On Wednesdays, the Pacific Northwest Booksellers Association Bestseller List is published. Every week, we love to see what books have been most popular in independent bookstores around our region. As we peruse the list, we ponder patterns. Then we present this weekly feature: Thursday Themes. A new-to-the-list picture book that makes us giggle inspired this week’s theme. Try …
Unarguably one of the cutest books on our shelves right now. It’s the origin story of Old MacDonald and how a farm full of animals worked their way into his heart. –Allyson, Invitation Bookshop, Gig Harbor, WA Let the love in with books from Invitation Bookshop and other independent bookstores.
All about the joy of playing outdoors after school — whether it’s on the sidewalks, at a playground, park, or basketball court. A fun celebration of after school community filled with short rhymes that make this a great crossover for newly independent readers. –Eija Sumner, picture book author and former bookseller, Moscow, ID Join in …
This is one of my favorite middle grade books in a long time. It reminds me of E.L. Konigsburg’s A View from Saturday. It deals with heartbreaking, crushing difficulties in such a lovely, loving way that I found myself feeling uplifted rather than bogged down in the darkness of it all. The story centers around …
Lumberjacks, small town Idaho, and a life full of adventure with a little bit of magic thrown in. That’s the place musician Josh Ritter takes you in his new novel, The Great Glorious Goddamn of It All. Super satisfying with just the right touch of tall tale telling, it’s a perfect read (or read aloud) …
The publisher’s description of Skunk and Badger calls it a mash-up of Wallace and Gromit and Winnie-the-Pooh. The classic odd couple trope gets a fresh (or not-so-fresh) take when Skunk becomes Badger’s new roommate. Zany adventures ensue–the wrong “enemy” gets sprayed, tails “get flipped,” and apparently there are a lot of chickens! This series from …
If You Go Down to the Woods Today is a marvelous book filled with delightful pictures by Hartas and charming quatrains by Piercey. Sure to delight the smaller folk in your house, as well as provide them with a reasonable checklist that they can attain without a significant budget and a passport. –A Good Book, …
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 …
Poetry is all around us and April is National Poetry Month! Here are some favorite new poetry books for children from Green Bean Books in Portland, OR: *Everything Comes Next by Naomi Shihab Nye *A Songbird Dreams of Singing: Poems about Sleeping Animals by Kate Hosford with illustrations by Jennifer M. Potter *Construction People by …
Green Bean Books of Portland expressed what a lot of us are feeling after the passing of beloved Oregon author Beverly Cleary: It is with both sadness and immense gratitude that we reflect on the incredible life of children’s author, Beverly Cleary. So beloved by so many, she brought us a treasure trove of children’s …
