LITERARY LAS VEGAS BOOK BRIEFS Kids of all ages will dig 'The Dirt on Dirt'

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AUTHORS TO SPEAK AT LUNCHEON

Brandeis Las Vegas Chapter's 11th annual Book and Author Luncheon is planned for Sunday at The Orleans. The doors will open at 10:30 a.m. for boutique shopping and book signing, followed by the luncheon program.

Two local authors will be featured at the event. Sarah Lee Marks will speak about her latest book, "Artist's Proof," a murder mystery. Marks is an artist, contemporary art collector and culinary aficionado.

Kevin Janison will speak on his children's book "Deputy Dorkface" and its follow up, "How Stinky is Stinkville?"

Proceeds from the event will help provide medical research journals for Brandeis University, where researchers are trying to find cures for neurodegenerative diseases. Reservations are required. Call 341-5688.

UNIVERSITY LECTURE SERIES TO FEATURE FICTION GEOMETRY

UNLV's University Forum lecture series is set to host a presentation titled The Geometries of Fiction, 7:30 p.m. Thursday in the Barrick Museum Auditorium.

UNLV English Department Chairman Douglas Unger plans to present 3-dimensional computer graphics designed to represent reader responses to novels.

Forum lectures are free and open to the public. Visit http://liberalarts.unlv.edu/forum.htm or call 895-3401 for information.

PLANS IN WORKS FOR LAS VEGAS WRITERS' CONFERENCE

The Henderson Writers' Group-sponsored 2008 Las Vegas Writers' Conference is set for April 17-19 at Sam's Town. For more information, visit www.Lasvegaswritersconference.com or call 564-2488.

LIBRARY DISTRICT TO PUT ON ANNUAL BIG READ PROGRAM

The National Endowment for the Arts and the Las Vegas-Clark County Library District are teaming up again to encourage adults to read with The Big Read program.

For the second year, one book has been selected for valley-wide reading and discussion. Last year, residents explored "The Joy Luck Club." This year's book is "The Great Gatsby."

Signups begin April 1 at all library branches. A variety of activities are planed at local libraries. A book festival is set for 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. April 5 at the Clark County Library, 1401 E. Flamingo Road. Visit www.lvccld.org for details.

LIBRARY PUTS OUT A CALL FOR AUTHORS

Published authors living in Nevada are invited to participate in Clark County Library events.

To participate, fill out a registration form at the information table at any of the local author programs at Clark County Library, 1401 E. Flamingo Road.

Events open to local authors include the Big Read Book Festival, the Local Authors Book Festival, the Meet The Authors monthly series and more.

The next Meet the Authors event, 6:30 p.m. March 26 in the library's Jewel Box Theater, is set to feature comedienne/freelance writer Cathe Jones and author/editor Jarret Keene in a program on writing about celebrities. For details, call 507-3458.

WRITERS' GROUP TO MEET

The Las Vegas Writers' Group's monthly meeting is set for 7 p.m. March 20 at Sean Patrick's Pub, 8255 W. Flamingo Road. The club welcomes anyone who has an interest in writing. Admission is $5.

For more information, visit www.writers.meetup.com.

BARNES & NOBLE HOSTS A VARIETY OF BOOK CLUBS

Mornings with Mari Book Club meets at 10 a.m. the third Saturday of each month; the Best Book You've Never Read book group meets the second Sunday of the month at 7 p.m.; Our Desert Hearts book group meets at 7 p.m. the third Thursday of the month at Barnes & Noble, 8915 W. Charleston Blvd.

Henderson resident Howard B. Capponi and his wife, Renee, teamed up to author "James Milton Sessions: American World War II Artist and Premier Brush Reporter."

The book features 28 of Sessions' World War II paintings, works that chronicle events and major battles of the war as painted by a U.S. Marine Corps artist on the front lines.

According to the authors, all of the paintings in the book were either sketched or painted on location or re-created from classified military film footage secured from the U.S. War Department. For the battles he didn't personally see, Sessions didn't just watch films, he interviewed the people who were there -- news corespondents and members of the armed forces.

Howard Capponi, an art appraiser and consultant, curated two exhibitions of Sessions' work for a gallery in Chicago. He and Renee Capponi, a sculptor and teacher, plan to author two more books on Sessions' work. For more information, visit www.jamesmsessions.com.

Every night before you crawl into bed, your mom makes you wash up.

You have to get your hands and arms all soapy and swish your feet in the suds. You wash your knees and your nose and your navel. And then you're all clean for bedtime.

Or are you? Would Mom be mad to know that you're dirty again the second your feet hit the floor out of the tub? Find out more in "The Dirt on Dirt" by Paulette Bourgeois, illustrated by Martha Newbigging.

So how did that happen? How did you get dirty again so quickly? Believe it or not, dirt is everywhere. It's in the air, between your toes, in your belly button, under your bed and in your eyes. You can't help but touch dirt, no matter how much you try to stay clean, because it's all over the place. You probably don't notice it because your body automatically gets rid of a lot of the dirt it comes in contact with. Soap and water take care of the rest.

So what's in dirt? You might be surprised. The author offers experiments that will teach you all about soil and some of the amazing things it does. So if Mom yells at you, you can tell her you're getting dirty for the sake of science. I don't know if that's going to help you avoid a bath, but it's worth a try.

And speaking of science, did you know there's a scientific reason that some of the dust beneath your bed originally came from Africa? Yep, and some of that dust makes up the dirt in your front yard, along with pebbles, boulders, worm poop, dead leaves and human skin cells.

You might think that dirt is just something you wipe off your hands and feet, but dirt is much more interesting than that! Dirt moves up, down, out and it can disappear. It buries old civilizations and treasure. It holds secrets to animals that once walked on it. People live in it, grow their food in it and can even hide things in it.

So the next time you scrub up before bedtime, do it carefully. You're washing away particles that are as old as ... well, as old as dirt!

This is a seriously scientific book, but Bourgeois makes studying dirt seem like play. Messing around with soil becomes an adventure with easy-to-do experiments, and plenty of facts. Sift in the cartoon-like illustrations by Newbigging, and you've got something that kids will want to read and reread.

Pick up a copy of "The Dirt on Dirt" today and give it to your 7-to-12-year-old scientist, gardener, or anyone who likes learning about the world. For that kind of kid, it's a great book to dig up.

Terri Schlichenmeyer's book reviews appear weekly in the View. She can be reached by e-mail at bookwormsez@yahoo.com.