New York: Harper Perennial, (2018). SIGNED first edition - A contemporary Western novel about finding your way, finalist for the Pen/Faulkner Award, and an ALA Notable Book. Horace Hopper is a half-Paiute, half-Irish ranch hand who has spent most of his life on the ranch of his kindly guardians, Mr. and Mrs. Reese, herding sheep alone in the mountains of Nevada. The Reeses treat him like a son, but he can't shake the shame he feels from being abandoned by his parents, and so he decides to leave and prove his worth by training to become a boxer. Vlautin's books have been praised by such diverse writers as Craig Johnson, Ursula Le Guin, Ann Patchett and many others. SIGNED on the half title page. 269 pp.

New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2004. dj. Hardcover first edition - A full-scale biography of Jack Johnson - the first black heavyweight champion in history, and the most celebrated - and most reviled - African American of his age. "At a time when whites ran everything in America, he took orders from no one and resolved to live as if color did not exist. While most blacks struggled just to survive, he reveled in his riches and his fame. And at a time when the mere suspicion that a black man had flirted with a white woman could cost him his life, he insisted on sleeping with whomever he pleased, and married three. Because he did so the federal government set out to destroy him, and he was forced to endure a year of prison and seven years of exile." This draws on much new material, including Johnson's never-before-published prison memoir. Illustrated with more than fifty photographs. Notes, bibliography, index. Slightly oversized format. 492 pp. ISBN: 0-375415327.

New York: Scholastic, (2001.). First edition - Prize-winning Australian author's 2nd book, the story of two brothers who sign up with a sleazy boxing promoter, in an attempt to earn money to help their family. In an interview discussing this book, Zusak talked about what he hoped readers would notice in the book: "the themes of fighting for your own dignity when it seems to be stripped from you everywhere you go, longing to make yourself into something, as well as the themes of love (no matter how little it is shown) and loyalty. But I also hope that people notice the style of my writing --- the different imagery I use and the shortness of it. I'm most attracted to writing that can describe something without detail --- where few words can have a lot of impact. Last of all, I hope people can feel the combination of humor and struggle." Zusak is also the author of the highly acclaimed young adult novel, 'The Book Thief.' 217 pp.