, funny
language, images, and idioms of Texas
– Cowboy Dreams – cowboy lullaby
– Piggies in a Polka – German influence in Texas
– Kissing Tennessee – small town life
Click for more
http://kathiappelt.com/articles/picture_books

21. Gulf Coast
• Mary Dodson Wade – Houston, former
librarian, historian, and author
– I Am Houston – biography Sam Houston
– Austin, The Son Becomes Father – biography of
Stephen F. Austin
– Jane Long’s Journey - biography
– I’m Going to Texas – cowboys & much
much more to do in Texas
– Opa’s Stories – German influence
Click for more
http://www.wadeco.com/author.htm

22. “NASA Johnson Space Center and the
Lunar and Planetary Science Institute
have had the most impact by providing
Gulf Coast constant stimulation to my imagination
and an endless list of fascinating
people to interview for articles, stories,
and books.” Marianne J. Dyson
• Marianne J. Dyson –graduate school at Rice University,
former NASA flight controller, now lives in Houston
– Home on the Moon
– Space Station Science
• Dottie Enderle –lived in Houston, Austin, Waco,
Belton, Temple, Kyle, and Killeen
– The Fat Stock Stampede at the Houston
Livestock Show and Rodeo
– The Cotton Candy Catastrophe at the Texas State Fair
– Man in the Moon – rural Texas
– Crosswire – 13-year-old boy in fence-cutting war of 1883
http://www.mariannedyson.com/ "Texas Author Study." Message to Marianne
Click for more
http://www.dottienderle.com/index.html J. Dyson. 18 May 2010. E-mail.

23. Gulf Coast
• Rosemary Clement-Moore –
– Highway to Hell – spring break at South Padre
Island, Chupacabras & trouble! (young adult
readers)
• Sherry Garland –
– The Silent Storm– Galveston Island hurricane –
young adults
– My Father’s Boat – Vietnamese shrimp boat, gulf
coast
– The Summer Sands- sand dunes along gulf coast
http://www.rosemaryclementmoore.com/readrosemary/Home/Home.html Click for more
http://sherrygarland.swiftsite.com/

24. Gulf Coast
• Gwendolyn Zepeda – Houston native
– Lone Star Legend – young adult, fighting Latino
stereotypes and the legend of Chupacabra
– Sunflowers, Sunflowers – gardening with Abuela
– Growing Up with Tamales – Christmas traditions
Back to Map
http://www.gwendolynzepeda.com/index.html