Alumni Authors

If you have a book to add to this list, please email us at gsealum@lclark.edu.

One-Minute Mindfulness—50 Simple Ways to Find Peace, Clarity, and New Possibilities in a Stressed-Out World
Donald Altman, M.A. ‘04, brings the benefits of mindfulness down to earth and into everyday life. With fifty exercises and practices to build awareness and center attention, you will discover how to savor routine pleasures, build fulfillment in your work, enhance and heal relationships, change unhealthy habits, and connect to peace even in the midst of chaos or uncertainty.
New World Library, 2011. 200 pages.

Gimme Refuge: The Education of a Caretaker
Frustrated with life, teaching, and the inability to become a writer, Matt Love M.A.T. ‘88 escaped Portland in 1997 at 33 years of age and moved to the Oregon Coast. A year later he became caretaker of the 600-acre Nestucca Bay National Wildlife Refuge. During his decade (1998-2008) as caretaker, he helped restore the grounds to fuller ecology, discovered a love for teaching, and reinvented himself as a writer and historian who established Nestucca Spit Press and eventually won the 2009 Stewart H. Holbrook Literary Legacy Award from Oregon Literary Arts. Gimme Refuge is his passionate 177-page account of his teaching career, experience as caretaker, and awakening as an Oregonian.
Nestucca Spit Press, 2010. 177 pages.

The Mindfulness Code
Donald Altman M.A. ‘04 explores the four keys to mindfulness—mind, body, spirit, and relationships—in 11 concise, straightforward chapters.
New World Library, 2010. 272 pp.

Doing Literary Criticism: Helping Students Engage with Challenging Texts
Tim Gillespie, who has taught in public schools for almost four decades, has found inn the lenses of literary criticism a powerful tool for helping students tackle challenging literary texts.
Stenhouse, 2010. 324 pp.

Write Beside Them: Risk, Voice, and Clarity in High School Writing
Penny Ann Kittle, M.A.T. ‘89, writes “This is a book about teaching writing and the gritty particulars of teaching adolescents. But it is also the planning, the thinking, the writing, the journey: all I’ve been putting into my teaching for the last two decades. This is the book I wanted when I was first given ninth graders and a list of novels to teach. This is a book of vision and hope and joy, but it is also a book of genre units and minilessons and actual conferences with students.”
Heinemann, 2008, 272 pages.

The Adoption Decision: 15 Things You Want to Know Before Adopting
Laura Christianson M.A.T. ‘85 helps prospective adoptive parents and their supporters work through questions and misgivings about adoption. This quick-start resource helps readers understand the world of adoption, better grasp its challenges and joys, and move forward confidently on a firm emotional and spiritual footing.
Harvest House Publishers, 2007. 256 pages.

The Adoption Network: Your Guide to Starting a Support System
Laura Christianson M.A.T. ‘85 simplifies the process of building a support community for adoptive or foster families, birth parents, or adoptees. This workbook provides step-by-step instructions for pastors, laypeople, and others who want to launch an adoption ministry in their church or community.
WinePress Publishing, 2007. 112 pages.

Why the World Needs a Saviour Now
Rev. Harrison Gaston M.Ed. ‘80 shares his thoughts on the complexities of the spiritual condition and offers a Christ-centered model for achieving stability and positive change.
AuthorHouse, 2007. 76 pages.

How to Talk to Customers: Create a Great Impression Every Time With MAGIC
Tom Larkin M.A. ‘87 coauthors a text designed to demystify the most critical aspect of customer service: conversations employees have every day with customers. Filled with case studies and anecdotes, the book outlines the key tenets of the authors’ MAGIC (Make a Great Impression on the Customer) training program.
Jossey-Bass, 2007. 224 pages.

Fighting for Paradise: A Military History of the Pacific Northwest
Kurt Nelson M.P.A ‘98 traces the military history of the Pacific Northwest, from early Indian warfare through World War II.
Westholme Publishing, 2007. 320 pages.

The Moses Probe
Ted Magnuson M.A. ‘03 authors a sci-fi adventure, complete with intergalactic space travel.
Mundania Press, 2006. 264 pages.

Borderline
Mark Schorr M.A. ‘93, a real-life psychotherapist and author of 10 books, offers a mystery thriller about a Vietnam vet turned counselor who has a female client who turns up dead. The protagonist gets drawn into her world—and Portland’s darker side—in an effort to find her killer.
St. Martin’s Minotaur, 2006. 272 pages.

Holsteins on the Serengeti: Strategies, Analogies, and Perspectives for the Biology Classroom
Robert Orr M.A.T. ‘05 draws upon 26 years of teaching experience to offer suggestions on teaching general biology.
BookSurge Publishing, 2006. 224 pages.

Happily Ever After: Using Storybooks in a Preschool Setting
Katy Preston M.Ed. ‘96 offers 17 creative storybook-based units for use with preschoolers.
Butte Publications, 2006.

Stirring Up Justice: Writing and Reading to Change the World
Jessica Singer M.A.T. ‘98 shares how she transformed her high school classroom into a force for positive social change by focusing her curriculum and teaching on the core theme of social activism.
Heinemann, 2006. 160 pages.

My Quick Writes: For Inside Writing
Penny Kittle M.A.T. ‘89 coauthors a text that enables readers to explore the writing process by writing rapidly on suggested topics or those of their own choosing.
Heinemann, 2005. 112 pages.

Lewis & Clark’s Digital Clock
Bruce Berney M.Ed. ‘61 offers this whimsical look at the “verses the captains intended to write” along with “clock words” formed by digital numerals.
Selbeck House Press, 2005. 56 pages.

Starting with Comprehension: Reading Strategies for the Youngest Learners
Ruth Shagoury, Rogers Professor of Education, and Andi Cunningham M.A.T. ‘00, a kindergarten teacher, team up to provide a how-to book for teaching comprehension skills to prereaders.
Stenhouse Publishers, 2005. 136 pages.

The Greatest Catch: A Life in Teaching
Penny Kittle M.A.T. ‘89 shares the stories of students with whom she’s celebrated, struggled, and learned.
Heinemann, 2005. 160 pages.

Metaphor Magic
Katy Preston M.Ed. ‘96 presents a workbook about metaphors for students in grades 3 through 7.
Butte Publications, 2005. 93 pages.

Pigeons
Lois Rosen M.Ed. ‘82 shares a book of reflective and memory poems of her Jewish upbringing in the Bronx in the 1960s.
Traprock Books, 2004. 64 pages.

Meal by Meal: 365 Daily Meditations for Finding Balance Through Mindful Eating
Donald Altman M.A. ‘04 shares inspirational daily meditations—including quotes from Zen stories, Native American practices, Hindu scriptures, and the Bible—to help readers make wise food choices.
Inner Ocean Publishing, 2004. 388 pages.

Stepcoupling: Creating and Sustaining a Strong Marriage in Today’s Blended Family
Susan Wisdom M.A. ‘86 and Jennifer Green have written this “remarriage manual,” helping adult stepcouples to strengthen their relationship so they can raise healthy children - hers, his, and theirs - in their stepfamilies. The book contains a wealth of advice from real-life stepcouples.
Three Rivers Press, 2002, 272 pages.