Book Review: House Held Up by Trees by Ted Kooser and Jon Klassen

House Held Up By Trees: Not Far From Here, I Have Seen a House Held Up by the Hands of Trees, This is its Story
by Ted Kooser, with illustrations by Jon Klassen (jP Kooser)

I had somehow missed notice of this picture book by former Nebraska and United States Poet Laureate Ted Kooser (and who at one time lived just one block over from my family home in Lincoln). It was mentioned in the profile of illustrator Jon Klassen in What’s Your Favorite Animal? (see separate review this month). An interesting take on neglect, ruin, and nature, this story certainly resonated with me as a Great Plains native. It is melancholy but softly hopeful as it chronicles not just a house and woods over time but a family unit. One of Kooser’s own descriptions of the book says it is about change as a personal and universal theme, and he further states “A reader’s own interpretation is fine, too. I have said over and over to students and audiences to whom I’ve spoken that what the author meant is not very important. It’s what the story means to the reader that really counts.”

 

(If you enjoy this, you may also wish to try Bag in the Wind by Kooser, or any of the many poetry collections by Ted Kooser.)

 

( official Jon Klassen web site ) | ( official Ted Kooser web site )

 

See Scott C.’s review of Valentines by Ted Kooser in the February 2011 Staff Recommendations here on BookGuide!
See Meredith M.’s review of Local Wonders: Secrets of the Bohemian Alps by Ted Kooser in the June 2012 Staff Recommendations here on BookGuide!

 

Recommended by Becky W.C.
Walt Branch Library

 

Have you read or listened to this one? What did you think? Did you find this review helpful?

New reviews appear every month on the Staff Recommendations page of the BookGuide website. You can visit that page to see them all, or watch them appear here in the BookGuide Blog individually over the course of the entire month. Click the tag for the reviewer's name to see more of this reviewer’s recommendations!

Local Wonders: Seasons in the Bohemian Alps

Local Wonders: Seasons in the Bohemian Alps
by Ted Kooser [917.823 Koo]

Ted Kooser describes "the place he calls home" in Nebraska. He touches on the important and the mundane; there is something for everyone! Several of his thoughts that caught my attention -- remembering flowers from a wedding but not who was married that day (p.4), jars of odd screws and bolts (p.18), his son's tree house which reminded me of my son's basement (p.24), miniature glass animals like the ones my own mother collected and gave to me (p.64), the x-ray machine in the shoe department (p.111). -- recommended by Meredith M. - curator of the Heritage Room of Nebraska Authors

[Also available in downloadable audio format.]

[ official Ted Kooser web site ]

Have you read this one? What did you think? Did you find this review helpful?

New reviews appear every month on the Staff Recommendations page of the BookGuide website. You can visit that page to see them all, or watch them appear here in the BookGuide blog individually over the course of the entire month.

Valentines

Valentines
by Ted Kooser [811 Koo]

This is a light poetry collection from Nebraskan and former U.S. Poet Laureate (2004-2006) Ted Kooser. Starting in 1986, Kooser composed a Valentine's Day poem and mailed it (first to 50 women friends, but in more recent years to more than 2,500 women friends) around the country, to arrive on the holiday. This book collects the first 22 years of Kooser's tradition, and accompanies the poems with attractive, homey pen-and-ink illustrations by Robert Hanna. The poems range from serious to whimsical and touch on all aspects of the Valentine's Day holiday, from the stereotypical hearts, flowers and chocolates trappings, to explorations of love and friendship. These poems will make you think, will force you to explore your own feelings, and will make you appreciate the loved ones in your own life. If you've never read Kooser's poetry before -- and his work regularly appears in the local newspaper, so why haven't you? -- this is a marvelous collection to get started with. Make it an annual tradition to read Valentines by Ted Kooser on Valentine's Day!. [If you enjoy this, you may also wish to try the other poetry collections by Ted Kooser.] -- recommended by Scott C. - Bennett Martin Public Library


[ official Valentines web site ] | [ official Ted Kooser web site ]

Have you read this one? What did you think? Did you find this review helpful?

New reviews appear every month on the Staff Recommendations page of the BookGuide web site. You can visit that page to see them all, or watch them appear here in the BookGuide blog individually over the course of the entire month.

2011 One Book One Nebraska title announced

2011 ONE BOOK ONE NEBRASKA: Local Wonders: Seasons in the Bohemian Alps

One Book One Nebraska 2011 invites citizens across the state to read Local Wonders: Seasons in the Bohemian Alps (University of Nebraska Press, 2002) by Ted Kooser, of Garland, Nebraska. Kooser is one of America’s most highly regarded poets and served as the United States Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress from 2004 - 2006. He is the author of numerous full-length collections of poetry, including the 2005 Pulitzer Prize-winning Delights and Shadows (Copper Canyon Press, 2004).

Kooser’s first book of prose, Local Wonders: Seasons in the Bohemian Alps (University of Nebraska Press, 2002), won the Nebraska Book Award for Nonfiction in 2003 and Third Place in the Barnes & Noble Discover Great New Writers Award in Nonfiction for 2002. The book was chosen as the Best Book Written by a Midwestern Writer for 2002 by Friends of American Writers. It also won the Gold Award for Autobiography in ForeWord Magazine’s Book of the Year Awards. In Local Wonders, Kooser describes with exquisite detail and humor the place he calls home in the rolling hills of southeastern Nebraska—an area known as the Bohemian Alps. Nothing is too big or too small for his attention. Memories of his grandmother’s cooking are juxtaposed with reflections about the old-fashioned outhouse on his property.

After receiving nominations from across the state, the Nebraska Center for the Book board announced Local Wonders as Nebraska’s statewide reading choice at Saturday’s Celebration of Nebraska Books in Lincoln.

One Book One Nebraska 2011 is sponsored by a coalition of organizations including the Nebraska Center for the Book, Nebraska Humanities Council, Nebraska Library Association, Nebraska Library Commission, and University of Nebraska Press.

Libraries across Nebraska will join the Nebraska Center for the Book and other literary and cultural organizations in planning book discussions, activities, and events that will encourage Nebraskans to read and discuss this book.

As they are developed, support materials to assist with local reading/discussion activities will be available at http://centerforthebook.nebraska.gov/programs/onebook.html. Updates and activity listings will be made on the One Book One Nebraska Facebook group at http://www.facebook.com/#!/group.php?gid=281641340948