Tue, Oct 12  
7:00 - 9:00 PM
Wenatchee Library
Free

"Schooled" with Gordon Korman (Presentation)

Smart and capable, innocent and inexperienced, Cap becomes the butt of pranks when he is thrust from a sheltered home-school environment into a large middle school. We glimpse the reactions of an A-list bully, a Z-list victim, a popular girl, the school principal, and a football player (who unintentionally decks Cap twice in one day), and of course of Cap himself, who must determine if the values he has always held still apply in this strange new world. While Cap has strong academics, and knows a lot about tie-dyeing and Buddhism, his past couldn't prepare him for the politics of public school. Cap is about to be "schooled." Or ... is it main-stream America that will learn a thing or two from Cap?

Click here to learn more...
Buy a SIGNED copy of Schooled - $15.99

Fri, Oct 22  
7:00 - 9:00 PM
Barn Beach Reserve
Free

Shell Games - Wildlife Rogues and Smugglers - true stories with award-winning reporter Craig Welch (Presentation)

Sat, Oct 23  
1:00 - 3:00 PM
Bookstore
Free

Craig Welch signs his true wildlife crime tale, Shell Games: Rogues, Smugglers, and the Hunt for Nature's Bounty (Book-signing)

Shell Games: Rogues, Smugglers, and the Hunt for Nature's Bounty, by Craig Welch

A delightfully offbeat and utterly true cops-and-robbers tale, set in the rough-and-tumble heart of one of America's strangest subcultures — a double-crossing world where tough men and women fight turf wars over shellfish.

Craig Welch drops readers overboard into the frigid waters of Puget Sound, home to the magnificent geoduck (pronounced "gooey duck"), which now trades for millions of dollars on the black market. Outlaw scuba divers with souped-up boats and night-vision goggles steal geoducks from the ocean floor, dodging police and keeping a wary eye on orca, sharks and half-ton sea lions; but the greatest dangers — from arson to hit men — come from rival poachers out to eliminate competition and stake their own claims.

Shell Games is a unique blend of natural history and crime caper—a real-life drama about the theft of some of the world's most unusual creatures, set in one of the planet's most beautiful places.

Click here to learn more...
Buy a SIGNED copy of Shell Games: Rogues, Smugglers, and the Hunt for Nature's Bounty - $25.99

Sat, Oct 30  
1:00 - 3:00 PM
Bookstore
Free

Robert Wells shares kid-friendly science like "What's So Special About Planet Earth?" (Book-signing)

Put the Fun Back in Science with Robert Wells

Robert Wells puts the fun back in science. Engaging, clear, and thought-provoking, Wells writes as well as illustrates his signature humorous, fact-filled books. Along with beloved favorites, Wells will be sharing two new books. Focusing on the needs of an elephant, Why do Elephants Need the Sun? makes clear just how important the sun is to life on Earth. "What's So Special About Planet Earth?" visits all the planets in the solar system before returning to the only one with abundant water, breathable atmosphere, and life-supporting temperatures — illustrating how very unique and special our Earth is. Robert's hopeful and clear books, each asking one important question, from physics principles (How do you Lift a Lion?) to climate change (Polar Bear, Why is Your World Melting?), make science fun, tangible, and relevant to the under-ten crowd.

Click here to learn more...
Buy a SIGNED copy of What's So Special About Planet Earth? - $6.99
Buy a SIGNED copy of Why do Elephants Need the Sun? (hardcover) - $16.99
Buy a SIGNED copy of How do you Lift a Lion? - $6.99
Buy a SIGNED copy of Polar Bear, Why is Your World Melting? - $6.99

Fri, Nov 5  
7:00 - 9:00 PM
Barn Beach Reserve
Free

Robert Goldstein presents Riding with Reindeer: A Bicycle Odyssey through Finland, Lapland and Arctic Norway (Presentation)

Sat, Nov 6  
1:00 - 3:00 PM
Bookstore
Free

Robert Goldstein signs his new release Riding with Reindeer: A Bicycle Odyssey through Finland, Lapland and Arctic Norway (Book-signing)

Riding with Reindeer: A Bicycle Odyssey through Finland, Lapland and Arctic Norway, by Robert Goldstein

On a folding bicycle, self-supported, Bob Goldstein pedals out of Helsinki into the wide-open arctic. Riding with Reindeer intersperses humorous accounts of his adventures, such as getting trapped in the women's shower in a remote village, with rich cultural and historical anecdotes as he passes rusted tanks and mass graves—the detritus of WWII. Riding with Reindeer gives insight into the mind of the solitary traveler and into the soul of a vast, wild land and its people — honest, resourceful, and taciturn, yet always willing to lend a hand to the stranger on the little blue bicycle.

