This charming book is a collection of the essays from the popular NPR radio show/podcast BirdNote. The inestimable Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology has had a vital role in this series from its inception. The “chapters” are short species accounts ranging from the general to the esoteric to the more scientific, each a different aspect about a bird …
Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland on acid– I think that pretty well sums up this young adult novel. While this book is a debut for Ms. Albert, it is far from her first writing. Her occupation calls upon her to write extensively and she has written for magazines and more, including McSweeney’s. This book will be …
Jeffers, one of my very favorite children’s book authors, has penned a book for our time: what it’s like to live on this scary planet and just what is our place in the universe. Of course, Jeffers makes light of and enlightens both the scale and complexities of life on our planet, which is reassuring …
Given that Oregon was pretty much on fire for the summer of 2017, I thought this book a timely read. Although not a stranger to either forest or fire ecology, I found this to be a very thorough and well-written book on the subject. With photos and great clarity, Ferguson details the history of fire …
Charlie, aka the Grenadine Kid, is the son of an American diplomat in France in 1961. By chance–or is it?– he witnesses a pick pocket, Amir, similar in age to himself being accosted by police, Charlie comes to his aid and by doing so strikes up a friendship. Charlie really has no friends and is …
Sometimes a book just strikes your funny bone and there is nothing for it but to laugh out loud, which is what I have done several times with this little picture book. We have all been there, even as adults (think: trying clothes on in a store dressing room and ah oh, you can’t get …
Have a dog lover in the family? This utterly charming book is just the thing for a birthday, Christmas, or just because. I loved Humphrey’s first book, Maddie On Things, and this one is even better. Humphrey adopted Maddie from a shelter in 2010, she being a hound of some kind. Sweet and gentle and …
At the Pacific Northwest Booksellers Association Fall Trade Show, the PNBA Awards Committee presented an overview of some nominated titles by northwest authors and illustrators that have captured their hearts this year. Committee chair Kim Hooyboer of Third Place Books (Seward Park, Seattle, WA) explained that this year a record-breaking 421 titles were nominated. She …
Beartown shows a different side to the writing capability of Frederik Backman. It still features community as a large character, but in this case we are speaking about a community larger than the ones his books have inhabited before. The story line is more complicated and there are more moving parts. Subject matter too, is darker, …
One of the reasons I love this book is because the heroes of the story are badass bookish people. The other reason is that it explores an often overlooked aspect of World War II. With the many other atrocities committed by the Nazis, it’s easy to forget that they were waging another, quieter war on …
