The Southern Utah Book Festival is back! Check it out this week with the main event on Saturday, September 20th. Plenty of author panels, book signings, and activities to delight readers of all ages. I’ll be on a picture book panel from 11 – 11:45 am with kidlit friends. Be sure not to miss the DRAW-OFF at 2pm! Hope to see you there!
This Sunday is World Oceans Day! Celebrate by joining me Sunday, June 8th from 12:30 – 3:30 at the Las Vegas Discovery Children’s Museum for a fun presentation about nudibranchs. Learn all about these amazing colorful (and carnivorous) sea slugs, discover your own species, and take home a special piece of wearable art. All supplies provided. Funded in part by The NEA and Nevada Arts Council.
Bonnie Kelso is the author and illustrator of several books for children. NUDI GILL: POISON POWERHOUSE OF THE SEA introduces children to the fascinating nudibranch, a carnivorous soft bodied mollusk. A 2023 Nevada Center for the Book “Great Reads from Great Places” children’s book selection!
We also had a lengthy discussion about the creative process, writing, and travel. I hope you enjoy the conversation!
See you on the radio!
Bonnie Kelso writes and illustrates books for children and adults that encourage individualism and brave self-expression. She facilitates art workshops for her local community and beyond. Her debut picture book, NUDI GILL, released April 4, 2023. SEA SMILES, the first of a three-part series, released February 20, 2024. Coming soon: SLEEPY SEA and DEXTER THE STAND UP DOG, available for preorder now. A lover of nature and travel, she often wanders about outside with her family whenever an excellent opportunity to do so presents itself.
Since the launch of SEA SMILES, my second book, I’ve been receiving some pretty great attention. I can’t tell you everything right now, but here is a stellar review from The Children’s Book Review.
“Using marine animal science to explore the common anxiety of losing your first baby tooth, Sea Smiles is an enjoyable exploration of the diversity of the animal kingdom when it comes to teeth.
When a little girl bites down on an apple and loses a tooth, it takes all the learning and knowledge her friend Wolffish can muster to help her feel better. Luckily, Wolffish knows all about teeth. He tells the little girl about his own teeth, which are great for catching live prey, and about the fleshy spines penguins have instead of teeth and the giant spiked tooth that is the Narwhal’s horn. She learns that some teeth in the sea can inject venom, that the crabeater seal has 32 spiral-shaped teeth (but does not actually use them to eat crab), and that sharks can produce up to 20,000 teeth in a lifetime.
After learning all those crazy, cool, diverse tooth facts, she doesn’t feel sad about her tooth anymore!
Just like the protagonist, readers will find themselves distracted from their tooth troubles as they hear about the strange tooth-related experiences some other animals have. Alongside dozens of interesting tooth facts, humorous dialogue and wordplay keep the reading light and fun while reminding readers that looking different from others is okay. Bright cartoon-style artwork adds to the fun, interactive mood of the book.
Sea Smiles is the perfect distraction from tooth troubles—and fascinating for any reader interested in marine animals or tooth biology.”
—Dr. Jen Harrison, The Children’s Book Review
Whaaaa? Someone gets me! ❤️ Thanks, Dr. Harrison!
Oh, wolffish! You are always a winner in my book.
Keep an eye out for some new Giphys coming for Sea Smiles, including the one above. I’ve hit the big time with Giphy since my “Woo-hoo!” landed over 37 million views. GO NUDI GILL, GOOOOOO!!!! Here it is in case you ever want to use it in a text message after sinking your teeth into your favorite taco.
More exciting news to come soon, but until then…
May you find some time (and allergy meds) to get out in that beautiful spring weather!
Bonnie Kelso writes and illustrates books for children and adults that encourage individualism and brave self-expression. She facilitates art workshops for her local community and beyond. Her debut picture book, NUDI GILL, released April 4, 2023. SEA SMILES, the first of a three-part series, released February 20, 2024. A lover of nature and travel, she often wanders about outside with her family whenever an excellent opportunity to do so presents itself.
