Thursday, November 30

*Please Note this is a date change from our regular programing! Moving December's Third Thursday to November' Fifth Thursday* 

Carla Ketner is the owner and manager of Chapters Books & Gifts in Seward, Nebraska. She is a former elementary school teacher and instructor of college‐level children’s literature courses. Ted Kooser: More Than a Local Wonder is her first picture book.

When not reading, writing, or connecting readers with books, she is likely to be walking her grand‐dog, looking up the names of local wildflowers, baking anything that lists chocolate as an ingredient, or traveling with friends and family. She and her husband have two grown sons.

Paula Wallace is an artist and illustrator, spending most days in her studio at the Hot Shops Art Center in Omaha, Nebraska. She has helped many authors tell their stories with her illustrations and has written and illustrated her own books, including Choose Your Days (Nebraska Children’s Picture Book Award winner) and Mr. Reginald and the Bunnies.

Wallace employs her love of stories in arts outreach and community engagement. Her work as a fine artist has appeared in many exhibits in the United States and Italy and is held in public and private collections internationally.

Praise for the book: 

“A tender book celebrating the beloved American poet Ted Kooser, thoughtfully written by Carla Ketner and lovingly illustrated by Paula Wallace, may encourage a whole new crop of young writers. Pay attention to your close places, listen to your people, find what feeds your imagination—a joyous yes!”—Naomi Shihab Nye, Young People’s Poet Laureate emeritus, the Poetry Foundation

“Carla Ketner’s captivating, lyrical style beautifully illustrates Ted Kooser’s life—from small‐town misfit to U.S. Poet Laureate—with grace, wonder, and, above all, heart.”—Jill Esbaum, author of Little Kids First Big Book of How

“This delightful portrait of U.S. Poet Laureate Ted Kooser as a child will inspire many young people (and no doubt many of their parents) to trust their hearts and imaginations, and make writing, reading, listening, and observing important parts of their own journeys. The charming illustrations make this book wonderfully engaging.”—Connie Wanek, author of Rival Gardens: New and Selected Poems

“As a boy, Ted Kooser did not know that the stories he heard about beloved people and places would someday lead him to finding his own voice as a writer. This lyrical picture book biography with luminous watercolor art shows younger readers how patience and persistence can help dreams come true.”—Karla Wendelin, children’s poetry blogger and former professor of children’s literature at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln

“Ted Kooser: More Than a Local Wonder tells the tale of young Teddy, who from the Midwestern fields and skies, builds a world of words: poems and stories. The threads of Teddy’s childhood in Carla Ketner’s nimble free verse weave into a fine quilt as adult Ted is named U.S. Poet Laureate. . . . Delicate and rich illustrations by Paula Wallace compliment the text and readers both new and familiar with Kooser’s work will find themselves at home, filling in their own empty spaces with the wonder of words.”—Bethany Hegedus, founder of the Writing Barn and award‐winning author of Rise! From Caged Bird to Poet of the People, Maya Angelou

Past Third Thursday Readers:

Thursday, November 16, 2023 Featured Nebraska Warrior Writers Open Mic Night

Thursday, October 19, 2023 Featured memorist Michael James and poet Brad Anderson

September 21, 2023: Featured Tricia Currans-Sheehan and Jeanne Emmons 

August 17, 2023: Featured Robert Ross and J. Stevens Berry 

July 20, 2023: Featured Rita Paskowitz

June15, 2023: Featured Tyler Jacobs and John Moesner

May 18, 2023: Featured Jonis Agee

April 20, 2023: Featured Barbara Schmitz and Bonnie Johnson Bartee. 

March 16, 2023: Featured Marcia Calhoun Forecki, Rex Walton, and Shoshana Sumrall.

February 23,2023: Featured Adrian Loehring and Vince Learned

January 19, 2023: Featured Editors and Contributors of The Good Life Review, including Shyla Shehan, Cat Dixon, Tacheny Perry, Michelle Pierce Battle, Tana Buoy, &  Annie Barker


December 15, 2022: Featured poets Liz Kay, Sarah McKinstry Brown, and singer Pam Herbert Barger


November 17, 2022: Featured novelist Brent Spencer and Karen Gettert Shoemaker


October 20, 2022: Featured poets Matt Mason and Stacey Waite