Fri, Jan 20  
7:00 - 8:00 PM
Leavenworth Library
Free

Breaking the Code: You Can Write Your Family History. A presentation by Karen Fisher-Alaniz (Presentation)

Sat, Jan 21  
1:00 - 3:00 PM
Bookstore
Free

Karen Fisher-Alaniz signs Breaking the Code: A Father's Secret, a Daughter's Journey, and the Question That Changed Everything (Book-signing)

Karen says: "Everyone has a story and every story matters. I can't tell you how many times someone has told me a bit about their loved one and then said, 'They're gone now. I wish I'd written those stories down.' We're waiting for the perfect time—when the kids are grown or when life isn't so crazy. But time can run out and for some, their stories will be gone forever. I like to say of family history writing, 'If not you, who? If not now, when?'"

Karen Fisher-Alaniz was propelled into her own project when, on his 81st birthday, without explanation, her father placed two weathered notebooks on her lap. Thus began an amazing, sometimes difficult, yet ultimately healing journey—one taken by a father and daughter who thought they knew each other—as they became newly bound in ways that transcended age and time.

Click here to learn more...
Buy a SIGNED copy of Breaking the Code: A Father's Secret, a Daughter's Journey, and the Question That Changed Everything - $14.99

Sat, Jan 28  
1:00 - 3:00 PM
Bookstore
Free

Sarah Jio signs her newly-released historical romance The Bungalow. (Book-signing)

Sun, Jan 29  
1:30 - 3:00 PM
Wenatchee Library
Free

Transport yourself to sunshine and palm trees on a lush Pacific island as Sarah Jio shares highlights from The Bungalow. (Presentation)

Unabashedly romantic, a sweeping World War II saga of thwarted love, murder, and a long-lost painting.

Twenty-one-year-old Anne Calloway, newly engaged, sets off to serve in the Army Nurse Corps on the Pacific island of Bora-Bora. More exhilarated by the adventure of a lifetime than she ever was by her predictable fiancé, she is drawn to a mysterious soldier named Westry, and their friendship soon blossoms into hues as deep as the hibiscus flowers native to the island. Their idyll is abruptly shaken by a mystery and the winds of war—but Anne never forgets, and 50 years later, sets out to discover the truth about the twin losses that have haunted her for so many years. A timeless story of enduring passion.

Click here to learn more...
Buy a SIGNED copy of The Bungalow - $15.00

Fri, Feb 3  
7:00 - 8:00 PM
Leavenworth Library
Free

TGIF: poet, playwright, and novelist Michael Schein shares Bones Beneath Our Feet: A Historical Novel of Puget Sound. (Presentation)

Sat, Feb 4  
1:00 - 3:00 PM
Bookstore
Free

Michael Schein signs his historical novel Bones Beneath Our Feet. (Book-signing)

Bones Beneath Our Feet is the moving historical epic of the conquest of Puget Sound by the "Boston" tribe. This is lyrical fiction deeply rooted in the people and events that made our history. Bones Beneath Our Feet resonates with political intrigue, tenderness and betrayal, misunderstanding and fear, greed and sacrifice — all the richness and grit of life. The gravestone of Chief Leschi, leader of the Native cause, reads: "Judicially Murdered Feb. 19, 1858." Behind these few words lies an essential story for all who are passionate about tolerance, dignity and liberty.

Click here to learn more...
Buy a SIGNED copy of Bones Beneath Our Feet: A Historical Novel of Puget Sound - $16.95

Fri, Feb 10  
7:00 - 9:00 PM
Barn Beach Reserve
Free

Cottonwood and the River of Time: a presentation by professor emeritus Reinhard Stettler. (Presentation)

Sat, Feb 11  
1:00 - 3:00 PM
Bookstore
Free

Reinhard Stettler signs Cottonwood and the River of Time: On Trees, Evolution, and Society (Book-signing)

The story of the cottonwood, whose life cycle is so closely attuned to the river's natural dynamics and fluctuating floodplains, is one of perpetual change. But then, in a broader sense, so is the story of all trees, and all kinds of life, says Reinhard Stettler, professor emeritus of forestry at the University of Washington and author of Cottonwood and the River of Time. By examining how trees adapt and persist, Stettler asserts, we just might learn how to preserve and manage our forests for an uncertain future.

