Good fish: Sustainable Seafood Recipes from the Pacific Coast. By Becky Selengut. Seattle, Wash. : Sasquatch Books, 2011. 255 p.

Recommendation by:
Rand Simmons, Acting Washington State Librarian, Tumwater, WA.

For those who love to eat fish and seafood; for those who love to cook; and for those who are interested in sustainable harvesting and farming of fish and seafood, Good Fish: Sustainable Seafood Recipes is a must read.

Chef Becky Selengut has written a book that appeals to a broad audience. Now a resident of Seattle, Selengut, a native of New Jersey, journals her life that led to becoming an advocate for sustainability of fish and seafood. She writes that her most formative culinary experience was cooking at the Herbfarm Restaurant in Woodinville, Washington.

Good fish is filled with definitions, information about harvesting seasons, buying tips, questions to ask before you pay, caring for good fish, farming, harvesting and wonderful vignettes. The major sections of the book are shellfish (clams, mussels, oysters, Dungeness crab, shrimp and scallops), finfish (wild salmon, Pacific halibut, black cod, rainbow trout, albacore tuna, and Arctic char), and littlefish & eggs (sardines, squid, and sustainable caviar).

Don’t expect this to be a quick read. While the text is easily read, the richness of the book will take a while to plough through. This is a great home reference.

ISBN-13: 978 1570616624

Available at the Washington State Library,  NW 641.692 SELENGU 2011
Available in an eBook edition
Not available as a talking book, or as a Braille edition.

From the desk of Sean Lanksbury. PNW & Special Collections Librarian

Many Pacific Northwesterners recall the Columbus Day Storm of October 12, 1962 with the same vivid memories as we remember the Mount St. Helens eruptions of May 1980.

For those who were witness to the storm, it remains a terrifying testament to the destructive force of nature.  The storm that began in the deep western Pacific as a typhoon named “Freda” was ignored at the time by many meteorologists and media forecasters, due to insufficient data and reporting, until reports of grim marine weather conditions rolled in the morning of the 12th.

The peak wind measurements remain untouched in this region.  Speeds reached 160 mph in Naselle by the evening and were equally high elsewhere on the coast and inland.  When it finally subsided the toll was staggering.  This force of natural power claimed 46 lives and left millions without power across the region, from Ukiah, CA to Victoria, B.C.

The State Library commemorates the 50th Anniversary of this somber event by encouraging readers to learn more about Pacific Northwest Weather History and Forecasting with a newly created list of selected resources in the collection.  The library also has numerous state and federal resources on disaster preparedness and emergency response available for public use.  Please feel free to use the Ask-A-Librarian service for more information.

Note: for more images of the devastation, check out images housed at the State Archives, featured on From Our Corner, the Office of the Secretary of State blog. 

From the desk of Sean Lanksbury. PNW & Special Collections Librarian

Well, perhaps that title is a touch dramatic, but we are very pleased to share with you a very interesting item with importance to northwest cartographic history.  The mystery starts with a gentleman named Sir Francis Drake.  Perhaps you have heard of him.  If not, then you should know that Sir Francis was the second seafarer to circumnavigate the earth, from 1577 to 1580, second only to Ferdinand Magellan, and the first to return with his ship (Magellan was killed en route).

According to the historical record, Drake made port on the north pacific shoreline June 17 1579, north of the Spanish claimed Point Loma (now part of San Diego, CA) after an eventful trip around the horn of South America and raiding for gold on Spanish Ships in Lima.  Herein lies the mystery—how far north of San Diego did Drake travel and where did he and his crew touch ground?  Did he make port in Bolinas, in San Francisco, California? Nehalem Bay, Oregon? Or did he travel as far as Washington or even Alaska?!  The exact point where he stopped was kept secret for reasons of British national security.  They remain secret as all of Drake’s primary documents from his voyage likely burned up in the Whitehall Palace Fire of 1698.

