Readers Are Leaders: Montana Authors Join Together To Celebrate National Reading Month

March is National Reading Month, a time to motivate families and people of all ages to read every day. At Distinctly Montana Magazine, we like to celebrate reading all year-round by bringing you thought-provoking, fun and interesting stories and articles so you can learn more about what makes Montana unique.

Designated as a time to celebrate reading, three local authors joined together to kick-off National Reading Month and shared their stories on Montana’s popular 100.7 XL Country radio station.

Local authors include recently voted 2020 Bozeman’s Choice, ‘Favorite Local Author’, Dave Wooten for his book, ‘Crazy Horse: Where My Dead Lie Buried’, Kyle Steiner, award-winning author for his children’s book series including, ‘Patched’, ‘The Legend of the Squiger’, and ‘Snow Ghost’, and Joe Flynn, author of, ‘The Miracle of Bubba’, a heart-warming story about his beloved Black Lab, Bubba that has been quickly grabbing hearts nationwide.

The three authors discussed the positive benefits of reading regularly and their individual paths of becoming authors. All agreed that reading regularly was the key to becoming writers and authors. Each with a unique background, Dave Wooten’s passion is for history, Kyle is writing creative children’s books and Joe’s love of dogs and the outdoors led him write Bubba’s story. All three wrote their books in Montana.

‘The path for authors is so unique. I’d encourage anyone who loves to read and has an interest in becoming an author to start writing. Just start’, says Joe Flynn.

The benefits of reading include expanded vocabulary, stronger analytical skills, memory improvement and stress reduction, even from as little as 15 minutes of reading a day.

‘There’s so much access to content now days,’ says Dave Wooten, ‘You can digest stories books in audio version, from your kindle, magazine, or my favorite, an old-fashioned book’.

For young children and students, reading is critical for comprehension, education and entertaining. There are even apps available for kids to track their reading, test their comprehension of the book they read and set goals!

Among parents of children 6-17, almost three-quarters (71%) agree, “I wish my children would do more things that did not involve screen time.” The child who is a ‘frequent reader’ reads an average of 44 books per year versus a child who is considered an ‘infrequent reader’ who reads an average of 22 books per year (source: Forbes).

Adults average less than five (5) books per year. Yikes! A great way to get your kids reading is to model the behavior! Make reading enjoyable and find a genre you like or a specific author or series. Many movies also start as books and it’s always fun to compare the book version to the movie version.

To encourage reading and learn more about these Montana authors, Dave Wooten and Joe Flynn will be sharing their stories at the Belgrade Library on Tuesday, 3/31 from 4 p.m. – 6 p.m.

For ideas on how you can celebrate reading or if you need tips on how start good reading habits, here are a few easy and fun ways to keep reading fun:

Use a Reading App: Listed as one of the ‘Top 23 Life-Changing Apps’, Bookling is a mobile app which helps you keep track of your reading habits and motivates you to read more.

‘If you’re dedicated to print books, Bookling is a fun way to see your progress overtime and keep a personal log of the books you’ve read. It’s like a personal Goodreads for introverts! You can set alarms to remind you to read several times a week or daily, which is a fantastic feature for people who claim they’re “too busy” to read. I love the bright, animated interface and that it keeps me accountable to crack open a book instead of opening Facebook.’ BuzzFeed staff member (source: https://misterbumbles.com/bookling).
 

Choose a theme: Whether you enjoy history, animals, biographies on interesting people, fairytales, outer space, or sci-fi, pick up a book on a theme and enjoy reading!

Read for 15 minutes a day: Set a little time aside, it doesn’t have to be a lot, and read for 15 minutes a day to start a habit. Before you know it, you’ll be finishing that new book!

Visit the library: Libraries are a beautiful place for the community to gather with a wide selection of books and resources. It’s a fun place to spend time with family or hide away and read a good book. Library visits are on the rise and also give you that sense that you're contributing to your civic duty within the community. Enjoy the incredible resources our city has to offer, get a library card and check out some books for the family!

Enjoy an audiobook: Audiobooks are another creative way to get into reading, especially if you’re in the car a lot (spring break road trips, etc.). Introduce your kids to the joy of audiobooks or radio theatre.

Montana is full of independent bookstores and resources, making it enjoyable to dive into a new genre or topic, read an autobiography or go back in time with a historical novel. Get the whole family reading together. Share with us your favorite book or author in our Facebook group.

Montana’s Top Winter Drives

BY Sean Jansen

Montanans as a whole are an outdoorsy bunch. We are outside given whatever is thrown down from the heavens. Be it rain, shine, or snow. The age-old saying of, “Montana has two seasons, winter and July,” doesn’t give us a lot of options anyways to be picky about the weather. However, we all have those lazy days. Those days that we woke so comfortably that we want the laziness to last all day. Montana’s winters can do that to even the hardiest of individuals. However, work still needs to be done 12 months a year and the snowplow drivers work 24/7 and at times 300 days a year to keep our favorite roads open for our use. We are leaving out some great ones, but for those open year-round, here are our favorite drives to enjoy in winter.

Highway 191-West Yellowstone to Bozeman

Now for those that commute daily from Bozeman to Big Sky and back may disagree fully with the choice as the lines of traffic during a given workweek or fresh powder day at Big Sky may think that the road is a living hell. But if you gaze beyond the taillights of the car in front of you, creating the grip on the steering wheel to tighten and teeth to grind, the road winds its way following one of the most beautiful rivers in Montana. Slithering its way through the Gallatin National Forest and into a section of Yellowstone National Park is one of the only byways that connect us to Idaho and Wyoming. Through some thick forested and wildlife enriched corridors is a winter wonderland drive to be had. (Note: I wasn’t joking about the traffic. Enjoy the drive midday or on a weekend for a more pleasurable experience.)

Highway 287- West Yellowstone to Ennis

Cruising next to the giant frozen ice rink of Hebegen Lake, then further carving its way past Quake Lake and ultimately following one of the greatest trout streams on the planet, Highway 287 is a show stopper with scenery from any window of the car. A gaze over to the river or up into the Madison/Gallatin Range and out of the peripheries a moose gallops across the road. In the field, a herd of elk grazes on the grass sticking out of the snow and the town of Ennis beckons the old cowboy life. With another ice-skating rink of a lake at the end to top it all off, this may be one of my personal favorite drives to make in winter.

Highway 86- Livingston to Gardiner and beyond

This highway cruises through a place called Paradise Valley…enough said. A highway adjacent to the mighty Yellowstone River with the magnificent Absaroka-Beartooth Mountains to the east, making for a dangerous highway for the driver to focus on the road. With wide-open vistas and wildlife everywhere, for any Montanan, this place is still as jaw-dropping the first to the thousandth visit. With it being the only highway that gives access to Yellowstone National Park in winter, enjoy the splendors of the Lamar Valley onward from the highway and into Cooke City for those that wish to keep driving.

Highway 93 – Missoula to Sula

Leaving the college town of Missoula and meandering through Lolo, Highway 93 sits nestled along the Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness. With sweeping mountain views, a wildlife refuge, hot springs, and the Bitterroot River, few drives in Montana offer this many attractions and distractions to keep the driver and passengers occupied.

Highway 2 – Whitefish to East Glacier Park Village

Didn’t get the chance to explore Glacier National Park this summer? Well, the good news is that it is still open, and it is much quieter than summer. Highway 2 from Whitefish to East Glacier Park Village is a stunning drive offering mountain views with every curve and a good chance at spotting wildlife. Be advised before your drive as road conditions can change rapidly, exposing them to immediate closing. But if they are open, it will surely be an unforgettable road trip.