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Not Every Kid Goes Home to Books
We know this is a time of especially unequal resources, as some kids go home to stuffed family bookshelves and others lose the access to books they had through school and libraries. Our colleagues over at Third Place Books not only had the excellent idea to collect donations to get books to young readers in need, they also did the hard work of figuring out how to get the books to the right kids, so if you're interested in helping to fund such efforts, we're happy to point you to the Third Place Books to Students Fund, which has already passed two fundraising goals but certainly will use every additional dollar to provide even more books to more students in need.
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New Book of the Week
The End of October
by Lawrence Wright
Are you the sort of person who would choose to read The Road in the middle of a blackout? Then The End of October might be for you! Wright has been justifiably acclaimed for his fearlessly reported accounts of both al-Qaeda (The Looming Tower) and Scientology (Going Clear), so perhaps it's not too surprising that his first fictional thriller—written when COVID-19 was a mere twinkle in a bat's eye—would turn out to be so unsettlingly prescient. Yes, a viral pandemic is quickly ravaging the planet, and some of the elements—ventilator shortages, accusations of foreign lab culprits—will feel weirdly familiar, but Wright, in true thriller fashion, turns the dial up to eleven in every respect: the blood-gushing brutality of the virus, the immanence of global war, the rapid collapse into anarchy. It's not easy going, and his brilliant epidemiologist hero—spoiler!—can't fix everything; some might find it cathartic to read, others too close to home. —Tom
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New Book of the Week
Midwest Futures
by Phil Christman
I'm one of the few members of our staff who is not from the Midwest, but the region's allegedly bland mysteries are a draw to me as well. The mystery starts with the region itself (does South Dakota count? Pittsburgh? Missouri?), but Christman, a Michigan working-class native turned Michigan academic, wisely doesn't try to unravel a single answer, choosing instead to ravel a whole host of threads—political, literary, geographic, natural—together in a thought-provoking tangle. The most convincing case he makes is that our "Heartland," often claimed as the site of American authenticity, is built on ideas and abstractions, not the least of which were the grids America's frontier planners used to make sense of the land they were taking over, a grid wittily mimicked by the structure of his book. —Tom
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Kids' Paperback of the Week
Sweep: The Story of a Girl and Her Monster
by Jonathan Auxier
When I heard an interview with Jonathan Auxier talking about how many years of historical research he did when writing Sweep, I couldn't wait to dive into his authentic world of Victorian chimney sweeps. As perfectly as he has constructed this world, it is, after all, the story of a girl and her monster, so there is plenty of fantasy mingled with the realistic details. Nan Sparrow is a child chimney sweep, or "climber," who by the age of twelve has become accustomed to being invisible in London society. The mysterious sweep who raised her simply vanished one day, leaving her with a small piece of coal that always stays warm. As magical events develop, Nan learns to open herself to vulnerability and rely on others. This beautiful, heart-wrenching book deals with friendship, sacrifice, and love. I particularly enjoyed reading a story with a tough and street-smart preteen girl protagonist in a world traditionally dominated by boys. (Ages 8 to 12) —Haley
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Non-Book of the Week
Mother's Day Cards
We've pretty much given up on selling greeting cards under the current conditions, but we know that Sunday is Mother's Day and Mom needs a card, so starting on Wednesday we'll have all our Mother's Day cards in our front window, so you can pick one out (or as many as you need for all your moms) for purchase at the doorway.
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Link of the Week
Summer Book Bingo, in Spring
One bit of a silver lining for us: Seattle Arts & Lectures and the Seattle Public Library have decided to launch their always-popular annual activity, Summer Book Bingo, early this year. Download Adult, Español, and Kids bingo boards and start planning your summer reading!
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Cover Crop Quiz #184
How well do you remember your early '90s blockbusters? This crop includes most of the cover of this 1993 bestseller.
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Last Week's Answer
Joseph Mitchell's Up in the Old Hotel, a collection of his New Yorker essays, published decades after he had stopped publishing new work, even though he continued to show up at the magazine's office.
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Phinney Books
7405 Greenwood Ave. N
Seattle, WA 98103
206.297.2665
www.phinneybooks.com
info@phinneybooks.com
Facebook page
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Speaking of puzzles, we know they can be hard to come by these days, and many of our suppliers are out of stock, but we recently received another batch, and this time we've made it a little easier to buy them from us. We've created a 