When you live in Las Vegas it’s perfectly natural to see some aerial acrobatics at your local library. We’re so lucky! This Saturday, I will be displaying my art and books to visitors to the Clark County Library. The event runs from 11am to 4pm and there will be presentations for writers and readers, a film premiere, and… you guessed it, a Circus Arts Mini Showcase featuring aerial acrobatics! What more could one ask for? Oh, you want it to be free? Well, you’re in luck! It’s 100% FREE! Once again proving that Las Vegas libraries ROCK!!!
I will be signing copies of Nudi Gill: Poison Powerhouse of the Sea and In a Cave (written by the talented Heather Kinser) from 12:24pm to 2:15pm just outside the theater. I hope to see you there!
The only thing that ROCKS! more than libraries is you.
Bonnie Kelso writes and illustrates books for children and adults that encourage individualism and brave self-expression. She facilitates art workshops for her local community and beyond. Her debut picture book, NUDI GILL, released April 4, 2023. A lover of nature and travel, she often wanders about outside with her family whenever an excellent opportunity to do so presents itself.
I’d like to take a moment to thank each and every one of you who have shared this NUDI GILL PIN UP series with me over the last 20 months. That’s right! This is the last NUDI GILL PIN UP, because my book NUDI GILL: POISON POWERHOUSE OF THE SEA is releasing next month on March 7th!
Today I have a special Valentine’s Day treat for you! This little candy colored nudibranch is so delectable you’ll want to dip it in chocolate and nibble its mantle like a sea slug bon-bon. Ewww, maybe not.
Chromodoris Annae is one of my all time favorite nudibranchs. That’s why I modeled my character Gill after them.
Here’s an early character design of Gill:
I’ve always had a special place in my heart for nudibranchs. Maybe it’s because they are so tiny and beautiful, but also fierce carnivores. They can suck the poison out of their food and use it as a weapon. Talk about superpowers! What’s not to love about that?
Did you know that nudibranchs have tiny little shells when they are still in their larva stage of development? The shells disappear before they begin to develop into their adult form. Check out this magical video of baby nudis:
Nudibranch are part of the gastropod family and many gastropods, like sea snails, have shells. Nudibranchs evolved over the years maximizing their poison defense mechanisms and no longer need to carry a shell for protection. They prefer to go…
NAKED!!!
I love the confidence of that. So I needed to make sure Gill’s personality exuded attitude.
Here’s a nostalgic look back at all the NUDI GILL PIN UPS!
Bonnie Kelso writes and illustrates books for children and adults that encourage individualism and brave self-expression. She facilitates art workshops for her local community and beyond. Her debut picture book, NUDI GILL, releases in March, 2023. A lover of nature and travel, she often wanders about outside with her family whenever an excellent opportunity to do so presents itself.
Happy New Year everyone! I know, I know, maybe it’s not so new anymore since it is already January 29th. I can’t believe how fast this month flew by. But, never fear, there’s still time to oooh and awwww over this little cutie nudi from the Tropical Western Pacific Ocean. Specifically found in many locations including Indonesia, Philippines, Solomon Islands, Mabul, New Britain, the Davao Gulf, Malaysia, Papua New Guinea, Sulawesi, Great Barrier Reef and Taiwan. Wow! This little one really gets around.
Check out the line work on this beauty! This photo shows Halgerdabatangas hanging upside down. See those bumpy orange spots on the nudribranch’s body? Those have a special name that I love.
In anatomy, a tubercle is any round nodule, small eminence, or warty outgrowth found on external or internal organs of a plant or an animal. I love learning new words.
Three cheers for TUBERCLES!
Want to learn another cool word? Those thin orange lines on the nudibranch’s body make up a specific pattern that is seen in other places in nature. Do you know what it is? This giraffe has the same kind of pattern in its fur.
By the way, if you like educational wormholes as much as I do, here’s a link to a fascinating webpage I stumbled upon all about leaf structures. Go geek out and get the skinny on a whole new world of words.
Bonnie Kelso writes and illustrates books for children and adults that encourage individualism and brave self-expression. She facilitates art workshops for her local community and beyond. Her debut picture book, NUDI GILL, releases in March, 2023. A lover of nature and travel, she often wanders about outside with her family whenever an excellent opportunity to do so presents itself.
