Library hosts New York Times best-selling author for family-friendly event

BLOOMFIELD TOWNSHIP/BLOOMFIELD HILLS — New York Times best-selling author Kate Messner will be coming to the Bloomfield Township Public Library at 6:30 p.m. on Monday, April 13.

Messner has written over 70 books, including picture books, non-fiction, easy readers, chapter books and more.

“Ranger in Time: Race to the South Pole” was chosen for the Bloomfield Hills Schools’ One District One Book program. Through this program, made possible by the Friends of the Bloomfield Township Public Library, all participating elementary school students received a copy of the book.

“The reason it’s so great is because it’s encouraging the Bloomfield Hills elementary school community to build a community around a book,” Tera Moon, library director, said. “And I think readers who are excited about sharing a book with other readers are just the best people, and sharing books in this way is such a great way to connect with other people.”

Messner said that “community-wide reads like this are just fantastic for everybody. There’s such a good opportunity for not only kids to talk about books together, but for families to be in on that conversation too.”

Books by Messner have received several awards, including the E.B. White Read Aloud Award, the Golden Kite and Crystal Kite Awards, the Riverby Award for Natural History Writing, and Nerdy Book Club Awards. Her books have also been nominated for state book award lists.

“When I write a book, I always just hope everybody enjoys the adventure. And so Ranger is a time-traveling search and rescue dog who goes all over history, anywhere where people can use his help, from the Oregon Trail to Antarctica during the early days of exploration, to the great California Earthquake of 1906 to more modern disasters like Hurricane Katrina. So I always hope that families that read these books together first, first and foremost, enjoy the adventure and realize how much fun it is to share stories together, and I’m really looking forward to seeing everybody,” Messner said.

Messner said many of her books focus on the natural world because her favorite thing to do is be outdoors in nature. Some of her books that focus on science have been finalists for the AAAS/Subaru SB&F Prize and have been named to the NSTA/CBC list of Outstanding Science Trade Books for Students K-12.

Messner said she will talk about the “story behind the story,” sharing the research journey that she embarked on as she wrote the book. She said kids always show up with questions, and they will leave time to answer those during the event.

“I’m just so glad that Kate is willing to come here and speak to our Bloomfield Hills community. I also want to praise the youth services librarians at the library for working really, really hard to organize this event, and I really have to thank our Friends of the Library for supporting this event,” Moon said.

More information on Messner can be found at katemessner.com. Books from Schuler Books will be available for purchase and signing at the event. Registration is required at btpl.org/events.