Book about birdhouse builder a national award finalist

A book about a part-time Yuma resident who has built more than 1,400 birdhouses to fulfill a promise to his dying wife is a finalist for a national award.

USABookNews.com announced that “A Promise Given,” by Oregon author Rick Steber was chosen as a finalist for the 2012 USA BEST Book Awards in the category of Best Non-Fiction. USABookNews.com is an online magazine and review website for mainstream and independent publishing houses.

Jeffrey Keen, president and CEO of USA Book Awards, now in its 10th year, said he considered “A Promise Given” to be “a remarkable book” and noted it had been chosen from over 1,500 entries.

Trevor Russell's true story of “love, a promise given and bluebirds” made such an impression on Steber that the author wrote a book about them, which was released by Bonanza Publishing.

The book follows Russell and his late wife, Vivian, as they face “love, loss, the complexities of growing old, and how each of us has the opportunity to directly effect the environment in which we live.”

Russell promised his dying wife that he would do whatever he could to bring the once-threatened mountain bluebirds back to Oregon. While a great majority of his birdhouses have been erected in Oregon, many have made their way to Yuma and across the United States, Canada and Mexico.

Partly due to his efforts, the mountain bluebirds are making a strong comeback on the high desert and spreading across Oregon and beyond.

Steber notes that Trevor's efforts prove that “each of us in our daily lives have the opportunity, and responsibility, to try and make a positive impact on our world.”

Vivian died Dec. 16, 2004, at the age of 76. She and Trevor had been married for 57 years. A year later, the husband of her longtime best friend, Dee Davis, died, and Dee and Trevor became companions. They divide their time between Oregon and Yuma.

Steber has more than 30 titles under his belt and over a million books in print. He has won numerous national and international awards and is the only Oregon author to have won the prestigious Western Writers of America Spur Award – Best Western Novel.

The 174-page book is available for $15 at www.apromisegiven.com or www.ricksteber.com.