A Gold Mine for Young Readers

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"One of the most striking differences between a cat and a lie is that a cat has only nine lives," Twain once wrote. Great yarn spinners are few and far between these days, but one place to find a passel of them is Nevada City, Calif., about 115 miles west of Virginia City. Each summer the old gold-mining town is host to the Sierra Storytelling Festival. "You can put a six-year-old and a 90-year-old together," says founder Steve Sanfield, "and with the right story, they will both feel a deep connection." Tickets for this year's festival (July 16-18) will probably sell out, so reserve in advance. For those who miss out on the yarns, Nevada City has other charms--the little theater where Mark Twain used to lecture, horse-drawn-carriage tours of the town's winding streets, visits to the old mines and, locals claim, the best swimming holes in the state. But that may be just another tall tale.