Named a Best New Children's Book of 2023 by NCompass Live

Paterson Prize for Books for Young People Winner

2024 Midwest Book Award Winner for Children's Nonfiction

2024 Nebraska Book Award Winner

Semifinalist for 2024 Society of Midland Authors Award

Longlist for Reading the West Book Award 

Long before Ted Kooser won a Pulitzer Prize for Poetry, served as the U.S. Poet Laureate, and wrote award-winning books for children, he was an unathletic child growing up in Iowa, yearning to fit in. Young Teddy found solace in stories, and one specific book, Robert McCloskey’s Lentil, inspired him to become a writer. As a child and later, while working in the insurance industry, Ted honed his craft and unique style as he wrote about the people and places of the rural Midwest. Ted Kooser: More Than a Local Wonder celebrates the power of stories and of finding oneself through words.