Click here to learn more...
Buy a SIGNED copy of Riding with Reindeer: A Bicycle Odyssey through Finland, Lapland and Arctic Norway - $15.95

Fri, Nov 12  
7:00 - 9:00 PM
Barn Beach Reserve
Free

The Transformative Power of Birds and Nature: photographs by Michele Burton (Presentation)

Woodland and Wetland: Puget Sound Birds

Nature photographer Michele Burton's exquisite, limited edition photographic explorations of light and nature will place the intimate details and the kaleidoscopic patterns of nature into your hands. Michele, an avid avian photographer, has been exploring the outdoors through her lens for the past decade. Woodland and Wetland: Puget Sound Birds is a richly intimate collection of more than 60 photographs showcasing the amazing variety of birds inhabiting the Puget Sound. The Wild Within is a stunning book of photographs documenting the rich diversity of wildlife and flora in the wetlands of Seattle's Arboretum, featuring more than 120 full-color images of wetland birds, animals, and scenery by local photographers, accompanied by essays from friends of the wetlands, including former Governor Dan Evans and Dale Chihuly. All proceeds from sales of The Wild Within go to Arboretum Foundation.

Click here to learn more...
Buy a SIGNED copy of The Wild Within: Wetlands of the Washington Park Arboretum - $29.95
Buy a SIGNED copy of Woodland and Wetland: Puget Sound Birds - $150.00

Fri, Nov 12  
7:00 - 8:00 PM
Leavenworth Library
Free

Watch out! Author Robert Dugoni presents "Bodily Harm," — third in his "David Sloane" suspense series, at TGIF at the Library. (Presentation)

Sat, Nov 13  
1:00 - 3:00 PM
Bookstore
Free

Robert Dugoni joins our book buzz, adding his suspenseful legal thriller "Bodily Harm" to a fun mix of local history and children's authors. (Book Buzz)

Watch out! Author Robert Dugoni presents "Bodily Harm!"

New York Times bestselling author Robert Dugoni delivers another searing courtroom drama in his newest thriller, Bodily Harm. "The lawyer who does not lose," Sloane is on the verge of another victory - a malpractice suit for a six-year-old's death. But something about the case has bothered Sloane from the start. Confronted by an apparently crazed young man, a toy designer, who then vanishes, Sloane reexamines recent deaths, digging deeper into troubling claims. As Sloane gets closer to the truth, he ignites a shocking chain of events that nearly destroys him. To find justice, Sloane must dodge a vicious and calculating killer, exonerate the doctor, overcome a devastating personal loss — and hardest of all, keep in check his overwhelming desire for revenge. Full of nail-bitingly tense action scenes and edge-of-your-seat courtroom drama, Bodily Harm finds author Robert Dugoni at the very top of his game.

Click here to learn more...
Buy a SIGNED copy of Bodily Harm (David Sloane Series Book 3) - $25.00
Buy a SIGNED copy of Wrongful Death - Paperback (David Sloane Series Book 2) - $7.99
Buy a SIGNED copy of The Jury Master - Paperback (David Sloane Series Book 1) - $7.99

Sat, Nov 13  
1:00 - 3:00 PM
bookstore
Free

Multi-author book buzz: meet Robert Dugoni, Byron Newell and Barb deRubertis (Book Buzz)

ABFAS September Top 10 Best-Sellers...

October 2010 Opens with National Banned Book Week!

Which of these titles has someone tried to remove from library shelves? To Kill a Mockingbird, The Color Purple, Alice In Wonderland, Harry Potter, Captain Underpants, Huckleberry Finn, Alex Ginsburg's Howl, The Kite Runner, TTYL, Bless Me Ultima, The Golden Compass, Maurice Sendak's In the Night Kitchen... CORRECT! All of these titles, and over a thousand more.

