Customer Reviews (1)

Simple and Stunning
The power of the word. The poem 'Walt Whitman Bathing' deserves a specialPulitzer Prize alone. Written a simple clauses, the poem is loaded withwords that made me stop, think, and read on, again and again. Wagoner's arcin this collection is from childhood to old age. The words stayed the same.The context changed. And this is who we are. Give this book to someone as agift. Gift. What a beautiful word. Wagoner. Another. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Strongly recommended compendium of verse for personal reading as well as academic library literary collections
The impressively accomplished author of seventeen books of poems and ten novels, David Wagoner is also the recipient of six prizes from "Poetry" and winner of the 1981 Ruth Lilly Prize for poetry. Good Morning And Good Night is the latest anthology showcasing a master poetry at the height of his craft and is a strongly recommended compendium of verse for personal reading as well as academic library literary collections. The Getaway: They had to act natural. They had to look like/They were still parts of an ordinary day/Together on the sidewalk across the street/To the unfamiliar car, yet they had to be/Quick about it without running. They had to think/Taking those steps, remembering, knowing/Every foot they could put between their bodies/And the scene behind them, where the noise/Of buzzers and bells and yowling/And terribly shocked voices was growing/Louder and louder. They pulled away/As calmly as possible, staring straight ahead/Straight-faced, not glancing once/To either side or backward, let alone/At each other, and took a turn in the most unlikely/Direction they could think of. Under the limit,/They drove steadily, legally toward home.
... Read more

Book Description

Term paper due tomorrow? Need to bone up for a test? Or just looking for the best information about a favorite literary figure?

Turn to "Dictionary of Literary Biography" for the finest literature reference material. Brought to you by the Gale Group--the world's leading source of reference information--this e-doc contains a biographical essay written by a noted literary expert as well as extensive primary and secondary bibliographies.Download Description

Term paper due tomorrow? Need to bone up for a test? Or just looking for the best information about a favorite literary figure?

Turn to "Dictionary of Literary Biography" for the finest literature reference material. Brought to you by the Gale Group--the world's leading source of reference information--this e-doc contains a biographical essay written by a noted literary expert as well as extensive primary and secondary bibliographies. ... Read more

Book Description
This digital document, covering the life and work of David (Russell) Wagoner, is an entry from Contemporary Authors, a reference volume published by Thompson Gale. The length of the entry is 3072 words. The page length listed above is based on a typical 300-word page. Although the exact content of each entry from this volume can vary, typical entries include the following information:

• Place and date of birth and death (if deceased)
• Family members
• Education
• Professional associations and honors
• Employment
• Writings, including books and periodicals
• A description of the author's work
• References to further readings about the author

Customer Reviews (2)

Upbeat adventure tale of love and faith in gold rush days
In his seventh novel, David Wagoner strikes gold in more ways than one. The Road to Many a Wonder has been called "one of the funniest books in English," and "an irresistible comic romance," but these accolades don't dothe book justice. The story of 20-year-old Ike Bender's trek to the Denverarea during the 1859 Pike's Peak Gold Rush is more a story of the triumphof optimism and faith over overwhelming odds. It's only incidental that theauthor uses witty, appealingly humorous Western-style backwoods-soundingdialogue and verbal sketches to paint an accurate picture of Ike, his16-year-old bride Millie, their adopted mule Mr. Blue and the charactersthey meet up with on their journey.

Through 500 miles of wild andperilous country, past fierce Indians and belligerent villains, Ike andMillie never stray from their upbeat, joyous goal: to be together, happyand prosperous-with gold or without it. With every step, the two youngtravelers face down the weary and spent faithless who are struggling toretreat.

Ike sums it up best as he describes his confrontation with anunfortunate fellow on the trail: "I didn't have no cause to fight and notime to spare for it, so I just left him behind, wasting his breath and notenjoying hisself or his surroundings, probably not even seeing the way thesun come wavering off and on across the sand and getting hisself all workedup worrying about somebody else getting the best of him. I vowed then andthere I wasn't going to do nothing like that, but do my work and take myturn and prepare for the worst and hope for the best and manage with whatcome along."

This is a message young adults today should hear and ponder.In today's tough world where money means everything and the race is on forwho can sprint up the ladder fastest and farthest, students need to bereminded that the joy is in the living, not in the getting.

DavidWagoner's heart-warming, upbeat tale of strong faith and love in the faceof despair is a top-notch teaching tool. The key to reaching kids today isto make them think they discovered a fabulous new road to take on theirown. An invisible push from you and David Wagoner will surely help.

Upbeat tale of strong faith and love during gold rush days
In his seventh novel, David Wagoner strikes gold in more ways than one. The Road to Many a Wonder has been called "one of the funniest books in English," and "an irresistible comic romance," but these accolades don't dothe book justice. The story of 20-year-old Ike Bender's trek to the Denverarea during the 1859 Pike's Peak Gold Rush is more a story of the triumphof optimism and faith over overwhelming odds. It's only incidental that theauthor uses witty, appealingly humorous Western-style backwoods-soundingdialogue and verbal sketches to paint an accurate picture of Ike, his16-year-old bride Millie, their adopted mule Mr. Blue and the charactersthey meet up with on their journey.

