The Hood River County Reads program has selected the book Beloved Beasts: Fighting for Life in an Age of Extinction by White Salmon author Michelle Nijhuis as its focus for 2024.  Hood River County Reads encourages readers of all ages to read and discuss books.  The book tells the story of the movement to protect and conserve forms of life from early battles to save charismatic species such as the American bison and bald eagle to today’s global effort to defend life on a larger scale.  Nijhuis is a journalist who writes about conservation and climate change for several publications including The National Geographic, The New York Times Magazine, The New Yorker, and The Atlantic.  Free copies of the book will be available at the official kickoffs this Saturday at from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Cascade Locks and Parkdale libraries and at 2 p.m. at the Hood River Library.  Various Hood River County Reads events are scheduled throughout March and early April.