Best bet: Bonnie Stepenoff book signing

A wine and cheese reception and book signing for author Bonnie Stepenoff's "The Dead End Kids of St. Louis: Homeless Boys and the People Who Tried to Save Them" will start at 5 p.m. Aug. 6 at the Cape River Heritage Museum. Stepenoff is a professor of history at Southeast Missouri State University. She has written numerous books, including "Big Spring Autumn," "Their Father's Daughters: Silk Mill Workers in Northern Pennsylvania" and "From French Community to Missouri Town: Ste. Genevieve in the Nineteenth Century." Stepenoff started working as an assistant professor at Southeast in 1995, moved up to associate professor in 1998 and became a professor in 2003. In 2003 she was appointed by Bob Holden, then governor of Missouri, to serve on the Missouri Advisory Council on Historic Preservation, a position she still holds. For more information, call 334-0405.

-- From staff reports