Recent Books By Alumni

ALUMNI
ELIZABETH SILANCE BALLARD ’94, Kate’s Fan, Righter Publishing. This children’s book is about a young girl who is dealing with the illness and death of her sister and shows the dynamics of families in grief. Reiko Schwab, ODU associate professor emerita of educational leadership and counseling, wrote the introduction, in which she states that the book “... speaks to all children, helping them reflect on their own and others’ experiences of loss and find ways that give meaning to the valued relationship which continues to exist in the memory after the death of a loved one.” www.righterbooks.com

CLAIR T. BERUBE (Ph.D. ’01), The Unfinished Quest: The Plight of Progressive Science Education in the Age of Standards, Information Age Publishing. This book was born of a science teacher’s frustration brought on by the standardized testing movement’s reliance on high-stakes tests as the sole tool with which to measure achievement. Science by its very nature relies on original thinking for discovery and innovation. How can this be measured by a bubble test? And how do these high-stakes tests affect minorities, girls, those with disabilities and at-risk students? What if we change the way we teach and assess science learning to better prepare our citizens for creative preventions and solutions to world problems, instead of preparing them to react to world problems? The nature of science begs a better way. www.infoagepub.com/products/content/p481b6b89ed4f8.php

DON SHIPP ’92, Psalms of Adultery, Star Books. Questions are like doors. They can take you to places you’ve never been. But some doors lead to rooms you might wish you had never opened. In Psalms, a married man in his prime investigates questions about God. When God doesn’t make sense, he falls into a downward spiral. Desperately seeking to fill a void, he writes poetry and creates images. Psalms is a “vision of wrestling with God,” a poetic work of grief and hope. The author is an ordained minister who recently left organized religion. www.donshipp.com

PAUL TARDO ’70, The Last Hour, Holy Fire Publications. Tardo writes that the book “reveals the things that brought Jesus’ cry of being forsaken, what happened immediately after and what it means to us.” P.O. Box 8535, Springfield, MO 65801

BOOK NOTES
CHERYL F. HUMPHREYS BELLINGER ’89 has illustrated her first book, Wish I Had a Pony, a children’s book by Barbara Spurlin, (High-Pitched Hum Publishing). The book is based on a true story about a family that finds and cares for a lost pony. www.highpitchedhum.net

AMY KONIKOWSKI LAMPERTI ’91 published The Playground Guide: Best of Morris County, N.J., in April, and is interested in hearing from fellow alumni who would like to explore creating a book for their local area. “We’re actively seeking people who like to visit playgrounds, take photos and can write up the reviews to cover their own county or city,” she writes. Of her book, Lamperti notes, “This is the first in a planned series of guides that will cover additional geographies in New Jersey and beyond. It was a great project for me because I wanted something that I could do with the kids, and they researched all 265 playgrounds with me!” www.theplaygroundguide.com amy@theplaygroundguide.com

OUR FACULTY
JOYCE HOFFMANN, professor of journalism, On Their Own: Women Journalists and the American Experience in Vietnam, Da Capo Press. Hoffmann includes rich detail not only about the women writers and photographers who worked as reporters in Vietnam, but also about the 1960s-era political and cultural climates in the United States, in Vietnam and in American newsrooms. Among the women featured are Gloria Emerson, the only female journalist to be assigned to the Saigon bureau of The New York Times; Kate Webb, who was captured by the North Vietnamese and held for 23 days, during which time she was thought to be dead and her obituary was published in the Times; and Dickey Chapelle, a photojournalist and the only American female reporter to be killed in action in Vietnam. www.dacapopress.com

Calling All Authors
If you have published a book recently, let us know.
Please send a copy, along with any promotional material or reviews, to:

Steve Daniel, Old Dominion University magazine, 100 Koch Hall, Old Dominion University, Norfolk, Va. 23529. All submissions will be considered for review.