So how does this all possibly connect to the map shown above? Well, this map, Carta particolare dello stretto di Iezo: fra l’America è l’Isola Iezo. D’America carte XXXIII,  is the first Mercator projection of the Northwest coastline and one of the first serious maps of the region.  It was produced in Florence, Italy by noted English explorer Sir Robert Dudley as part of his cartographic masterwork, Dell Arcano del Mare, this particular map is also notable for its depiction of shoreline features above a longitude of 39°N, Cape Mendocino, all the way to the 50^th parallel, the northern tip of Vancouver Island.  You might see some similarities to the modern coastline of Washington and Oregon, especially features that resemble the Columbia River and the Strait of Juan de Fuca.  Then again, you might not, but many others do, and some researchers suspect that Sir Dudley, who never actually visited the Pacific coastline, may have based his engravings off some insider knowledge.  Robert was the illegitimate son of another Sir Robert Dudley, First Earl of Leicester, and this Robert was a main financier of Francis Drake’s Famous Voyage.  So, did the son have access to Drake’s secreted charts through his family connection to the expedition?  Is the chart pure speculation above Mendocino?  It is a matter for debate, and historians both professional and amateur have been going toe-to-toe on the subject for centuries.

This map is available for use (by appointment) at the Special Collections Desk , M-F 8:00 a.m. – 4:30 p.m.

Interested in learning more about maps of Washington or theories surrounding Francis Drake?  Try out these titles available at the Washington State Library:

• The Cartography of the Northwest Coast of America to the Year 1800. 

  By Henry R. Wagner. (Mansfield Centre, CT: Martino Pub., 1937

  [Limited ed. facsimile of the original ed. produced in 1999]  OCLC / WSL

• Historical atlas of the Pacific Northwest: Maps of Exploration and Discovery: 

  British Columbia, Washington, Oregon, Alaska, Yukon. By Derek Hayes.

  (Seattle : Sasquatch Books, 1999. 208 pp.) OCLC / WSL

• The Golden Hind. By T. W. E. Roche.

  (New York: Praeger, 1973. 200 pp.) OCLC / WSL

• Francis Drake in Nehalem Bay in 1579: Setting the Historical Record Straight.

  By Garry David Gitzen. (Wheeler, Or.: Isnik Pub., 2008. 245 pp.) OCLC / WSL

Envy: An Empty Coffin Novel (Book 1). By Gregg Olsen. New York : Splinter, 2011. 285 p.

Recommendation by:
Rand Simmons, Acting Washington State Librarian, Tumwater, WA.

It begins with a suicide. A young girl, Katelyn, depressed and lonely, slips into a tub of water. Or, was it murder?
Katelyn’s childhood friends, Hayley and Taylor Ryan suspect the latter and set about to prove it so. The twins are the children of a true crime writer and a psychiatric nurse. But, they have gifts beyond those they have learned from dinner table conversation.

Set in Port Gamble, Washington author Gregg Olsen explores the dark side of this company town. The first in Olsen’s Empty Coffin series this is a good read for teens, especially girls ages 15-16. It may well appeal to a wider audience of murder mystery lovers.

Once you’ve read Envy you will hunger for the next in the series, Betrayal.

Editor’s Note: This book was selected by the Washington State Library for the 2012 National Book Festival, held in Washington D. C.

ISBN-10: 1402789572

Available at the Washington State Library, NW 813.6 OLSEN 2011
Available as an eReader edition and as a downloadable talking book.
Not available as a Braille edition.

Hutch: Baseball’s Fred Hutchinson and a Legacy of Courage. Written by Mike Shannon; Illustrated by Scott Hannig. (Jefferson, N.C. : McFarland & Co., 2011. 216 p.)

Recommendation by:
Sean Lanksbury, NW and Special Collections Librarian, Washington State Library

Mike Shannon and Illustrator Scott Hannig’s graphic novel biography of professional baseball player and manager Fred Hutchinson is a detailed graphic novel, complete with bibliography, index, and copious notes.  The duo trace Hutch’s entire life: his family history and childhood  in Seattle’s Brighton neighborhood, his up and downs in both major and minor league baseball (including two stints with the Seattle Rainiers of the Pacific Coast League), enlistment in the United States Navy for the majority of World War II, return to a mostly winning career as baseball manager, and his battle with cancer that ultimately took his life in 1964.

