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, …
Home cooking is all the rage these days (gee, I wonder why?) so a new cookbook is just the thing to keep boredom away from your dining table. Among the newest is one by a native son of Madison Park, Ned Baldwin, who is now a restaurateur running (after a stint at the prestigious Prune) …
The slim volumes in the Zoey & Sassafras series have much more in them than you’d expect—mystery, fantasy, and actual science. In each book, Zoey and her feline sidekick come to the rescue of a new magical creature by using a combination of gumption and smarts, modeling the research and study practices scientists use in …
by Paul Constant for The Seattle Times (originally posted Jan. 21, 2020) Nourishing “long roots”: In a year, Madison Books has forged an essential role in one of Seattle’s oldest communities Decades before Seattle Center was built, Madison Park was where Seattle came to have fun. Early settlers in Pioneer Square would escape the hustle …
As deep and broad and beautiful and American as the Grand Canyon. Because this torrent spills from the mind of one ordinary woman (an Ohioan, a wife, a mom, a baker of pies), because she’s hilarious, because her doubts and deprecations, her fondnesses and fears, are so mundane and relatable, because she exists as one …
Madison Books hosted an event with Lynda Mapes and David B. Williams this autumn. The excerpt from their conversation with James Crossley was originally printed in the Madison Books newsletter. You can click here for more! We’ve long been fans of their acclaimed writing about the human relationship with the natural world, and we’re delighted …
I read an early copy of Ruta Sepetys’ The Fountains of Silence, and it was absolutely fantastic. If you aren’t familiar with this author, she writes books about history that we often aren’t familiar with or taught in school. The Fountains of Silence takes place in Madrid, 1957 when Spain was under the fascist dictatorship …
I should perhaps be focusing on Coats’s newest book, the middle-grade fantasy The Green Children of Woolpit, but it’s just come out and well, I haven’t read it yet. But I really want to, based on how much my daughter and I enjoyed Coats’s earlier novel, The Many Reflections of Miss Jane Deming. I can’t …
Thanks to the hard work of festival organizers, volunteers, authors, and illustrators and the enthusiasm and patience of thousands of attending book lovers, the Seattle Children’s Book Festival was a tremendous success. The festival, held in playground tents and in the gym of Greenwood Elementary in Seattle, was full from opening at 11:00 beyond the …
The first Seattle Children’s Book Festival will be held Saturday, September 28, 2019 from 11:00- 3:00 at Greenwood Elementary (144 NW 80th St) in Seattle. The event is free and open to the public. It is sponsored by The Innovation Press, Madison Books, Phinney Books, Seattle Public Schools, Seattle Milk Fund, the Seattle Office of …
