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399 Kansas Characters
Biographical sketches of people "important to an understanding of Kansas history and society."
287 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1993
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2 people want to read
About the author
Dave Webb
51 books1 followerDave Webb is an author and educator from Pennsylvania. His tenth book, Mr. Nomad: Tales of a Traveling Teacher chronicles his nearly thirty-year career as an elementary school teacher in three states.
Webb started his writing career as a newspaper reporter. Soon he felt a calling to become a teacher. He has taught fourth and fifth grade for more than twenty years.
After becoming a teacher, Webb had an itch to do more writing. That's when he decided to write a humorous children's book loosely based on true events. Slinky Inkermann and the Crazy Contest was published in 1996, followed by two sequels.
In 2007 Webb published a short novel for young adults entitled Amber. The book tells the story of a young girl whose unstable home life causes her to hear disturbing voices. The heart-wrenching story is fast-paced and addresses the problem of domestic abuse and neglect from a child's point of view.
In 2012 Webb published Barkley Rules, which is a humorous chapter book about a sixth-grader who tries to rid his middle school of bullying.
Two more books followed in 2013. A sequel to Amber, entitled Amber Lee, was published in March. Then came a new edition of the second Slinky Inkermann book, Superfreaky Summer.
In 2015 Webb released The Challenge for ages 7-10 and The House on Eerie Street for ages 9-12.
Webb started his writing career as a newspaper reporter. Soon he felt a calling to become a teacher. He has taught fourth and fifth grade for more than twenty years.
After becoming a teacher, Webb had an itch to do more writing. That's when he decided to write a humorous children's book loosely based on true events. Slinky Inkermann and the Crazy Contest was published in 1996, followed by two sequels.
In 2007 Webb published a short novel for young adults entitled Amber. The book tells the story of a young girl whose unstable home life causes her to hear disturbing voices. The heart-wrenching story is fast-paced and addresses the problem of domestic abuse and neglect from a child's point of view.
In 2012 Webb published Barkley Rules, which is a humorous chapter book about a sixth-grader who tries to rid his middle school of bullying.
Two more books followed in 2013. A sequel to Amber, entitled Amber Lee, was published in March. Then came a new edition of the second Slinky Inkermann book, Superfreaky Summer.
In 2015 Webb released The Challenge for ages 7-10 and The House on Eerie Street for ages 9-12.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
June 3, 2018
This is a book that has so much memories and backstory for me. First of all I was partially introduced to it when I was in the fourth grade by a teacher who wanted us to choose a Kansas character as part of a historic skit to learn more about those who have contributed to our state. And second it introduced me to one of my main role models - Osa Johnson and her husband. Yet at the same time it has taken me years to track down the book since of title amnesia.
The compilation of the book allows readers to get a chance to read about famous Kansans who were either born here, stayed here for a bit or were just passing through. As a result there are entries for religious figures, business folks, entries, a ghost, criminials, explorers and so much more. With each entry the reader gets to know the state and its history piece by piece.
The information is compiled by chapters that organize all the characters into similar categories. From there each entry is then compiled alphabetically with the others before going into details such as name, a brief summary one-liner, careers, birth and death dates (or just a given collection of timeframe such as 1880s) and parts of the state that they are from. Afterwards each person is given a few paragraphs or pages that explains important episodes of their life, their accomplishments and relation to the state.
The book itself is a big awkward thing that would make for a good coffee-type leaveout. And as such and even though it was only 289 pages there is still a lot more information within the pages thus making it to be an even longer read than it would have seemed otherwise.
Furthermore the book does include a section at the end of each chapter that includes even more small summaries of other Kansans. There were two or three that repeated names that had already been mentioned beforehand as main entries but otherwise it is even more people than what is given.
Altogether the book is a bit outdated but otherwise still a great start to get to to know the state more. For those who like history, Kansas or even just getting to know more people better this will be a wonderful stepping stone to further studies.
The compilation of the book allows readers to get a chance to read about famous Kansans who were either born here, stayed here for a bit or were just passing through. As a result there are entries for religious figures, business folks, entries, a ghost, criminials, explorers and so much more. With each entry the reader gets to know the state and its history piece by piece.
The information is compiled by chapters that organize all the characters into similar categories. From there each entry is then compiled alphabetically with the others before going into details such as name, a brief summary one-liner, careers, birth and death dates (or just a given collection of timeframe such as 1880s) and parts of the state that they are from. Afterwards each person is given a few paragraphs or pages that explains important episodes of their life, their accomplishments and relation to the state.
The book itself is a big awkward thing that would make for a good coffee-type leaveout. And as such and even though it was only 289 pages there is still a lot more information within the pages thus making it to be an even longer read than it would have seemed otherwise.
Furthermore the book does include a section at the end of each chapter that includes even more small summaries of other Kansans. There were two or three that repeated names that had already been mentioned beforehand as main entries but otherwise it is even more people than what is given.
Altogether the book is a bit outdated but otherwise still a great start to get to to know the state more. For those who like history, Kansas or even just getting to know more people better this will be a wonderful stepping stone to further studies.
October 25, 2015
I love every book related to history and now Kansas. This is a list and descriptions of famous Kansas people. My favorite people in this book are Kit Carson, George Washington Carver, Jesse Chisholm, Amelia Earhart, Charles Lindbergh, John Fremont, Brit Spaugh, and Zebulon Pike.Who knew such awesome people came from Kansas.
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September 3, 2009K978.1Web
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews