“Letters from Space” and “The Bones of Paradise” chosen for the National
Center for the Book’s Great Reads from Great Places program
The Nebraska Center for the Book has
selected one youth book and one adult book by Nebraska authors to represent
the state at the 2022
National Book Festival:
Letters from Space by Clayton
Anderson, illustrated by Susan Batori and
The Bones of Paradise: A Novel
by Jonis Agee.
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 is
including titles for adults for the first time.
This year's National Book Festival on Sept. 3 will be held in-person in
Washington, D.C., but will include many livestreamed and recorded virtual
programs celebrating books and authors. Author Clayton Anderson will take
part in an online panel conversation with other chosen authors from state
Centers for the Book in the Midwest Region to talk about his book and what
inspired him, what he likes most about Nebraska, and more.
This and other panel discussions will be posted toward the end of August on
the National Book Festival website and the Library
of Congress’s YouTube channel.
About the Books
“Letters from Space”
Written by a real life Astronaut, these letters from space are full of weird
science, wild facts, and outrageous true stories from life in space,
complete with hysterical illustrations from Susan Batori. The back of the
book includes even more interesting information on space, astronauts, and
living among the stars.
A starred review in School Library Journal reads: "With a final page of
facts about NASA, astronauts, and living in space, this must-purchase
entertains with a combination of zany art, humor, and solid facts for
fascinated young readers craving space travel even the armchair kind.”
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
2021 Nebraska Book Award
in the Children’s Picture Book category.
“The Bones of Paradise”
A multigenerational family saga set in the unforgiving Nebraska Sand Hills
in the years following the massacre at Wounded Knee—it is an ambitious tale
of history, vengeance, race, guilt, betrayal, family, and belonging, filled
with a vivid cast of characters shaped by violence, love, and a desperate
loyalty to the land.
Chosen as the
2022 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.”
About the Authors
Astronaut Clayton Anderson
Nebraska's only Astronaut, spent 167 days in space and 38 hours and 28
minutes in executing 6 spacewalks. He applied 15 times before NASA selected
him as an Astronaut in 1998; and he spent 30 years working for NASA, 15 as
an engineer and then 15 as an Astronaut.
Succeeding in one of the most difficult and coveted jobs in the world
through perseverance and a never-give-up mantra, Anderson employs NASA’s
“Plan, Train and Fly (Execute)” philosophy to all his speaking engagements
and projects. Coupled with lessons learned in the areas of leadership,
persistence, and passion,
he provides unique and “out of this world” insights for those seeking to
achieve practical execution.
Astronaut Clayton "Astro Clay" Anderson is the author of three children’s
books; Letters from Space, A is for
Astronaut: Blasting through the Alphabet, and
It's a Question of Space: An Ordinary
Astronaut's Answers to Sometimes Extraordinary Questions, and his award
winning memoir, The Ordinary Spaceman.
You can find out more about Astro
Clay and his current and upcoming books at www.AstroClay.com. Follow him on
social media @Astro_Clay
Jonis Agee
Agee was born in Omaha, Nebraska, and raised in Nebraska and Missouri,
places where many of her stories and novels are set. In all, she is the
author of thirteen books, including five novels, five collections of short
fiction, and two books of poetry.
Agee's novels include The Weight of Dreams (Viking Adult, 1999,)
South of Resurrection (Viking Audlt, 1997,) Sweet Eyes (Crown,
1991,) and The River Wife (Random House, 2007.) She's the Adele Hall
Professor of English at The University of Nebraska — Lincoln, where she
teaches creative writing and twentieth-century fiction.
Agee is married to the writer Brent Spencer. They live in Ponca Hills, which
is on the Missouri River, north of Omaha.
"I own twenty pairs of cowboy boots (some of them works of art), love the
open road, and believe that ecstasy and hard work are the basic ingredients
of life and writing."
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