MAQUOKETA, Iowa, August 6, 2003 (PRIMEZONE) -- Ben Eglehart returns in the second installment in the trilogy about a part-Apache educator coping in modern times. The new novel, Apache Alternative (now available through 1stBooks), by Bruce Bothwell, follows Ben as he travels through three years of teaching in an alternative high school in the fictional Iowa city of Clanton.
Bothwell continues his trilogy about a teacher, one-fourth Apache, coming to grips with life and teaching. The first installment, You Teach Good for an Injun, chronicled Ben's first year of teaching in 1970. Apache Alternative takes readers into the mid-1980s. Ben has taken a position in an alternative school within the city's main high school. The book covers his first three years teaching in the school. The first year examines how Ben must teach differently and how he deals with the alternative clientele. The second and third years follow him to a new alternative school a few blocks away from the main high school.
Not confined to the desks and blackboards of school, Apache Alternative meanders into other aspects of Ben's life. He purchases a house and readers see the challenges involved with owning a home and dealing with unusual neighbors. Ben also falls head-over-heels in love with Ginny Troue. Her love opens new perspectives in life for Ben as the two embark on a romantic journey that leads to marriage. Ben then travels home to Sand Wash, Ariz., to introduce his new bride to his father, Wild Bill Coyote, a comical recluse who enjoys living in a state of near pre-civilization.
"The core of the novel, however, is the alternative educational setting, the teachers and students, the sometimes humorous, sometimes tense, sometimes tragic, sometimes poignant situations that create the tension within," Bothwell says.
Writing seriously since high school, Bothwell has published eight other novels, including Private Lives, Toynbee & Son and Labeled (all available through 1stBooks). Born and raised in Ogden, Utah, he has traveled to almost all 50 states, Canada, Mexico and Taiwan. He has taught in both public and alternative schools since 1970.
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