Through 500 miles of wild andperilous country, past fierce Indians and belligerent villains, Ike andMillie never stray from their upbeat, joyous goal: to be together, happyand prosperous-with gold or without it. With every step, the two youngtravelers face down the weary and spent faithless who are struggling toretreat.

Ike sums it up best as he describes his confrontation with anunfortunate fellow on the trail: "I didn't have no cause to fight and notime to spare for it, so I just left him behind, wasting his breath and notenjoying hisself or his surroundings, probably not even seeing the way thesun come wavering off and on across the sand and getting hisself all workedup worrying about somebody else getting the best of him. I vowed then andthere I wasn't going to do nothing like that, but do my work and take myturn and prepare for the worst and hope for the best and manage with whatcome along."

This is a message young adults today should hear and ponder.In today's tough world where money means everything and the race is on forwho can sprint up the ladder fastest and farthest, students need to bereminded that the joy is in the living, not in the getting.

DavidWagoner's heart-warming, upbeat tale of strong faith and love in the faceof despair is a top-notch teaching tool. The key to reaching kids today isto make them think they discovered a fabulous new road to take on theirown. An invisible push from you and David Wagoner will surely help. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Hilarious and moving story of a teen orphan in 1889 Colorado
David Wagoner pulls you in with a giant yank from his very first lines:

When the bank blew up, I had just got to the part in "Old MacDonald Had a Farm" where it was an Oink Oink here and an Oink Oinkthere (it's easier to grunt on a mouth harp than do most anything else, soI was stretching it out a little to make up for spoiling it later on whenthe Gobble Gobbles commenced), and at first I thought I'd busted myeardrums from blowing too hard.

In one short paragraph the reader knowshe or she is in for wild times, and Wagoner delivers. Tracker is themoving, astonishing, touching and hilarious story of 15-year-old orphan Eliin 1889 Colorado. Raised by an abusive livery stable owner, Eli has livedover a barn all his life, pitching hay by day but dreaming by night offollowing his hero, the half-Indian old gray-headed man, TrackerByrd.

When bandits dynamite and then rob the First National Bank ofSheepshank, Colorado, Eli seizes his chance. If he can hire on as part ofthe posse chasing the villains, he will at the same time learn trackingfrom Tracker Byrd.

Eli and Tracker split off from the rest of the posse,finding excitement and trouble all along the trail. One walking package ofexcitement and trouble is Miz Cherry Bastion, a girl so beautiful butheadstrong that Eli calls her "both sides of a sermon, the harp music andthe sinner's roast."

David Wagoner departs from the stale Western formulaof the straight-and-narrow, do-gooder hero and his lily-white,sweet-as-honey love interest. Eli is honest but human, and grapples withhis conscience often-with sometimes shaky but hilarious results. Miz CherryBastion is about as sweet as vinegar and twice as hard to swallow. Eli'sso-called hero, Tracker Byrd, is a hard-drinking, wisecracking old varmintwho alternatively delights and dismays Eli.

By painting the charactersbelievable and human, Wagoner does young adult readers a favor. He usesreal-life personalities and problems in a make-believe world to allow hisreaders to learn some concrete answers for today's topsy-turvy world.Sometimes a model or mock-up of a troublesome situation helps overcomeperception difficulties.

Tracker is a good role model for today. DavidWagoner uses no objectionable language or situations in his novel-hedoesn't have to. His clear writing and down-to-earth backwoods stylelanguage and wisdom (mixed with generous portions of humor) tell a goodstory of how far perseverance, trust, and a good healthy does of optimismcan take you. Listen to Tracker teaching Eli as Eli teaches thereader:

"Let me put it to you serious," [Tracker] says. "All right,you're chasing some bank robbers. What had you figured on doing when youcaught up with them?" "Why, I don't know," I says, shamed to admit I'd beenthinking more about improving myself and looking for sign than anythingelse. It was a beautiful day, and the sun made every crack, stick,grass-blade, weed-stalk, and rock-edge, near and far, look like it was fitto bust, just for the sheer pleasure of being itself and not shaped likenothing else nor colored the same nor standing or laying the same way. Whatdifference did it make if we caught somebody or not? "Take them intocustody, I reckon." "Where's that at?" Tracker says. "Where's that'custody' at?" I tried to be patient with him. "I mean back to Sheepshankso's they can get a fair trial for bank-busting."

P.S. Anyone who hassuch fun with the English language is bound to be a good poet. Here's achance to lure the unwary into poetry. David Wagoner is known more for hispoetry today than his novels. If the young adult reader loves the novels,perhaps he or she will give the poetry a whack (although Wagoner'swonderfully irreverent way with words is absent in his poetry-too bad!)After all, David Wagoner himself thinks he's a better poet than novelist.Are you sure, David? ... Read more