Click here to learn more...
Buy a SIGNED copy of Cottonwood and the River of Time: On Trees, Evolution, and Society - $24.95

Fri, Feb 17  
7:00 - 9:00 PM
Barn Beach Reserve
Free

Tales of Working in the Northwest Woods with Dennis Willard (Presentation)

Sat, Feb 18  
1:00 - 3:00 PM
Bookstore
Free

Dennis Willard signs Working in the Northwest Woods: A personal history of a decade spent working in the forests of the Northwest (Book-signing)

"Careening downhill directly at me was one of the broken logs that had been left on the landing...it was on fire, leaving a trail of smoke and sparks as it crashed and bounced my direction...I turned, dropped my drip torch, made ready to run...lost my footing in the rocks and fell hard..." A life in the woods is a life of adventure. Dennis Willard has over a decade-worth of tales to tell: of timber rats and crew bosses, old growth and slash landings, M16s and fly rods, poachers and wardens, cork boots and drip torches, and an enormous flaming log that came within inches of ending it all.

Click here to learn more...
Buy a SIGNED copy of Working in the Northwest Woods: A personal history of a decade spent working in the forests of the Northwest - $14.95

ABFAS December Top 10 Best-Sellers...

I got an e-reader for Christmas! Hooray! And...now what??

On the first day of Christmas my true love gave to me, an E-READER in a pear tree...

Whether you got a tablet, smart phone, Nook, Blackberry, PC, Mac, ipad, Android phone, Windows 7 Phone, Kobo, HP, Sony...or something else* in a pear tree...

Do you wish downloading a book onto your new device was EASY, FUN, AFFORDABLE, AND...supported your local independent bookstore?

Ta-ding! Wish granted! A Book For All Seasons is now A Book For All* Devices. The hesitant may wish to begin with our eBook FAQs, and the eAdept will want to check our eBookstore frequently for ever-changing giveaways, sales and promotions.

See you on-line as well as downtown...because the times they are a-changin...but a good book is still forever.

* At this time, only the makers of Kindle^™ are choosing not to make their products compatible with other e-readers and digital content.

Ring in the New Year With
Super Savings!

Throughout January: 30% OFF
ALL calendars and day-planners in stock!

While they last: 40% OFF Christmas books!

and 50% OFF Holiday cards!

Honor Your Own Story

I think every debut author imagines what their first signing will be like. I was no different. I imagined stacks of my book, posters around town, and people lined up to have their book signed. What I didn't imagine, was the stories I would hear.

As people came to the table, book in hand, they didn't just want an autograph. They looked me in the eye, some even held my hand, and they told me how my book had touched them. And then they told me why.

The title of the book, Breaking the Code, refers to my father's role as a code-breaker during WWII. But it has another meaning too; one that resonates with people who seek to know and understand their personal history.

We all have that one person in our lives who is the story-teller. Some tell their stories eagerly. Others only allude to their secrets, as if waiting for the right question to be asked. Family members often have a strong feeling that there is a story that needs telling.

But life is busy, so we put off getting those stories written down. We reason that we'll write them down when things slow down at work, or when the kids get just a little older. We rationalize that we'll do it when life isn't so crazy. But the truth is, life never slows down. And sadly, for some, time will run out. None of us is promised tomorrow, and when our loved one is gone, so are their stories.

Many of the stories I heard at my first book signing and subsequent signings are stories of regret. They are stories about running out of time. They are stories that end with, "I always thought I'd have more time."

