“May these beautiful poems and letters, written to an isolated ten-year-old girl eighty years ago, bring solace to those who are going through hard, isolating times today.” In the fall of 2019, my brother and I were in the process of clearing out some storage areas for my mother. In that process we came across …
Tupac Shakur’s poetry collection, The Rose that Grew from Concrete, and the safety of a diary were my entries into becoming a writer. For the entirety of middle school and the first half of high school, I was the kid who came into class late while cracking jokes or quips and sat in the back …
Poet Ross Gay tasked himself with what sounds like a job for a Hallmark greeting card writer: he spent a year looking for things that gave him joy, be they people, places, or events big or small. Unlike the sentiments usually found on schmaltzy greeting cards, though, the brief prose essays that Gay has written …
On most occasions when I’ve read a book and been struck by its uniqueness, it’s because of something unfamiliar about it, something strange I’ve never seen before. This is the first time one has stood out for its relentless and positively brilliant mundanity. The title characters of Irish writer Rónán Hession’s debut novel are two meek, …
King’s Books in Tacoma sent out a wonderful holiday gift guide. Booksellers included some favorite picture books that will delight all ages. Just In Case You Want to Fly by Julie Fogliano and Christian Robinson This sweet picture book has a classic feel with an affirming rhyme and bright, cute illustrations giving you everything you …
The picture book Just In Case You Want to Fly, written by Julie Fogliano and illustrated by Christian Robinson (Neal Porter Books/Holiday House), was voted BuzzBooks contest winner by booksellers and librarians at the 2019 Pacific Northwest Booksellers Association Tradeshow, Oct. 6-8, in Portland, OR. About 200 punch cards were handed out to attendees who …
After being diagnosed with brain cancer as a teen, Seattle writer Jeff Henigson made an unconventional Starlight Children’s Foundation wish. He wanted to (and did) travel to Moscow to talk with Gorbachev about nuclear disarmament. But this memoir is less about cancer and the Cold War than it is about surviving high school and searching …
A curious memoir, gripping, lucid and raw. These are little vignettes of how the author has nearly died seventeen different times. Each chapter title is the name of the part of the body that would have been the cause of death: neck, lungs, spine, legs, pelvis, abdomen, head… It’s not a tragic or depressing book …
This is an incredibly beautiful– and inspirational– coffee table book that will make you want to put down your coffee and read! Each of the 200 women interviewed and photographed answer the same five questions about the change they’d like to see in the world and what matters most to them. These incredible women from …
Imagine you are a writer and you just can’t think of anything to write about. What do you do? You take your dog for a walk through the neighborhood, of course! And wouldn’t you know, by the end of this quiet, unassuming book, Philip Stead has found a lot to write about without even thinking …
