Greetings from Port Book and News!

This month we said congratulations to the 2023 graduates and thank you to all the teachers and staff at Port Angeles High School. Some of those lucky grads received gift cards, and we noticed that they can be admirably quick to spend them.

Pride Month was a big deal for us this year with the unveiling of our permanent Pride section. We have more on that below, along with a recap of our evening with John Vaillant. Does Father's day give us license to say that he really "brought the heat" with his reading and discussion of Fire Weather, or is that a dad joke too far? At any rate, he was wonderful and it was a treat seeing so many of you come out for our event.

Two last harbingers of the season: the time has come to start talking about summer reading, and to start thinking about showing us any love you can spare at vote.bestofthepeninsula.com, if you are so inclined. Voting starts on Monday, June 26. We appreciate you considering us for any recognitions, but also for reading this newsletter and being part of the Port Book and News community. We hope to see you in the store whenever you can come by!

Looking to get back into reading? Or for something lighthearted and feel-good? Let a YA summer read take you away to a lake cabin full of family, a beach full of secrets, and stories that will leave you smiling until the sun goes down at night. From action packed adventures to summer flings, drama filled days and endless nights, there is a story for everyone.

Check out our full shelf upstairs in the store, or browse the summer reads on our website. We will be updating throughout the summer so check back in to see what new exciting stories await.

Newsletter subscribers and anyone who has set foot inside the store in the past month have seen that the entire store was recarpeted (the new cushion is amazing). Since then, we have taken the opportunity to rearrange our displays and our shelves. One of our changes is a designated section of LGBTQIA2S+ books. We pulled titles from all different genres, from Biographies and Science Fiction to Graphic Novels and Young Adult, curating a lovely selection of books celebrating queerness.

Below are the top sellers so far this month from the new section. Happy Pride Month!

John Vaillant brought his signature blend of masterful storytelling and deeply researched expertise to the Carver Room at the Port Angeles Public Library on June 5th. Alan introduced him as one of the favorite authors of the store and Vaillant lived up to the billing. He read from his new book, Fire Weather, which he described as a "pretty intense story from the future."

Vaillant's use of the dramatic and unprecedented Fort McMurray fire in Alberta to illustrate our obliviousness to the dangers of climate change was a sobering reminder of the stakes we face (he joked that writing the book turned his hair gray), but he also offered hope.

"I genuinely feel hope," he said. " It's not responsible to just drop a massive bummer on people and just say 'See you in the dooming!'..." He emphasized that changes are coming in our lifetime and that "It's going to be a 'both/and': there's going to be some dark stuff and also some really exciting stuff. He continued:

It doesn't matter how old any of you are, big changes are going to happen in our lifetime.

One of the most amazing things was... There's a lot of bigotry and racism and all kinds of redneck stuff going on in Alberta, and the oil industry is not really known for its progressive... anything. And yet the hub of it is Fort McMurray, and you've got 80 nationalities and every skin tone and language and religion you can imagine. And everybody got out of there. When things really got bad, people didn't jump the median and elbow each other aside and run over the children. They didn't do that. We see zombie movies... and it's a legitimate fear to have but they showed us another way to do it. And they really did do it. No bones or bodies were found in those basements.

He spoke for an hour, answered questions from the audience, and then graciously signed copies of the new book. We have signed copies left, so if you missed the event, you can still get one. We are grateful to Vaillant for making Port Book and News the first place in the United States to read from and to sell Fire Weather, and we think it's a must-read.

If you missed this event, don't make the same mistake next time he comes to town, and go ahead and mark your calendars for our next event, with Ilyssa Kyu and Dave Kyu reading from Campfire Stories Volume II at 7 p.m. on August 18. This collection includes stories from Olympic National Park by Ella Elizabeth Clark, Tim McNulty, Rena Priest, and others.

I appreciated the depth of each character, and enjoyed the craft of showing how the book, in very different ways, helped change their lives. As booksellers, we always appreciate talking books with our customers, discussing characters, and commiserating on our feelings about said characters. This book by Erica Baurermeister was a gift. Thank you, Erica, and the cover was inspirational too! --Cindy

Martha Wells is one of my favorite authors. You may know her from her Hugo Award winning novella Murderbot Diaries: All Systems Red, in which Murderbot would like to be left alone to enjoy their tv series in peace, please and thank you.

Or, perhaps you have read the epic adventure Cloud Roads that kicks off her Raksura series featuring the shapeshifting Raksura (dragon people) traveling about a truly unique world populated with multitudes of different creatures and fighting the Fell (who know you are a tasty crunchy treat, no ketchup needed). Her latest book introduces us to a brand new world and adventure! I cannot wait to dive in! Please join me in welcoming Witch King and Kai to a bookshelf near you. --Helena

The perfect summer instrument for the beach or the back yard has to be the ukelele. The Kala Ukeleles, hand crafted in Petaluma, California are so fun and easy to play that you will want to take one home.

The first of four models we carry is the water-resistant and durable Waterman. From beachside to poolside to accidentally-down-the-hillside, this really is the perfect starter ukelele for children ages 3 and up.

Lastly, we offer the Makala Soprano Pack, geared for ages 12 and up. It comes with a tuner, gig bag and the Soprano Ukulele.

Whether you are looking for a unique hobby, or want to try a different instrument, these ukeleles are fun for everybody. If you hear Cassidy picking her way through few songs while you are browsing the store, mybe offer to join in a duet.

Where do books go to eat dinner?

The table of contents.