Book excerpt: Oregon Reads Aloud is a collection of twenty-five read-aloud stories for children, written and illustrated by Oregon authors and illustrators. The twenty-five stories in Oregon Reads Aloud are a celebration of all things Oregon, including a great food cart feud, the dance of the Chapman Swifts, the creation of Oregon’s mountain ranges, and a legendary African American cowboy at the Pendleton Round-up. The book is a tribute to twenty-five years of SMART Reading’s work empowering Oregon children for reading and learning success. Oregon Reads Aloud proudly features the state’s rich trove of talent within the children’s literary community, including Eric A, Kimmel, Elizabeth Rusch, David Horn, Brian Parker, and Trudy Ludwig, among many others.