Change in White Award winners

A new winner has been announced in the William Allen White Book Awards.

Patricia Reilly Giff's book " " has been selected as the grades 3-5 winner, replacing "Swindle" by Gordon Korman, who declined the award because of a scheduling conflict. The awards will be presented Sept. 24 in Emporia; the event is open to the public.

"Eleven" is about a boy who discovers, as he is about to turn 11, a mysterious bunch of papers that indicate he may have been kidnapped as a child. But he has a tough time with reading, and so has a classmate help him unravel the mystery.

Susan Campbell Bartoletti's book "The Boy Who Dared: A Novel Based on the True Story of Hitler Youth," was the grades 6-8 winner.

Winners of the William Allen White Book Awards are chosen by Kansas schoolchildren. The program is directed by Emporia State University.

For more information on the awards celebration, visit http://waw.emporia.edu/misc/celebration.html.

Local author Paul White to sign books

Psychologist Paul White of Wichita will appear at a book-signing for his book "The 5 Languages of Appreciation in the Workplace" (Northfield Publishing, 272 pages, $19.99) with co-author Gary Chapman on Saturday. The signing is from 2 to 4 p.m. at the Barnes & Noble in Eastgate, 8021 E. Kellogg.

The book details ways people can express appreciation to co-workers and create a positive workplace.

Kansas historian to speak on forts

Author and former history professor Leo Oliva will give a presentation on Kansas military forts at 1 p.m. Aug. 20 at the Alford Regional Branch Library, 3447 S. Meridian.

Oliva will talk about the importance of Forts Leavenworth, Scott, Riley, Larned, Harker, Dodge, Hays, and Wallace in Kansas through the past 150 years to the modern era: forts were keys in westward expansion, crucial during the Civil War and engines of growth for the state.

This presentation is part of the quarterly meeting of the Wichita Genealogical Society and is open to the public.

This story was originally published August 7, 2011 at 12:00 AM with the headline "Change in White Award winners."