Veteran or civilian, family or friend, we all have a story. We have a story worth telling and a story worth listening to. It may be our own or someone else's. When we take the time to listen, to ask, and to record, we honor not only the story-teller; we also honor ourselves.

Join me as I share practical steps and inspiration for gettng your story on paper at a free presentation at the Leavenworth library Friday, January 20th, from 7-8pm.

Click here to find out more about Karen's upcoming events!

Buy a SIGNED copy of Breaking the Code: A Father's Secret, a Daughter's Journey, and the Question That Changed Everything - $14.99

We Thank You From The Bottom Of Our Hearts

The first person to say it that day had a small green nose-gem and a yin-yang tattoo on her wrist. She and I were agreeing how much our sons loved a book series when she added, "I wanted to be sure to get it at an independent bookstore."

Not long afterward, a silver-haired woman in a tailored wool coat told me, "We love this store. We come here every time we come to Leavenworth. We like to support independent bookstores."

And only a few hours later, a man checked every pocket in his paint-splattered Carhardts before pulling out a scribbled note, saying, "I saw this online, but I wanted to support my local bookstore."

Every time someone tells us, "What a great bookstore!" it truly touches us and makes our day. A Book For All Seasons will soon turn 20 years old. We've been here these years because of you; because you know that community is how we smile at each other on the street, and also where and how we spend our paycheck. We are deeply honored and grateful for your support. Thanks a million! Here's to twenty more great years!

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

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

Fiction

Running the Rift by Naomi Benaron  $24.95

Running the Rift follows Jean Patrick Nkuba, a gifted Rwandan boy, from the day he knows that running will be his life to the moment he must run to save his life, a ten-year span in which his country is undone by the Hutu-Tutsi tensions.

Born a Tutsi, Nkuba is thrust into a world where it's impossible to stay apolitical—where the man who used to sell you gifts for your family now spews hatred, where the girl who flirted with you in the lunchroom refuses to look at you, where your Hutu coach is secretly training the very soldiers who will hunt down your family. Yet in an environment increasingly restrictive for the Tutsi, he holds fast to his dream of becoming Rwanda's first Olympic medal contender in track, a feat he believes might deliver him and his people from this violence. When the killing begins, Jean Patrick is forced to flee, leaving behind the woman, the family, and the country he loves. Finding them again is the race of his life.

Winner of the Bellwether Prize for Socially Engaged Fiction, Naomi Benaron has written a stunning and gorgeous novel that takes us beyond the headlines to reveal the causes and effects of Rwanda's tragic history and, more important, to portray the resilience of the human spirit. Through the eyes of one unforgettable boy who comes of age during that time, she explores the story of a country's unraveling, its tentative new beginning, and the love that binds its people together.

"It is a testament to Benaron's skill that a novel about genocide...conveys so profoundly the joys of family, friendship, and community." — Publishers Weekly, starred review

"Unflinching and beautifully crafted...Highly recommended; readers who love Khalded Hosseini's The Kite Runner will appreciate." — Library Journal, starred review

"Benaron shines in her tender descriptions of Rwanda's natural beauty and in her creation of Jean Patrick, a hero whose noble innocence and genuine human warmth are impossible not to love," — Kirkus Reviews, starred review

"This is truly fearless writing: ambitious, beautiful, unapologetically passionate." — author Barbara Kingsolver

Naomi Benaron earned an MFA from Antioch University and an MS in earth sciences from Scripps Institute of Oceanography. She teaches at Pima Community College and online through the Afghan Women's Writing Project. An advocate for African refugees in her community, she has worked extensively with genocide survivor groups in Rwanda. She has won the G. S. Sharat Chandra Prize for Short Fiction and the Lorian Hemingway Short Story Competition. She is also an Ironman triathlete.

