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Meet Hello Galena Author: Bonnie Geisert

Galena author Bonnie Geisert had her third novel, Prairie Winter, published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt in November 2009. Prairie Winter, which follows Lessons (2005), and Prairie Summer (2002) are fictionalized accounts of her childhood on a prairie farm. In 2003 Prairie Summer was named the Children/Young Adult Honor Book by the Nebraska Book Awards program sponsored by the Nebraska Center for the Book.

Geisert has also written texts for five picture books illustrated by Arthur Geisert. Their first, Haystack, received the Boston Globe/Horn Book Honor Award for Nonfiction in 1996 and the Silver Medal from the Society of Illustrators. Their “Small Town USA” books, Prairie Town, River Town, Mountain Town, and Desert Town are pictorial records of the towns in those regions during the mid-Twentieth Century.

Prior to writing for children, Geisert wrote feature stories for the Freeport Journal-Standard from 1991-95.

Geisert is rooted in the Midwest: Born in Hartley, Iowa; raised on a South Dakota farm; MA from Concordia University, River Forest, Ill.; BS from Concordia University, Seward, Neb.; a resident of Galena since 1971, where she taught fourth grade for 20 years, following four years at Audubon Elementary School in Dubuque.

She has one grown son, Noah.

Geisert is currently working on her fourth novel, a sequel to Prairie Winter.

Patrons interested in purchasing Geisert's books may find them on sale at Hello Galena at 121 N. Commerce St., in Galena. Find Hello Galena's online map, store hours and directions.