Northwest Books

Author Bruce Swanson has more than thirty year's experience teaching history, often with a focus on Native American culture; Gray Wolf's Search is his picturebook about a young Native American told by his uncle, a shaman, that his future role in the clan depends upon locating a very important person. Gray Wolf goes on a journey to find and get to know this person - yet returns with unparalleled wisdom: "The very important person is you, and you, and you... Through all my travels, I found that no one is more important than another. Each one of us is a very important person." Artist Gary Peterson draws upon the primal vibrance of indigenous culture and reverence for the natural world in the captivating color illustrations of this recommended storybook.

Gray Wolf is a classic story of a young boy learning about himself and the natural world around him. The author and illustrator clearly share a love for the Pacific Northwest and its rich heritage.

Upon first opening this book, one is hit by a wonderful introduction which creates a promising beginning for the book. Unlike many books dealing with bears, this book contains good information and wonderful pictures that dazzle the eye. The ending brings all but the strong hearted to tears, as five years with Little Stony is ended abruptly. For anyone interested in letting their child read a good book about grizzly bears, with both pictures and excellent informational content, this would be the best one. The reader watches the bear grow from just a tiny cub to a large adult with the pictures allowing one to see the stages of development in a natural setting. Rick McIntyre weaves a breath taking story with his written words, letting the reader feel what Rick was feeling when those words were written. This book has truly made me interested in bears, visiting Yellowstone National Park and waiting silently at dawn in hopes that a bear would be spotted on one of the hillsides. Usually, my efforts pay off. This book makes one feel as if Little Stony and his mother were standing right in front of them, so detailed is the story and the pictures. A highly recommend book for anyone interested in seeing good pictures of grizzly bears in the wild and having good writing to accompany it. Buy this book now and I'm sure you won't be disappointed.

"It reads like a movie." -First grade student "Everyone should take time out to read this book." -Third grade student

Our class read Grizzly Cub: Five years in the Life of a Bear and absolutely loved it. It's a great source of information as well as an entertaining story. The photographs throughout the book are breathtaking and help tell the story of a curious bear named "Little Stony". -Multiage Class grades 1-3 Rainier Primary

This book belongs with every preschooler and in every primary classroom! The loveable characters, beautiful illustrations and enticing plot will lure hesitant listeners to attend to every word. The content is educational, yet humorous....it evokes a variety of wondrous emotions. As a speech-language pathologist, I especially loved the rich vocabulary, the variety of sentence structures and its free-flowing prosody. As a parent, I'm thankful for such talented authors!!!!!! Thank you for enchanting my child's world!!!!

Barbara Lavallee illustrates this fun story of a new pet cat who is white as a cloud except for his dark black eyebrows. Girl and cat are fast friends until Groucho wanders away one day, and Kristie must follow animal tracks to get him back. Groucho's Eyebrows is a different, fun story of survival and discovery in the outdoors.

When it comes to parenting, many of us are very scared, nervous, and confused. What is the right way to parent? Is there a right way? Who determines that? In this book, Rick Whitney wittingly details how he has been able to cast a transcendant vision for his children, one to which they were all compelled to give their lives. It's easy to read, humorous, and full of clarity. It is a compass in today's confusing, stormy societal waters.

I think there are three things that set this book apart from many others.
1) It is based on biblical methods.
2) The Whitney's have excelled in their own parenting.
3) Their family holds a mission focus.
It should be required material for all new parents and should definately be reread again before kids hit their teens.
Helpful. Practical. Down to earth.

I grew up in the Puget Sound region. My father shipped out as a young man right out of high school. He told stories of the sailing ships he saw as a youth growing up in Seattle. This book brought back many stories I had heard from him.

The book is delightful. If you enjoy the fine curves of well-designed wooden ships you will love this book. We are all fortunate to have this book to preserve the history of the region and its ships. The Ports are still there but most are now recreational destinations. Without such research and publications their history and importance to the development of this area would be lost.

