Bowling Green, Ky. – Western Kentucky University Libraries has selected The Secret of the Lonely Grave by Albert A. Bell, Jr. as the winner of the first ever Evelyn Thurman Young Readers Book Award. The new award is to honor the memory of former WKU librarian, Evelyn Thurman, who made significant contributions to children’s librarianship and literacy during her 25 years of service.
The Secret of the Lonely Grave, is set in a small Kentucky town where eleven-year-old Steve Patterson and his friend Kendra Jordan discover flowers left on an old grave in a cemetery that they pass each day on the way to school. No one has ever left flowers there before and they wonder who could have left them. As they look for answers they uncover secrets about the history of their small Kentucky town that take them back to the Civil War and the Underground Railroad. But not everyone is pleased when they solve their town’s oldest mystery.
Albert A. Bell, Jr. lives in Michigan and teaches at Hope College. He holds an M.A. from Duke, a M.Div. from Southeastern Seminary, and a Ph.D. from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He has authored mystery novels, historical novels, children’s books, a book on the New Testament and baseball.
Mr. Bell will visit WKU on February 16, 2008, to receive his award and discuss writing with participants of the Super Saturdays program, which is sponsored by the WKU Center for Gifted Studies. Super Saturdays students will be given a chance to ask questions and interact with the author.
Books eligible for the Evelyn Thurman Young Readers Book Award fall into two categories, to be awarded in alternating years: children’s picture/early reader books (grades K-4) and books for older readers (grades 5-8). Books must be written or illustrated by a Kentucky author or illustrator, or have a significant Kentucky-related theme.
For more information visit www.wku.edu/library or call 270-745-4502.
Cindy Troutman, Marketing Coordinator, WKU Libraries
cindy.troutman@wku.edu
270-745-4502