FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
July 9, 2025
FOR MORE INFORMATION:
Tessa Timperley
402-471-3434
800-307-2665
Books Chosen to Represent Nebraska at National Book Festival
“Ted Kooser: More Than a Local Wonder” and “The Long March Home” chosen for the National Book Festival’s Great Reads from Great Places program.
The Nebraska Center for the Book has selected one children’s book and one adult book by Nebraska authors to represent the state at the 2025 National Book Festival: Ted Kooser: More Than a Local Wonder by Carla Ketner, illustrated by Paula Wallace and The Long March Home by Marcus Brotherton and Tosca Lee.
Both titles will be part of the National Center for the Book’s Great Reads from Great Places program. Great Reads from Great Places features books and authors representing the literary heritage of all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam, American Samoa, and Northern Marianas. For over 20 years this program has included a highlighted youth title from each affiliate center. In 2022, Great Reads from Great Places began including titles for adults for the first time.
This year’s National Book Festival on September 6th will be held in-person in Washington, D.C., but will include many livestreamed and recorded virtual programs celebrating books and authors.
The Festival Near You
This year Nebraskans will have the opportunity to join in the fun with programming during the month of August. The Festival Near You, is a statewide initiative celebrating the 2025 National Book Festival by bringing Nebraska’s Great Reads from Great Places children’s book to communities, and offers Nebraskans a chance to engage with literature close to home.
As part of the programming, four Nebraska libraries, Grand Island, Papillion, Beatrice, and Cozad, will host Carla Ketner for an author visit and presentation. During the month of July, Wahoo Public Library will feature Carla Ketner’s award-winning picture book, Ted Kooser: More Than a Local Wonder, as their July bookwalk and in partnership with TBBS they will have a braille addition to the bookwalk for visually impaired community members to join in on the story. In August, the Braille addition will move to Papillion’s Community Bookwalk. This family-friendly activity encourages readers of all ages to enjoy the story outdoors. During the month of August twenty additional Nebraska Libraries will feature Ted Kooser: More Than a Local Wonder as their community bookwalks. On August 6th, the Nebraska Library Commission will host Carla Ketner on their NCompass Live webinar series to talk about her book, the National Book Festival, and the Great Reads from Great Places program. Find a full list of the communities participating in The Festival Near You bookwalks, details on author visits, and more at https://centerforthebook.nebraska.gov/programs/nationalbookfestival.html.
About the Books
“Ted Kooser: More Than a Local Wonder” by Carla Ketner, illustrated by Paula Wallace (University of Nebraska Press, 2023)
“Long before Ted Kooser won a Pulitzer Prize for Poetry, served as the U.S. Poet Laureate, and wrote award-winning books for children, he was an unathletic child growing up in Iowa, yearning to fit in. Young Teddy found solace in stories, and one specific book, Robert McCloskey’s Lentil, inspired him to become a writer. As a child and later, while working in the insurance industry, Ted honed his craft and unique style as he wrote about the people and places of the rural Midwest. Ted Kooser: More Than a Local Wonder celebrates the power of stories and of finding oneself through words.”
Nebraska’s Great Reads from Great Places book is chosen from the previous year’s Nebraska Book Award winners and this book was awarded the 2024 Nebraska Book Award in the Children’s Book category.
“The Long March Home: A World War II Novel of the Pacific” by Marcus Brotherton and Tosca Lee (Revell, 2023)
The Long March Home is a historical fiction novel inspired by true stories of friendship, sacrifice, and hope on the Bataan Death March. It is a gripping coming-of-age tale of friendship, sacrifice, and the power of unrelenting hope. “In this tour de force from Brotherton (A Bright and Blinding Sun) and Lee (A Single Light), four friends’ lives change irrevocably when America becomes embroiled in WWII. Brotherton and Lee masterfully capture what it was like for soldiers to face war’s atrocities, as well as the heartbreak of those waiting for them back home. This is a winner.” ― Publishers Weekly
Chosen as the 2025 One Book One Nebraska selection, libraries across Nebraska and other literary and cultural organizations have participated in book discussions, activities, and events that encourage Nebraskans to read and discuss this book.
The Nebraska Center for the Book is housed at the Nebraska Library Commission and brings together the state’s readers, writers, booksellers, librarians, publishers, printers, educators, and scholars to build the community of the book, supporting programs to celebrate and stimulate public interest in books, reading, and the written word. The Nebraska Center for the Book is supported by the Nebraska Library Commission.
As the state library agency, the Nebraska Library Commission is an advocate for the library and information needs of all Nebraskans. The mission of the Library Commission is statewide promotion, development, and coordination of library and information services, “bringing together people and information.”
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The most up-to-date news releases from the Nebraska Library Commission are always available on the Library Commission Website, http://nlc.nebraska.gov/publications/newsreleases.
