Kim Rogers Website
Kim Rogers Website
Kim Rogers Website

BOOKS

A Letter for Bob

A Letter for Bob

writ­ten by Kim Rogers
illus­trat­ed by Jonathan Nel­son
pub­lished by Heart­drum / Harper­Collins
Sep­tem­ber 2023

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Ever since the day Mom and Dad brought Bob home from the car deal­er­ship, Bob has been a part of Katie’s family.

Bob has tak­en them all over, from pow­wows to vaca­tions to time spent with far­away fam­i­ly. Bob has been there in sad and scary times and for some of the family’s most trea­sured memories.

But after many miles, it’s time for the fam­i­ly to say good­bye to Bob …

This humor­ous and ten­der sto­ry about a beloved fam­i­ly car — and all the sto­ries and love car­ried along for the ride — will appeal to every kid whose fam­i­ly has owned a spe­cial car!

A Letter for Bob
illus­tra­tion © copy­right Jonathan Nel­son from A Let­ter for Bob, writ­ten by Kim Rogers, pub­lished by Heart­drum, 2023

Awards & Recognition

  • ALSC Sum­mer Read­ing List 2024
  • Amer­i­can Indi­ans in Children’s Lit­er­a­ture (AICL) Best Books of 2023
  • Amer­i­can Indi­an Youth Lit­er­a­ture Award Pic­ture Book Win­ner 2023
  • Cal­i­for­nia Young Read­er Medal nominee
  • Cen­ter for the Study of Mul­ti­cul­tur­al Chil­dren’s Lit­er­a­ture (CSMCL) Best Mul­ti­cul­tur­al Chil­dren’s Books of 2023
  • Coop­er­a­tive Chil­dren 2019 Book Cen­ter Choice
  • CCBC Choic­es 2024
  • Char­lotte Zolo­tow High­ly Com­mend­ed List 2024
  • Kirkus Reviews Best Chil­dren’s Books 2023
  • Kirkus Reviews Best Pic­ture Books of 2023 About Families
  • Kirkus Reviews Notable Fall Releases
  • Kirkus Reviews Pod­cast Edi­tors’ Picks
  • Teach­ing for Change: Social Jus­tice Books Selec­tion 2023
  • Vir­ginia Reads 2024–2025, Pic­ture Books

Resources

Reviews

  “For its ten­der vignettes of mod­ern Indige­nous life, this tale will make a glow­ing addi­tion to any…library.” (Kirkus Reviews, starred review)

  “Imag­i­na­tive chil­dren from many back­grounds will empathize with Katie’s feel­ings and her reluc­tance to say good­bye. An engag­ing, emo­tion­al­ly res­o­nant pic­ture book.” (Book­list, starred review)

  “Easy prose and crisply drawn dig­i­tal illus­tra­tions give equal weight to each mem­ber of fam­i­ly car­ing for its mem­bers through life’s sea­sons.” (Pub­lish­ers Week­ly, starred review)

“The engag­ing illus­tra­tions show Bob as a stan­dard car with­out eyes, mouth, or oth­er human fea­tures, and yet Katie’s heart­felt nar­ra­tive enables read­ers to imag­ine Bob as an actu­al fam­i­ly mem­ber.” (The Horn Book)

“The out­ings are com­mon enough to help read­ers make con­nec­tions to Katie as well as the fam­i­ly trips and gath­er­ings, but spe­cif­ic enough so that mod­ern Indige­nous cul­ture is allowed to shine through.” (School Library Jour­nal)

“High­ly rec­om­mend­ed! I adore this book with a com­plete­ness I didn’t antic­i­pate. I’ll be shar­ing it at every work­shop I do, with librar­i­ans, edu­ca­tors, teacher-edu­ca­tors … every­one.” (Amer­i­can Indi­ans in Chil­dren’s Literature)