Minnesotans are a highly skilled bunch, whether pursuing traditional activities like wild ricing and pickling, or tastefully displaying taxidermy, or selecting the right fishing bait. Skills particularly appropriate to Minnesota-- such as creating seed art or baking a Bundt cake--may be fully on display at the state fair, a prime opportunity to join with neighbors in celebrating our many talents. The Minnesota Book of Skills brings to life the basic know-how that makes us uniquely Minnesotan. Seasonal tips like how to gracefully exit a ski lift mingle with skills your grandparents knew well, such as what to forage for while on a hike. How soon is too soon to bring a child to the Boundary Waters or set her up on hockey skates? The answers are here. Maybe you'll never carve an ice sculpture or build your own coffin--but isn't it comforting to know that one handy book offers just the guidance you'll need?

From the author of The Latehomecomer, a powerful memoir of her father, a Hmong song poet who sacrificed his gift for his children's future in America In the Hmong tradition, the song poet recounts the story of his people, their history and tragedies, joys and losses; extemporizing or drawing on folk tales, he keeps the past alive, invokes the spirits and the homeland, and records courtships, births, weddings, and wishes. Following her award-winning book The Latehomecomer, Kao Kalia Yang now retells the life of her father Bee Yang, the song poet, a Hmong refugee in Minnesota, driven from the mountains of Laos by American's Secret War. Bee lost his father as a young boy and keenly felt his orphanhood. He would wander from one neighbor to the next, collecting the things they said to each other, whispering the words to himself at night until, one day, a song was born. Bee sings the life of his people through the war-torn jungle and a Thai refugee camp. But the songs fall away in the cold, bitter world of a Minneapolis housing project and on the factory floor until, with the death of Bee's mother, the songs leave him for good. But before they do, Bee, with his poetry, has polished a life of poverty for his children, burnished their grim reality so that they might shine. Written with the exquisite beauty for which Kao Kalia Yang is renowned, The Song Poet is a love story -- of a daughter for her father, a father for his children, a people for their land, their traditions, and all that they have lost.

Brian Peterson and Kerri Westenberg, both native Minnesotans, share a deep affection for their homeland. That sensibility underlies every aspect of the State of Wonders project, which began as a series in the Travel section of the Star Tribune. Through their combined vision, springtime awakes in the northwest with prairie chicken dances and unfurling, delicate plants. Tallgrass prairies and historic American Indian lands trumpet the full glory of summer. Autumn colors dazzle the Mississippi River Valley, and winter in the Arrowhead region holds both harsh cold and exquisite beauty. Collectively, their work illuminates Minnesota's natural glories.

In 1891 Minnesota established its first state park at Lake Itasca, the headwaters of the Mississippi River. In the century that followed, Minnesotans and tourists from other states have enjoyed hiking, picnicking, fishing, camping, canoeing, and skiing at Itasca and Minnesota's 64 other state parks. This helpful guide to the past in the parks will be welcomed by people who regularly visit a favorite Minnesota park, people who have set out to visit every park, and people who are newly discovering the parks' wonders.

Young readers will squeal with delight as they tour the great state of Minnesota and recognize familiar sites, landmarks, and wildlife including moose and wolves, Duluth Harbor, Fort Snelling, SEA LIFE Minnesota Aquarium, lakes, Minnesota State Fair, Science Museum of Minnesota, Saint Paul Winter Carnival, ice skating, ice fishing, Paul Bunyan, and more.

A book to inspire Minnesotans of all ages to learn about and reflect on the ten plants, chosen by experts and citizens, that have most impacted our state.