The author should be congratulated on a job very well done.

This book is very well researched, well written, and beautifully illustrated. It should be part of every fine maritime book collection.

Kim Stafford's Having Everything Right is a beautiful nature book, full of quiet observation and fine, original description. I could have been satisfied with that, but the pleasing bonus is Stafford's openness, both to himself and to the reader, about his reactions, "random" associations, memories and plans evoked by what he sees and hears. Whether poetic, quirky, amusing, really unique or just nuts, he puts his thoughts out there in a way that opens the reader to him and his subject. The transparency of the observation increases the transparency of the subject. A book to read over and over.

Kim Stafford is a natural storyteller. By that I mean he has an inherent gift for telling stories, and he pays attention to nature. In HAVING EVERYTHING RIGHT, the author takes a moment to look around him, at a place you or I might notice and walk past, or not notice at all. What he discovers he relates with skill. His essays resonate with interest, care, humor and sometimes even awe. In some ways it is a quiet book, but offers surprises and delight. Surely you will come away with an appreciation of how stories are not just published in books or magazines, but are part of who we are, and where we are.

"The Healing Forest" has been selected for listing in "Religion and Psychoactive Sacraments: An Entheogen Chrestomathy." http://www.csp.org/chrestomathy

Technical, but excellent. Photos are stunning

This is an excellent book if you are interested in the Native American side of the story. It is well researched and documented. I recommend it to anyone interested in the history of the pre and post period of native struggles.

L. V. McWhorter's work first came to the notice of those interested in Native American Studies with the 1940 publication of Yellow Wolf: His Own Story, an outstanding first-person account of a warrior named who fought in the 1877 Nez Perce War. This compelled McWhorter to go deeper into his researches on the history and legends of the Nez Perce people. He died in 1944 before completing his manuscript for Hear Me, My Chiefs!: Nez Perce Legend & History. It was left to his son, V. O. McWhorter to organize his father's voluminous materials with the staff invaluable assistance of the State College of Washington at Pullman (which subsequently became Washington State University). That posthumous collaboration was published in 1952. Long out of print, the Caxton Press has now brought out Hear Me, My Chiefs! in a new addition for a new generation of readers. Simply put, no personal or academic Native American Studies library collection can be considered complete or comprehensive without the inclusion of a copy of L. V. McWhorter's masterpiece of Native American history, Hear Me, My Chiefs!: Nez Perce Legends & History.

I'm just ordering this book because oysters are my earlier memory. I live on pure-oyster beaches in Dabob Bay. So my friend who's a marine biologist got the book at Anthony's Oyster Olympics last weekend (an annual event) and says she sat up and read it straight through.

So, as oysters are an obsession for my parents and their 55 years of marriage and life on this beach, I'm buying it for Mom's upcoming birthday.

This is the first complete history of the oyster industry. Within the covers is a story that could have been lost had it not been for the research done to preserve the origins of Oystering in the Northwest.Congats to the authors.
It is a fun read taking you from the early days of the Willipa Bay oystermen to the present time.Love of the oyster continues to grow.
Yes, NW oysters have pearls, and this book is a Pearl as well.

The author has experienced many paddling adventures all over the West Coast of North America and down into Mexico. A fantastic photographer, Rogers jams this book full of beautiful and inspiring photographs along with interesting narrative. From the pounding surf off the Washington coast to warm, quiet lagoons in the Baja, Rogers takes you along for quite a trip.

I am so bummed that this book is out of print. I read it in the summer of 1995, while houseboating at Lake Powell. Even though I'm not a kayaker, I love being out on the water, and this book really made me want to take up kayaking. The pictures are fabulous, the stories are wonderful! I especially remember the stories about kayaking with the ships off the coast of California, and with the orcas in Alaska. If this book ever comes back into print, I want a copy of it. In the meantime, I guess I'll just keep watching the used book stores!