NEW HISTORY: It was some irony when...

NEW HISTORY: It was some irony when the quake, the biggest event to ever hit the Cal State Northridge campus, halted the sale of Prof. John Broesamle’s book about the school’s history, “Suddenly a Giant.” Copies were trapped in the damaged library and weren’t put on sale again until last week. . . . Broesamle, however, doesn’t mind missing this latest chapter: “Historians don’t do breaking stories.”

RESPECT: For years, mystery writers didn’t give the Valley much respect. Well, no more. Thanks to former Times Valley Edition reporter Michael Connelly’s acclaimed new book, “The Concrete Blonde,” the Valley certainly gets its share of literary blood and guts. . . . “Whatever a mystery writer is looking for,” Connelly says, “you can find it in the Valley. It’s more untouched ground than West L. A., and provides the same kind of intrigue.”

TARZANA: There’s much more to Tarzana than Edgar Rice Burroughs and the legend of Tarzan. For example, this is a community with a bustling shopping and dining zone along Ventura Boulevard, and plenty of quiet and attractive neighborhoods. . . . Burroughs’ grandson, Danton Burroughs (above), still keeps very close ties to Tarzana (B5).

MORMONS: This is a special time for the 35,000 Mormons in the San Fernando, Santa Clarita and Antelope valleys. That’s because it looks like ex-Los Angeles-area attorney Howard W. Hunter will replace Mormon Church President Ezra Taft Benson, who died Monday. . . . Hunter, says Tad Callister, the Church’s Valley spokesman, “has a personal interest” in Mormon growth here.

BRIBERY: Many parents pay their kids for good grades. Why not? It works, doesn’t it? Yes and no. According to Adele Gottfried, a Cal State Northridge professor, cash incentives eventually backfire (E3). . . . “They’re being trained to expect something else rather than the achievements themselves,” she said. “What happens when the rewards run out? Where’s the motivation?”