Wear Banned Book Jewelry of Beautiful Enameled Tiles.

Carolyn Forsman has crafted select colorful banned book covers onto beautifully enameled tiles, available as a necklace, bracelet, or young-adult bracelet. Book covers are centered around a tile that proclaims: "I read banned books." Jewelry that looks lovely while making a statement!

Check them out here...

Hooray, hooray, a hen in a hat, It's A Boy!!!

Who kept Grandma Pat in a tizzy all Autumn Leaf Festival? Little Desmond Sharpe, seven pounds, nine ounces, kept dropping hints and playing tricks, before finally deciding to be born just before midnight on Friday, September 24. With two big brothers, a snow-boardin' Mom and a song-writin' Dad, Desi's going to have to move fast to keep up! But for now he's a snuggly, mellow baby, sleepy-sweet in Mom and Dad's arms, and the family couldn't be happier. The newest little Sharpe on staff will be recommending books soon -- by flavor and texture, just now. Welcome to the world, Desi!

What's New? What's Hot Off The Press? What's Just Been Released in 2010?

    Fiction  |  Non-Fiction  |  Young Adult  |  Early Grades & Picture Books  |

Fiction

The Snow Globe by Sheila Roberts  $14.99

A holiday treasure — Sheila Roberts's heartwarming tale of love and laughter, magic and miracles, friendship and coming home...

On a blustery afternoon, Kylie wanders into an antique shop. "There's a story behind that snow globe," the antique dealer tells her. For years, the snow globe has passed from generation to generation, somehow always landing in the hands of a person in special need of a Christmas miracle. Kiley could use a miracle herself. A hopeful shake leads her on an adventure that makes a believer out of her. When Kylie shares the story of the snow globe with her best friends—two women with problems of their own—they don't believe it. But they're about to discover that at Christmastime, sometimes the impossible becomes possible and miracles really do come true.

Buy The Snow Globe by Sheila Roberts - $14.99

Fiction

Hypothermia By Amaldur Indridason  $24.99

Award-winning Nordic crime writer Arnaldur Indridason's sixth Reykjavík thriller is powerful and haunting. Hypothermia will chill you to the bone.

"María, a woman ravaged by guilt, is found hanging in her holiday cottage, an apparent suicide. As Erlendur, a police detective who works largely alone because he prizes solitude above all else, doggedly interviews those close to María… he unravels an ingenious and sinister plot. Complicating his investigation are the ghosts from his personal and professional past: his failed marriage and his shaky relationships with the son and daughter who grew up without him ... Most scalding of all is his memory of the blizzard ... in which his younger brother perished, the tragic event that shaped Erlendur's later life and lends mythic resonance to Indridason's remarkable novels." — Publishers Weekly

Buy Hypothermia By Amaldur Indridason - $24.99

Fiction

The Devil's Star by Jo Nesbø  $25.99

Oslo is sweltering in the summer heat when a young woman is murdered in her flat. One finger has been cut off and a tiny red diamond in the shape of a pentagram is found under her eyelid. Detective Harry Hole is assigned the case with Tom Waaler, a colleague he neither likes nor trusts. He believes Tom is behind a gang of arms smugglers — and the murder of his partner. But Harry, an off-the-rails alcoholic, is barely holding on to his job and has to play nice.

"A big, ambitious, wildly readable story" — The Washington Post

Jo Nesbø, musician, songwriter, economist, and author, has received numerous awards, including the Glass Key, the Riverton Prize, and the Booksellers Prize. One of his Harry Hole novels was voted best Norwegian crime novel of all time.

Buy The Devil's Star by Jo Nesbø - $25.99

Non-fiction

The Adventurer's Handbook: From Surviving an Anaconda Attack to Finding Your Way Out of a Desert By Mick Conefrey  $12.00

Though few of us will ever have to face a charging elephant, or survive solely on penguin stew, when it comes to project management, crisis aversion, or any number of everyday problems, there is much we can learn from the larger-than-life tales of the world's most famous adventurers. Here, award-winning documentarian Mick Conefrey pulls practical advice from their original diaries and logs, like how to survive an anaconda attack (wait until it has swallowed your legs, then reach down and cut its head off), and how to keep morale up (according to Ernest Shackleton, "A good laugh doesn't require any additional weight"). In addition to the wonderful characters and stories, this book offers many lessons on how to set sail without a clear path home.

