Las Vegas history book to be published through partnership

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Louise Helton, a longtime resident of Las Vegas, grew up in Texas where she became very accustomed to community pride.

"I just knew the Alamo was in the Bible," she said. "I just hadn't found it yet."

As executive director for Communities In Schools of Southern Nevada and a member of the Las Vegas Centennial Committee, she wanted to find a way to instill that type of pride and ownership for Las Vegas in area children.

"That attitude is not an accident," Helton said. "It's created."

She hopes a new book about Las Vegas history created especially for fourth-graders will help instill community pride. The book, which will be published by Stephens Press, has been created through a group effort by the Children's History Foundation, Communities In Schools of Southern Nevada, the Nevada Community Foundation, the Las Vegas Centennial Committee, Ronald McDonald House, Clark County School District, Newspapers in Education and the Junior League of Las Vegas.

The book, with a working title of "A Children's Illustrated History of Las Vegas," will be a four-color hard cover accompanied by an activity workbook.

Dr. Jonathan Peters, a published writer and instructor at UNLV, authored the tome and area teachers are making the workbook that will accompany it.

Peters said his focus is not on the things people traditionally associate with Las Vegas history -- like the mob, casinos and show girls -- things he did not think would be appropriate for fourth-graders, anyway. Those elements represent only the last 60 years or so, he said, but people have been coming to Las Vegas for the last 10,000 years. He wanted to highlight the fact that as an area with natural water Las Vegas has been welcoming inhabitants for a very long time.

Children do not respond particularly well to too many names and specifics, Peters said. The textbook tells a general tale of how the large city grew in the middle of a desert.

"It's a good Wild West story," he said.

The text will feature many photos and possibly some drawings as well to keep students interested.

Peters hopes the project will inspire ownership in the city.

"If these kids are in the fourth grade they're going to grow up in this town," he said.

Las Vegas already has more of a sense of place than Orlando, Fla., and other similar resort towns, Peters said. The hope is that this book will further encourage that feeling.

A number of fundraisers are either under way or coming soon, including one with Sammy's Woodfired Pizza. Sammy's will donate 20 percent of sales every Tuesday in September toward the printing of the book.

Sammy's Vice President Tom Penn said his company is very involved in community projects. He liked this one because of its potential effects on Las Vegas.

"The more you know the history of your city, the more invested you are," Penn said.

The more invested children become the more likely they are to improve the city and be unwilling to tolerate crime, Penn added.

Helton estimates they need $350,000 to buy enough books to put two classroom sets in every elementary school in the Clark County School District. By late August they had accumulated about $200,000.

"We're within reach of the goal," Helton said.

She hopes to have the books in classrooms by January or February of 2006.

To participate in the Sammy's fundraiser, visit their locations at 4300 East Sunset Road or 6500 West Sahara. For more information about donating in other ways, call 592-5330.