Please join us at The Avid Reader at The Tower for our
author presentation of Becoming Kate by Dixie Owens.

After a horrific car accident, Liz's life is over, but
somehow she's still alive. Championed as the lucky recipient of the first
successful brain transplant, Liz soon realizes her bittersweet choice: she can
either remain as Kate, an eleven-year-old donor recipient with a life and
family Liz knows nothing about, or she can alert the doctors to her condition
and risk disappearing forever. But can Liz really learn to become a little girl
again? And what will happen to the husband and children she left behind?
Becoming Kate is an enthralling exploration of identity, family, and what it
really means to be alive that will keep you guessing to the very last page.

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Dixie Owens worked for 30 years with the State of
California's Employment Development Department (EDD) in various marketing and
job development roles. She holds an Associate of Arts from Ohlone College;
Marketing Coursework at U.C. Davis; completed a certification program,
"Women in Management," from the University of Southern California's
Post-graduate School of Business. Wilks Owen currently resides in Grants Pass,
Oregon with her husband. They are the parents of seven children.

Please join us at The Avid Reader at The Tower for our
author presentation of California Crackup by Mark Paul.

Is California beyond repair? A sizable number of Golden State citizens have concluded that it is. Incessant budget crises plus a government paralyzed by partisan gridlock have led to demands for reform, even a constitutional convention. But what, exactly, is wrong and how can we fix it? In California Crackup, Joe Mathews and Mark Paul provide clear and informed answers. Their fast-paced and often humorous narrative deftly exposes the constitutional origins of our current political and economic problems and furnishes a uniquely California fix: innovative solutions that allow Californians to debate their choices, settle on the best ones, hold elected officials accountable for results, and choose anew if something doesn't work.
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Mark Paul is senior scholar and deputy director of the California program at the New America Foundation. He was formerly deputy treasurer of California and deputy editorial page editor of the Sacramento Bee.