Buy Running the Rift by Naomi Benaron - $24.95

Fiction

Out of Oz (Wicked Years Series #4) By Gregory Maguire  $26.99

Once peaceful and prosperous, the spectacular Land of Oz is knotted with social unrest: The Emerald City is mounting an invasion of Munchkinland, Glinda is under house arrest, and the Cowardly Lion is on the run from the law. And look who's knocking at the door. It's none other than Dorothy. Yes. That Dorothy. The singing, dancing, Cornhusker irritant and trouble-magnet.

Yet amidst all this chaos, Elphaba's granddaughter, the tiny green baby born at the close of Son of a Witch, has come of age. Now it is up to Rain to take up her broom—and her legacy—in an Oz wracked by war.

The stirring, long-awaited conclusion to the bestselling series begun with Wicked, Out of Oz is a magical journey rife with revelations and reversals, reprisals and surprises—the hallmarks of the unique imagination of Gregory Maguire.

"Delicious writing" — Newsday

Gregory Maguire's first adult novel, a bold, revisionist view of Frank L. Baum's classic Oz, Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West placed one of literature's most reviled characters at the center of a dark dystopian fantasy and raised provocative questions about the very nature of good and evil. Wicked catapulted to the top of the bestseller charts, and was turned into a Tony Award-winning Broadway musical.

Maguire retold the legends of Cinderella and Snow White in Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister and Mirror, Mirror; raised the ghost of Ebenezer Scrooge in Lost; and then returned to Oz with Son of a Witch and A Lion Among Men. Out of Oz is the bold, brilliant, and fast-paced conclusion to the Wicked series.

Buy Out of Oz (Wicked Years Series #4) by Gregory Maguire -  $26.99

Non-fiction

The Time of Our Lives: A Conversation about America: Who We Are, Where We've Been, and Where We Need to Go Now, to Recapture the American Dream by Tom Brokaw   $26.00

Tom Brokaw, known and beloved for his landmark work in American journalism and for the New York Times bestsellers The Greatest Generation and Boom!, now turns his attention to the challenges that face America in the new millennium, offering reflections on how we can restore America's greatness.

"What happened to the America I thought I knew?" Brokaw writes. "Have we simply wandered off course, but only temporarily? Or have we allowed ourselves to be so divided that we're easy prey for hijackers who could steer us onto a path to a crash landing? . . . I do have some thoughts, original and inspired by others, for our journey into the heart of a new century."

Rooted in the values, lessons, and verities of generations past and of his South Dakota upbringing, Brokaw weaves together inspiring stories of Americans who are making a difference and personal stories from his own family history, to engage us in a conversation about our country and to offer ideas for how we can revitalize the promise of the American Dream.

Inviting us to foster a rebirth of family, community, and civic engagement as profound as the one that won World War II, built our postwar prosperity, and ushered in the Civil Rights era, Brokaw traces the exciting, unnerving changes in modern life—in values, education, public service, housing, the Internet, and more—that have transformed our society in the decades since the age of thrift in which he was raised. Offering ideas from Americans who are change agents in their communities, in The Time of Our Lives, Brokaw gives us a wise, honest, and wide-ranging book, a nourishing vision of hopefulness in an age of dimished expectations.

Buy The Time of Our Lives: A Conversation about America: Who We Are, Where We've Been, and Where We Need to Go Now, to Recapture the American Dream by Tom Brokaw -  $26.00

Non-fiction

Boomerang: Travels in the New Third World By Michael Lewis  $25.95

The tsunami of cheap credit that rolled across the planet between 2002 and 2008 was more than a simple financial phenomenon: it was temptation, offering entire societies the chance to reveal aspects of their characters they could not normally afford to indulge.

Icelanders wanted to stop fishing and become investment bankers. The Greeks wanted to turn their country into a piñata stuffed with cash and allow as many citizens as possible to take a whack at it. The Germans wanted to be even more German; the Irish wanted to stop being Irish.

Michael Lewis's investigation of bubbles beyond our shores is so brilliantly, sadly hilarious that it leads the American reader to a comfortable complacency: oh, those foolish foreigners. But when he turns a merciless eye on California and Washington, DC, we see that the narrative is a trap baited with humor, and we understand the reckoning that awaits the greatest and greediest of debtor nations.

