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Rusty Windmill

WHILE THE WINDMILL WATCHED:

THE STORY

Windmills have been crucial tools for the people of the plains for more than a century, harvesting first water and today energy.

 

In While the Windmill Watched, a windmill takes on the unique role of narrator as it chronicles the 1950s through the lives of the Pfeiffer Sisters, Jackie and Janine, as they grow up on a farm near Menoken, North Dakota. Written in four voices—each sister, the sisters together, and the windmill—the book describes how social and technological innovations that occurred mid-century played out in the daily lives of farmers, ranchers, and townspeople across the Great Plains.

Rusty Windmill

MEET OUR BOOKSELLERS!

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We're grateful to the North Dakota State University Bookstore, the Sisters' alma mater, for carrying While the Windmill Watched both on its shelves and as our online sales partner.

Books are also available for sale at the following North Dakota locations (unless noted otherwise):

  • NEW - North Dakota Cowboy Hall of Fame, Medora

  • National Pearl Button Museum, Muscatine, Iowa

  • Ames Christian Supply, Ames, Iowa

  • Dakota Drug, Stanley

  • Lisbon True Value, Lisbon

  • Relic, Atlantic, Iowa

  • Bagg Bonanza Farm, Mooreton

  • Auntie's Bookstore, Spokane, Washington

  • Dacotah Prairie Museum, Aberdeen, South Dakota

  • Dakota College of Bottineau Bookstore

  • South Dakota Cultural Center, Pierre

  • Wall Drug, Wall, South Dakota

  • Backgrounds Coffeebar & Boutique, Corning, Iowa

  • Akers United Drug, Chewelah, Washington

  • Farmer's Daughter, Tioga

  • Pioneer Museum of McKenzie County, Watford City

  • The BookWorm Bookstore & More, Bellevue, Iowa

  • Rolla Drug, Rolla

  • Drayton Drug, Drayton

  • Ye Olde Medicine Center, Park River

  • Badlands Dinosaur Museum, Dickinson

  • Barnes & Noble, Bismarck, Minot, and Fargo

  • Main Street Books, Minot

  • Bismarck Mandan Convention Visitors Bureau Gift Shop

  • Arrowhead Plaza Drug & Prairie Creek at Gateway Mall, Bismarck

  • Western Edge Books, Medora

  • Sweets 'N Stories, Oakes

  • Nome Schoolhouse, Nome

  • Eagle's Nest Bookstore, Valley City

  • Coffee & Books at Town Center, Colville, Washington

  • Cappels Ace Hardware, Atlantic, Iowa

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THE SISTERS AT WORK!

Jackie (in blue) and Janine (in black) chat with readers at a book signing at the Bismarck Barnes & Noble on October 1, 2022.

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ON THE ROAD

Jackie recently traveled through North Dakota to visit Janine in Iowa. Along the way, she stopped in to thank booksellers who are keeping While the Windmill Watched on their shelves. We love our booksellers!

Watch this space for more stops on the trip!

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