Buy The Adventurer's Handbook: From Surviving an Anaconda Attack to Finding Your Way Out of a Desert by Mick Conefrey - $12.00

Non-fiction

Travels in Siberia by Ian Frazier  $30.00

More than just a travelogue, Travels in Siberia is also an account of Russia since the end of the Soviet Union; provocative, insightful, and funny.

Drawn to "the incomplete grandiosity" of Russia, Frazier's extraordinary work combines personal travelogue with in-depth history. Frazier gives readers a firsthand account of a place most will never see, and which doesn't officially exist: "no political or territorial entity has Siberia in its name." Frazier recounts his travels over thousands of miles in the more than 16 years spent researching this book. From the Mongol hordes that galloped across the steppes to the Soviet labor camps that killed millions, Frazier intersperses the vast region's history with his own visits.

"Part ... love letter, part historical record of a place shrouded in mystery, this is Frazier at his best." — Publishers Weekly

Ian Frazier is the author of Great Plains, The Fish's Eye, On the Rez, and Family, as well as Coyote v. Acme and Dating Your Mom. A frequent contributor to The New Yorker, he lives in Montclair, New Jersey.

Buy Travels in Siberia by Ian Frazier - $30.00

Non-fiction

Manhood for Amateurs: The Pleasures and Regrets of a Husband, Father, and Son By Michael Chabon  $14.99

Pulitzer Prize-winning Michael Chabon, called "an immensely gifted writer and a magical prose stylist" by the New York Times, offers his first major work of nonfiction.

What does it mean to be a man today? Chabon struggles to reinvent for us, with characteristic warmth and lyric wit, the personal and family history that haunts him as a devoted son, as a passionate husband, and above all as the father of four. Chabon presents his memories of childhood, of his parents' marriage and divorce, and of moments of painful adolescent comedy and giddy encounters with the popular art and literature of his own youth.

A shy manifesto, an impractical handbook, the true story of a fabulist, an entire life in parts and pieces, Manhood for Amateurs is the first sustained work of personal writing from Michael Chabon. In these insightful, provocative, slyly interlinked essays, one of our most brilliant and humane writers presents his autobiography and his vision of life in the way so many of us experience our own lives: as a series of reflections, regrets, and reexaminations, each sparked by an encounter in the present that holds some legacy of the past.

"Wondrous, wise, and beautiful," — New York Times Book Review

"Chabon takes the same brutally observant, unfailingly honest, marvelously human gaze that won him a Pulitzer Prize for fiction and turns it on his own life as a committed husband and father, Lego enthusiast, and unrepentant nerd — in short, as a man." Time

Buy Manhood for Amateurs The Pleasures and Regrets of a Husband, Father, and Son by Michael Chabon - $14.99

Young Adult

Museum of Thieves by Lian Tanner   $16.99
Recommended for ages 9 to 12

"Goldie Roth hated the punishment chains. She hated them more than anything—except perhaps for the Blessed Guardians. As the heavy brass cuffs snapped around her wrists and the weight of the chains fell on her shoulders, she stared sullenly at the cobblestones."

Welcome to the tyrannical city of Jewel, where impatience is a sin and boldness is a crime. Like every child in Jewel, Goldie Roth wears a silver guardchain and must unquestioningly obey the Blessed Guardians. She is counting the days until Separation Day.

When Separation Day is canceled, Goldie runs away, risking more than her own life. In the mysterious Museum of Dunt, she meets the boy Toadspit and discovers terrible secrets. Only the cunning mind of a thief can understand the museum's strange, shifting rooms. Fortunately, Goldie has a talent for thieving. Which is just as well, because the leader of the Blessed Guardians has his own plans for the museum—plans that threaten the lives of everyone Goldie loves. And it will take a daring thief to stop him. . . .

Museum of Thieves is a thrilling tale of destiny and danger, and of a courageous girl who has never been allowed to grow up—until now.

Buy Museum of Thieves by Lian Tanner - $16.99

Young Adult

The Scorch Trials by James Dashner   $17.99
Recommended for ages 12 and up.

