[This picture book is] filled with stunning illustrations and poetic text and a subtle and sweet (but not saccharine) message. The reader tracks colors through the seasons with beauty and wonder. I just wanted to dive in and swim around in this book, and bathe in its “sunflakes.” –Jessica, Country Bookshelf, Bozeman, MT Bathe in …
From Broadway Books in Portland, OR: On Inauguration Day 2017, Broadway Books gave away copies of We Should All Be Feminists by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. This gesture was so well received, we decided to select a book to give away on this year’s Inauguration Day. After much deliberation, the book we selected is Wendell Berry’s Think Little. This slim …
I met Rob Phillips a few weeks ago. He had on a mask. So, I might not be able to recognize him on the street after COVID-19. I have, however, read his Yakima Herald Republic column for years. I love the comfortable way he writes, never exuding the expert outdoorsman vibe that keeps others from …
How is one to live a moral and compassionate existence when one is fully aware of the blood, the horror inherent in life, when one finds darkness not only in one’s culture but within oneself? If there is a stage at which an individual life becomes truly adult, it must be when one grasps the …
The Pacific Northwest Booksellers Association is happy to announce the 2021 Book Awards Shortlist, selected by a committee of independent booksellers from Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Montana and Alaska. This year’s committee chose the following 12 finalists, crafted by Northwest authors and illustrators, from a list of nearly 400 nominated titles published during 2020. The six …
A few years ago, Robert Macfarlane, who’s something of a patron saint at Madison Books (see our review of 2019 book of the year Underland, now out in paperback) wrote The Lost Words, an ornate linguistic repository intended to preserve the lexicon of the natural world that’s literally being removed from dictionaries. Lavishly illustrated by Jackie Morris, it became …
Gibbs Smith continues their charming wilderness writing series with Ernest Thompson Seton’s Wild Animals I Have Known. Look, we’re suckers for pretty books, and Gibbs Smith is doing a marvelous job with the design and layout of this series (we’ve thrown a couple more of them on this Newsletter List on bookshop.org). Seton’s Wild Animals I Have …
This gorgeous picture book features affirming, uplifting, nurturing text and stunning artwork representing 22 national parks. (Don’t miss the backmatter that gives more details about the parks shown.) When I read this book at storytime and invited the audience to join in the refrain of “you are home,” the inclusion, warmth, and pride brought tears …
Here’s a cool book. Donald R. Prothero is going to tell us how the world came to be with The Story of the Earth in 25 Rocks. Each of the chapters in this book talk about an important discovery or realization in the history of geology, highlighting both a specific geological puzzle and the people who …
Wordless book often have the most to say, and Hike in particular exemplifies in particular what I look for in a memorable picture book: nature, diversity, and grit alongside illustrations that you want to step into. This is one of my favorite new spring picture books. –Jesica Sweedler DeHart, Neill Public Library, Pullman, Washington If …