"Lewis has a wonderful talent for distilling complicated stories, whether bond trading in New York (Liar's Poker) or a baseball-analysis revolution in Oakland (Moneyball), in simple terms and with telling detail. Boomerang...doesn't disappoint" — The Washington Post

"Michael Lewis possesses the rare storyteller's ability to make virtually any subject both lucid and compelling. In...Boomerang, he actually makes topics like European sovereign debt, the International Monetary Fund and the European Central Bank not only comprehensible but also fascinating—even, or especially, to readers, who rarely open the business pages or watch CNBC...Mr. Lewis's ability to find people who can see what is obvious to others only in retrospect or who somehow embody something larger going on in the financial world is uncanny. And in this book he weaves their stories into a sharp-edged narrative that leaves readers with a visceral understanding of the fiscal recklessness that lies behind today's headlines" — The New York Times

Financial journalist and bestselling author Michael Lewis is best known for intriguing nonfiction narratives like Liar's Poker, The New New Thing, and Moneyball.

Buy Boomerang: Travels in the New Third World By Michael Lewis - $25.95

Young Adult

Not for Parents Travel Book By Lonely Planet Publications  $19.99
Recommended for grades 4-6

A kid-friendly Lonely Planet that will engage even reluctant readers with captivating trivia and fascinating factoids about countries and cultures far and wide.

"Not-For-Parents" superimposed across the cover helps to lure readers in. We begin in Canada and head into the Southern hemisphere, east to Europe, wend south to Africa, and end in Tahiti and French Polynesia. Each country receives equal treatment, from tiny Eritrea to the world's superpowers. All are given a single page that includes a map, basic information, and the local word for "hello." Factoids include "Hideous History," "Crazy Fact," "Funky Food," "Amazing Animals," and reference movies, animals, transportation, music and instruments, natural resources, food, religion, history, and more.

Buy Not for Parents Travel Book By Lonely Planet Publications - $19.99

Young Adult

The Chronicles of Harris Burdick: Fourteen Amazing Authors Tell the Tales By Chris Van Allsburg and others   $24.99
Recommended for ages 10-14

For more than twenty-five years, readers have been puzzling over the illustrations by this enigmatic artist, Chris Van Allsburg. Thousands of children have been inspired to weave their own stories to go with his intriguingly titled pictures. And now, some of our most imaginative storytellers attempt to solve the perplexing mysteries of Harris Burdick.

Enter The Chronicles of Harris Burdick to read this incredible compendium of stories. Magical, funny, creepy, poignant, inscrutable, these are tales you won't soon forget.

The esteemed collection of highly decorated authors includes Jules Feiffer, Stephen King, Lois Lowry, Jon Scieszka, Kate DiCamillo and Sherman Alexie. The many accolades bestowed upon this illustrious group include one Pulitzer Prize, five Newbery Medals, three Newbery Honor awards, two Caldecott Medals, one Caldecott Honor award, three National Book Awards, eight National Book Award nominations, one Printz Award, five Boston Globe—Horn Book Awards, eight Bram Stoker Awards, five Coretta Scott King Awards, two Hugo Awards, and two O. Henry Awards.

The author of such bestselling children's books as Jumanji and The Polar Express, Chris Van Allsburg is a two-time winner of the coveted Caldecott Medal, as well as that National Book Award and the Regina Medal for lifetime achievement in children's literature.

Buy The Chronicles of Harris Burdick: Fourteen Amazing Authors Tell the Tales By Chris Van Allsburg and others  - $24.99

Young Adult

Glory Be By Augusta Scattergood  $16.99
Recommended for ages 8-12

A Mississippi town in 1964 gets riled when tempers flare at the segregated public pool.