In this powerful, thrilling sequel to The Maze Runner, Thomas and the Gladers face an even greater challenge. Solving the Maze was supposed to be the end. No more puzzles. No more running. Thomas thought he and the Gladers would get their lives back. But no one really knew what sort of life they were going back to.

Outside the Maze, they discover a world burned by sun flares and baked by a new, brutal climate — a wasteland. Government and order have disintegrated. Cranks, people covered in festering wounds and driven to murderous insanity by the infectious disease known as the Flare, roam the crumbling cities hunting for their next victim . . . and meal.

The Gladers are far from finished running. They must cross the Scorch, the most burned-out section of the world, and arrive at a safe haven in two weeks. Thomas can only wonder—does he hold the secret of freedom somewhere in his mind? Or will he forever be at the mercy of WICKED?

Buy The Scorch Trials by James Dashner - $17.99

Young Adult

Revolution By Jennifer Donnelly  $21.99
Recommended for ages 14 and up.

BROOKLYN: Andi Alpers is on the edge. She's angry at her father for leaving, angry at her mother for not being able to cope, and heartbroken by the loss of her younger brother, Truman. Rage and grief are destroying her. She's about to be expelled from Brooklyn Heights' most prestigious private school when her father intervenes. Now Andi must accompany him to Paris for winter break.

PARIS: Alexandrine Paradis lived over two centuries ago. She dreamed of making her mark on the Paris stage, but a fateful encounter with a doomed prince of France cast her in a tragic role she didn't want—and couldn't escape.

Two girls, two centuries apart. One never knowing the other. But when Andi finds Alexandrine's diary, she recognizes something in her words and is moved to the point of obsession. There's comfort and distraction for Andi in the journal's antique pages—until, on a midnight journey through the catacombs of Paris, Alexandrine's words transcend paper and time, and the past becomes suddenly, terrifyingly present.

Jennifer Donnelly, author of the award-winning novel A Northern Light, artfully weaves two girls' stories into one unforgettable account of life, loss, and enduring love. Revolution spans centuries and vividly depicts the eternal struggles of the human heart.

Buy Revolution by Jennifer Donnelly - $21.99

Early Grades and Picture Books

National Geographic Little Kids First Big Book of Animals
by Catherine D. Hughes   $14.95
Recommended for ages 4 and up.

The National Geographic Little Kids First Big Book of Animals is an adorable animal reference. Filled with fluffy and scaly creatures big and small, this appealing book introduces young explorers to the world of wildlife, using a child-friendly format inspired by the blockbuster National Geographic Little Kids magazine. This exciting new reference mirrors the magazine's square shape, readable fonts, and fun content, to keep little ones thrilled with every colorful page.

More than 150 of National Geographic's most charming animal photos illustrate the profiles, which feature just the kind of facts that little kids want to know—the creature's size, diet, home, and more. Little Kids First Big Book of Animals devotes four pages each to 32 high-interest creatures, including dolphins, tigers, butterflies, frogs, penguins, wolves, and pandas.

Child-friendly text explains how animal parents take care of their young, how baby animals change as they grow, and how they learn to hunt and eat. The brief text, large type, and appealing profiles are perfect for young readers to enjoy on their own, or for parents and other caregivers to read aloud. These animal tales will quickly become favorites at storytime, bedtime, and any other time.

Buy National Geographic Little Kids First Big Book of Animals by Catherine D. Hughes - $14.95

Early Grades and Picture Books

Wild Alphabet: An A to Zoo Pop-up Book By Dan Green  $19.99

An A to Z of the fiercest, friendliest, and fastest animals in the world. Animals literally jump off the page in this illustrated pop-up featuring 26 wild animals hiding within the pages of the book. Antelope bursts through the letter A; Leopard lurches from behind L; Giraffe, reaches a long neck over G; Koala carries her baby around K and Penguin waddles out from behind P. With accompanying key facts about each animal, this is a book that readers and animal lovers of all ages will treasure and enjoy for years to come.

From antelope to zebras, discover fascinating facts about your favorite animals with the help of amazing pop-ups and moving parts. Find out what animals look like, where they live, and what they eat in this wonderfully entertaining book.

Buy Wild Alphabet: An A to Zoo Pop-up Book by Dan Green - $19.99