Who would guess that a tiny seabird with webbed feet, the marbled murrelet, nests more than 300 feet up in the trees of old-growth forests along the west coast? Male and female adults take turns sitting on their egg until the chick... Read More

Sadie positively needs to go the zoo; it’s been ages and her plans get foiled each time. Finally, she and her dad start out one morning and before long they’re drenched in showers. He says they’ll have to turn around and go home,... Read More

The premise is an oldie-but-goodie: guess what lies beyond a peek-a-boo hole in the page given a single clue. Artist Edward Gibbs’s debut picture book is a stunner; his extraordinary line drawings will engage anyone (of any age) who... Read More

The memoir opens as five-year-old Alireza is returned to a foster home by his stepfather. Alireza is considered an orphan, although both his parents are alive and living in the same town. The boy loves his mother and stepfather, yet... Read More

Murderer. Loving mother. Sadomasochist. Animal rescuer. Master manipulator. Talented artist. Each of these identities applies to Carole Alden, the subject of Barbara Oakley’s book Cold-Blooded Kindness. In July 2006, Alden shot and... Read More

At a time when politicians advocate de-funding National Public Radio and curtailing appropriations for the arts, it is difficult to recall that there was a time when the federal government actually paid writers to write books. From 1935... Read More

Ramadan, the annual month-long fast, is one of the five pillars of the Islamic faith. Along with believing in the Oneness of God, praying five times daily, tithing a percent of one’s income to the needy, and making the “haj,” or... Read More

In 1980, after eleven years of sailing around the world, Lin Pardey and her boatbuilder husband, Larry, needed time-out from the life aquatic. The couple settled in Bull Canyon, California, a rural locale that featured open spaces and... Read More