Happy Holidays, everyone! I received the best Christmas present ever this year. I got to hang out at the beach with a whole hoard of sea hares. That’s right, I was poking around the rocks off the Dana Point jetty at low tide. I was marveling at the tiny anemones and itty bitty shrimp, when low and behold, my eyes focused in on a real live bonafide sea slug. I squealed with delight like a four-year-old on Christmas morning.
California Sea Hare
Hey, guess what? Bonnie Kelso, author of Nudi Gill, took this picture!
This little guy was only about two inches long and perfectly camouflaged among the reddish brown seaweed clinging to the rocks, so it’s no wonder I didn’t notice them right away.
Once I discovered this one, oh my, I started seeing them EVERYWHERE! I was literally surrounded by them. Some were even rearing, which got me super excited. It was the perfect way to end a year of Nudi Gill Pin-Ups. You may or may not remember that in January, I covered the California Sea Hare, otherwise known as: Aplysia Californica. So to me it was a perfect bookend for a year of exploring different sea slugs.
Can you find the sea hares in this photo?
I’ll give you a hint. There are two.
California Sea Hares are not endangered. In fact, when you see a bunch of them in one area it’s a sign that the ecosystem is healthy. Even so, you should never handle them. They have a slimy coating that protects them from disease and touching them could disrupt those life-saving properties. They can be dangerous, too, because like nudibranchs they absorb toxins from their food and can poison potential predators as a self-defense mechanism.
Here’s a nice little reddish one. It seemed like the smaller ones where reddish, and the larger ones where more black with white speckles or racing stripes.
Did you find the Sea Hares?
I told you they were hard to see at first!
So you may be asking…
what’s the difference between a sea hare and a nudibranch anyway?
Why are they called Sea Hares?
They are called sea hares because they tend to have wide curled rhinophores that slightly resemble bunny ears. If you have any other questions, feel free to leave them in the comments.
Thank you for revisiting the California Sea Hare with me. I hope you have a beautiful holiday and a happy new year! See you in 2023, with yet another fascinating Nudi Gill Pin-Up.
Bonnie Kelso writes and illustrates books for children and adults that encourage individualism and brave self-expression. She facilitates art workshops for her local community and beyond. Her debut picture book, NUDI GILL, releases in March, 2023. A lover of nature and travel, she often wanders about outside with her family whenever an excellent opportunity to do so presents itself.
Costasiella Kuroshimae is not a nudibranch, but I felt like they had to be included in this series of pin-ups, because come on…. look at that face! The beloved Sea Sheep is in fact a sacoglossan sea slug. These little cuties are solar-powered and prefer a modest diet of algae. Here’s a little pop quiz for you:
In attempt to keep you from seeing the answer, I will bombard the page temporarily with adorable images of Sea Sheep.
Actually, algae is neither plant nor animal. It falls into its own category called protists. Likewise, the Sea Sheep falls into its own category of cuteness.
BAAAAAAAA!
These vitamin-sized cuties are small. They range from 5mm to 1cm in length. They are kleptoplastic which means that they feed on algae and can store the algae’s chloroplasts in their cells. This is how they are able to photosynthesize energy and nutrients from sunlight.
They were originally discovered in Japan. Their scientific name Kuroshimae refers to Kuroshima, Japan. It is a small southern island not too far from Taiwan. Since then, Sea Sheep have been found in other locations, including Indonesia, New Caledonia, Papua New Guinea, Northern Australia, and Singapore.
HEY, Next time you have trouble sleeping…
try counting Sea Sheep!
I hope you enjoyed oohing and awwwing over November’s sheepy sweetie of a supermodel pin-up, Costasiella Kuroshima. Stay tuned for December’s festive pin-up. You won’t want to miss it!
Bonnie Kelso writes and illustrates books for children and adults that encourage individualism and brave self-expression. She facilitates art workshops for her local community and beyond. Her debut picture book, NUDI GILL, releases in March, 2023. A lover of nature and travel, she often wanders about outside with her family whenever an excellent opportunity to do so presents itself.
Bonnie Kelso 