From Shelf Awareness 9/9/25: Congratulations to Inklings Bookshop, Yakima, Wash., which has begun celebrating its 25th anniversary. Through the end of the month, the store is offering customers a (cosmic) crisp, locally grown apple from Johnson Orchards and 25% off of adult & children’s classics at the register as well as a special surprise for in-store …
From Shelf Awareness Friday August 1, 2025: Reading with… Sally Blakely Sally Blakely studied theater, media arts, English, and education at the University of Montana. When she’s not writing, she’s reading, or making far too many playlists. She lives in Montana with her husband. Her debut, Friends to Lovers (Canary Street Press, July 22, 2025), is a dual-narrative …
From Shelf Awareness Thursday, October 3, 2024: Obituary Note: Tom Spanbauer Author Tom Spanbauer, best known for his cult classic The Man Who Fell in Love with the Moon and his award-winning final novel, I Loved You More, as well as his long-running Dangerous Writing workshop, died September 21. He was 78. Born in Pocatello, Idaho, he attended …
From Monday February 5, 2024: Maximum Shelf: Ocean’s Godori Elaine U. Cho‘s debut novel, Ocean’s Godori (Hillman Grad Books/Zando, April 23, 2024), is a rollicking space adventure featuring a brave new world in which a united Korea leads the solar system, but unrest is never far away. When ace pilot Ocean Yoon’s best friend’s life implodes, she’s the …
Ibi Zoboi (The People Remember; American Street) pays radiant homage in Star Child to the woman who inspired her, taught her and shared her birthday. She deftly combines poetry, prose, quotes and photos to create what she calls the “constellation” of science fiction writer Octavia Estelle Butler: “I decided to call this biography a constellation because Octavia’s …
From Shelf Awareness 9/7/22: Loving Room: Diaspora Books + Salon, an 800-square-foot bookstore, reading room and community space with a focus on Black authors and stories, opened on Labor Day in Seattle, Wash., the Seattle Times reported. Located at 1400 20th Avenue in Seattle’s Central District, the bookstore sells fiction and nonfiction for children, teens and adults. The reading …
As reported in Shelf Awareness Wednesday, June 1, 2022: In honor of Michael Coy’s 48-year career in bookselling, his contributions to the greater Seattle book community and his lasting impact as the manager at Third Place Books, Ravenna, Wash., Third Place Books has named its entrance to its Ravenna location “Michael Coy Way.” A street sign bearing …
Has anyone else noticed that wiener dogs seem to be of the moment? First there was this in Shelf Awareness on October 5 (which PNBA Executive Director Brian Juenemann commented was “thankfully… when most were too busy to notice”): In the “veeerrry long fold out book” Where’s Brian’s Bottom by Rob Jones (Pavilion Children’s, $9.95), children and …
Independent bookstores love helping with summer reading. The booksellers won’t necessarily write chapter synopses or book reports for you, but they’ll help you track down the books you want (or need) to read this summer. Educators, please consider emailing or dropping off your lists for students at your local bookstore; most stores enjoy putting together …
From Shelf Awareness June 21, 2021: A proposal to paint four crosswalks at one intersection in Hamilton, Mont., in rainbow colors during Pride month was voted down last week by the city council, but high school students who supported the effort decorated the windows at Chapter One Bookstore “with rainbows and messages of inclusiveness and diversity,” Ravalli Republic reported. Chapter One …
