FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Austin, TX – Join the Texas Center for the Book (TCFB) on Wednesday, June 18 at 10 a.m. CDT for a free virtual book event! Kimberly Ridley and Rebekah Raye, the author and illustrator of the 2025 Texas Great Read for Youth, Matagorda Magic: The Hidden Life of a Texas Bay, will participate in a live #TXBookChat. They will be interviewed by Michele Chan Santos, TCFB Coordinator, about their gorgeous book that shares all the beauty and wonder of Texas’ Matagorda Bay and the creatures that live there.

Kimberly and Rebekah will do a live Q-and-A with webinar attendees at the conclusion of the interview.

Register for the webinar at https://bit.ly/TXBookChat_Matagorda.

This webinar is open to the public and suitable for librarians, teachers, families and anyone who loves Texas’ Gulf Coast.

About Matagorda Magic: The Hidden Life of a Texas Bay
Follow the lives of a resident family of American oystercatchers (shorebirds with bright red-orange bills) as you explore the diversity of an estuary, where rivers meet the sea, in Matagorda Bay. Matagorda Magic: The Hidden Life of a Texas Bay is a beautifully illustrated book for students in grades 3-8 that reveals the importance of estuaries as critical habitats for more than 200 species of resident and migratory birds, including the endangered whooping crane. Matagorda Magic invites young people, their families and teachers to discover the wonder of estuaries through the lives of their animal inhabitants. Sidebars illuminate the fascinating lives of oystercatchers, whooping cranes, oysters, blue crabs, shrimp, spotted seatrout and other animals who depend on estuaries for survival.

One of 50 state centers affiliated with the Center for the Book in the Library of Congress, the Texas Center for the Book is under the direction of the Texas State Library and Archives Commission. For more information contact Michele Chan Santos at mcsantos@tsl.texas.gov or visit tsl.texas.gov/centerforthebook.

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The Texas State Library and Archives Commission provides Texans access to the information they need to be informed, productive citizens by preserving the archival record of Texas; enhancing the service capacity of public, academic and school libraries; assisting public agencies in the maintenance of their records; and meeting the reading needs of Texans with disabilities. For more information, visit www.tsl.texas.gov.