As much as Gloriana June Hemphill, or Glory as everyone knows her, wants to turn twelve, there are times when Glory wishes she could turn back the clock a year. Jesslyn, her sister and former confidante, no longer has the time of day for her now that she'll be entering high school. Then there's her best friend, Frankie. Things have always been so easy with Frankie, and now suddenly they aren't. Maybe it's the new girl from the North that's got everyone out of sorts. Or maybe it's the debate about whether or not the town should keep the segregated public pool open.

Augusta Scattergood has drawn on real-life events to create a memorable novel about family, friendship, and choices that aren't always easy.

"Glory Be is a lovely debut novel for younger readers, akin to Kathryn Stockett's The Help—an important read that raises powerful racial issues of the 1960s American South." — Kathryn Erskine, National Book Award-winning author of Mockingbird

Buy Glory Be By Augusta Scattergood - $16.99

Early Grades and Picture Books

When You Wish Upon a Star By Judy Collins  $17.95

Making wishes and dreams come true: that's what this magical picture book and CD can do.

Grammy^® award-winning singer Judy Collins and illustrator Eric Puybaret, who together created the New York Times best-selling version of Over the Rainbow, are collaborating once again to bring a classic song to life, with equally enchanting results.

Written by Leigh Harline and Ned Washington in 1940, the Academy-Award^® winning When You Wish Upon a Star is beloved by listeners from 2 to 92 for its sweet hopefulness, poignant melody, and simple yet profound lyrics. Promising that "anything your heart desires will come to you," it appeals to the believer and child in all of us; the words weave a vision of a world rich in love and happiness—a world open to everyone, "no matter who you are." And no singer can capture the haunting beauty of this classic like Collins, with her clear, pure, and emotionally resonant voice.

Eric Puybaret's captivating art, with its graceful lines, stunning use of color, and strong sense of fantasy, is the perfect complement to Collins' lovely interpretation.

"When you wish upon a star/ Makes no difference who you are/ Anything your heart desires/ Will come to you." A hopeful message; Collins' gentle resonant voice; quiet words to slumber peacefully.

Like Over the Rainbow, this deluxe picture book features the highest-quality production values, making it a volume to treasure forever.

"The latest in this successful series of picture-book-plus-CD packages reunites Over the Rainbow collaborators Judy Collins (who performs three songs on the enclosed CD) and Puybaret for the classic ballad, with lyrics by Harline and music by Washington, which was popularized in Disney's Pinocchio. A short introductory verse and the song's lyrics accompany the illustrations, glossy spreads that feature an international group of children—an Eskimo, an Asian child in a bamboo hat, a boy in a turban, and half a dozen others. All of them spot a brilliant star, smiling in the sky; soon after, a woman in a blue cape and fairy wings materializes and leads the children to a country with jaunty toy buildings and candy-cane trees reminiscent of Candyland or Oz. There, the children's wishes are fulfilled; the bamboo-hatted child gets a unicorn, the boy in the turban flies a child-sized airplane, and, in some quiet political commentary, an Arab boy and a boy wearing a blue yarmulke join hands and fly off together. Puybaret's polished drafting gives the spreads a compelling combination of splendor and restraint." — Publishers Weekly

Buy When You Wish Upon a Star By Judy Collins - $17.95

Early Grades and Picture Books

Wheedle on the Needle By Stephen Cosgrove, Robin James  $16.95

Wheedle is a very grumpy sasquatch, and with Seattle's growth, finding a quiet place to sleep is close to impossible. When he heads for the top of the Space Needle and unleashes a never-ending rainfall, everyone stays indoors, and the city is quiet once again. Now, it's the Seattleites who are grumpy—who wants to stay inside all the time? Is there a solution that makes everyone happy? A national bestseller, this beloved picture book had much of its Seattle-centric storyline stripped from later editions. This glorious 35th Anniversary keepsake edition brings back the book's original charm, inviting a new generation of readers to delight in the Wheedle's adventures.

Buy Wheedle on the Needle By Stephen Cosgrove, Robin James - $16.95