2023 Library of Congress National Book Festival
The Nevada Center for the Book is a program of Nevada Humanities dedicated to promoting literature and literacy throughout the Silver State. The Nevada Center for the Book is the state affiliate of the Center for the Book, housed at the Library of Congress. Nevada Center for the Book programs include Nevada Reads, the Las Vegas Book Festival, the Nevada Humanities Literary Crawl, the National Book Festival, and additional literary programs.
Books Representing Nevada at the 2023 National Book Festival
Two books have been selected by Nevada Humanities, home of the Nevada Center for the Book, to represent the state at the annual National Book Festival that will be held in Washington, DC on August 12, 2023. Every year Great Reads from Great Places, a list of books representing the literary heritage of the 50 states, the District of Columbia, and the U.S. Virgin Islands, is distributed by the Library of Congress’s Center for the Book during the National Book Festival. This year’s Great Reads from Nevada celebrate the smallest creatures of the sea to the largest fish of our lakes and rivers: Nudi Gill: Poison Powerhouse of the Sea by author and illustrator Bonnie Kelso, and Chasing Giants: In Search of the World's Largest Freshwater Fish by Zeb Hogan and Stefan Lovgren.
ABOUT THE BOOKS
Nudi Gill: Poison Powerhouse of the Sea by Bonnie Kelso
Meet Gill, a flashy nudibranch (noo-de-brank) living a fierce and fascinating life in the ocean without a shell and completely . . . NAKED!
When a curious young snorkeler stumbles upon Gill, she learns there is more than meets the eye when it comes to her sassy new friend. This soft-bodied mollusk is anything but vulnerable, turning a diet of dangerous ocean creatures into a poisonous sting of its own. Found in unique shapes and colors in every ocean throughout the world, Gill and his diverse family of nudibranchs serve as a reminder that being small doesn’t mean you can’t have it all!
With illustrations as striking and colorful as Gill himself, this is an underwater adventure like no other where young readers can see for themselves what makes Gill and his fabulous family of nudibranchs tiny, but mighty poison powerhouses of the sea.
Bonnie Kelso was born near the beach and has always been a fan of the ocean and everything in it, except the pollution. Bonnie has snorkeled all over the world and has met many nudibranchs face to face. She’s never met one she didn’t like. Bonnie believes that education, respect, and speaking up are the keys to conserving and protecting Earth’s natural resources. Visit her at bonniekelso.com.
Chasing Giants: In Search of the World's Largest Freshwater Fish by Zeb Hogan and Stefan Lovgren
On May 1, 2005, a Thai fisherman caught a truly monstrous Mekong giant catfish. At 646 pounds, it captured the world’s attention, and with awe and wonder, it was deemed the largest freshwater fish on record. There was no denying its size, but when biologist and research associate professor Hogan saw a photo of the fish, he wondered if it really was the biggest in the world. To his surprise, no one had systematically sought to answer the question: Which of the giant freshwater species really was the largest?
Seeking to answer that question has brought Hogan face to face with massive arapaima and piranha in the Amazon, alligator gar in Texas, pigeon-eating wels catfish in France, stingrays in Cambodia, and the gnarled-toothed sawfish in Australia. Part of his scientific adventure has been captured on Monster Fish, and Hogan now tells the full story of his 25-year quest to understand the mysteries of some of the oldest, largest, most bizarre creatures on Earth.
The fate of these giant fish motivates Hogan to understand the various species he studies. The megafish’s numbers are dwindling, and the majority of them face extinction. In this book, he teams up with award-winning journalist Stefan Lovgren to tell, for the first time, the remarkable and troubling story of the world’s largest freshwater fish. It is a story that stretches across the globe, chronicling a race against the clock to find and protect these ancient leviathans before they disappear forever.
Chasing Giants: In Search of the World’s Largest Freshwater Fish combines science, adventure, and wonder to provide insights into the key role the massive fish of our lakes and rivers play in our past, present, and future.
Zeb Hogan, PhD, is a research biologist at the University of Nevada, Reno, and the United Nations Convention on Migratory Species Scientific Councilor for Fish. Hogan hosts National Geographic’s television series Monster Fish and his research focuses on migratory fish ecology, fisheries management, and endangered species issues.
Stefan Lovgren is an award-winning journalist and filmmaker with more than 25 years of worldwide reporting experience. He has been a regular contributor to National Geographic’s numerous media platforms since 2003 and writes about a wide variety of environmental issues with a focus on fish and freshwater subjects.
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ABOUT THE CENTER FOR THE BOOK IN THE LIBRARY OF CONGRESS
The Library’s Center for the Book, established by Congress in 1977 to stimulate public interest in books and reading, is a national force for reading and literacy promotion. A public-private partnership, it sponsors educational programs that reach readers of all ages through its affiliated centers, collaborations with nonprofit reading-promotion partners, and through its Poetry and Literature Center at the Library of Congress. For more information, visit www.read.gov.