To many readers, Hutch’s name is synonymous with the Cancer Research Center founded in 1975 by his brother, Seattle Surgeon Dr. William Hutchinson.  Thoroughly researched and cleanly illustrated, this quick read will delight sports fans and fill in the outline for those unfamiliar with one of the Pacific Northwest’s early professional sports heroes.

ISBN-13: 978 0786446254

Another book on Hutch, Fred Hutchinson and the 1964 Cincinnati Reds, by Doug Wilson was released in 2010 and is also recommended reading.

Available at the Washington State Library, NW 796.357 SHANNON 2011
Available as an eReader edition.
Not available as an talking book, or as a Braille edition.

Little Century: A Novel. By Anna Keesey. (New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2012. 336 p.)

Recommendation by:
Carolyn Petersen, CLRS Project Manager, Tumwater, WA.

18 year old Chicago born Esther Chambers found herself entering a different world when she accepted her cousin’s offer of help after her mother’s death.  The vast emptiness of the high desert of Oregon where her cousin’s cattle ranch is located challenges her.

Even though the year is 1900 a range war between the sheep men and the cattlemen still divides the tiny settlement of Century.  Esther finds herself drawn to two men, each on a different side of the conflict.

Anna Keesey’s debut literary novel paints a lyrical picture of the settling of Eastern Oregon.  Readers will find the characters fully realized and the story compelling.

ISBN-13: 978-0374192044

Where the Salmon Run: The Life and Legacy of Billy Frank, Jr.  By Trova Heffernan. (Olympia, Wash.: The Washington State Heritage Center Legacy Project; Seattle: in association with University of Washington Press, ©2012.)

With his father, Nisqually elder Billy Frank Jr. reaches back 10 years before statehood. The long history of Indian people in the Northwest inspired Frank to help unite the state and Indian tribes in the battle for fishing rights. Roughed up and thrown in jail for decades, Frank emerged as a visionary and a bridge builder.  At 81, Frank continues a global crusade to protect indigenous people and salmon.

Drawing from oral history interviews with Billy and those best acquainted with him, Legacy Project Director Trova Heffernan traces Billy’s development from angry young man on the banks of the Nisqually to passionate elder statesman and chairman of the Northwest Indian Fisheries Commission. The book is filled with photographs and contains an extensive family tree.

ISBN: 978 0295991788

Available at the Washington State Library, NW 979.7004 HEFFERN 2012
Available as a free eReader edition.
Not available in Braille or Audiobook editions.

Read more at the Legacy Project’s Oral History site.

Olympia (Postcard history series). By Jill Bullock. Charleston, SC: Arcadia Pub., 2010. 127 p.

Recommendation by:
Rand Simmons, Acting Washington State Librarian, Tumwater, WA.

This unassuming book of black and white photos with minimal text packs an amazing amount of history in its 127 pages. The history of my adopted town, Olympia, WA, is told through images of postcards collected by author Jill Bullock. Many of the postcards are, in the collectors’ vernacular, “real photo postcards” or RPPCs. Through these images we learn about steamboats, downtown Olympia, early public schools and businesses, the Capitol of Washington, the brewery that made Tumwater famous and the history of logging.

We also learn the place of Olympia in the State’s history. The territorial capitol, Olympia struggled to retain the same role when Washington gained statehood in 1889. The first vote failed and Olympia faced a second vote in 1890. “Fate intervened in the form of the great Seattle fire that threatened to consume the city. The Olympia city fathers were quick to act. They sent the town’s fine, new steam-pumper fire engine the Silsby to stricken Seattle on the fast steamer Fleetwood. In spite of grumbling amongst the townspeople, $500 of taxpayers’ money was also given to Seattle to aid in their recovery. Seattleites, feeling indebted, showed their appreciation by supporting Olympia as the site of a permanent state capitol.”

This is the kind of history that arm-chair historians like me enjoy, a quick easy read filled with photos. Thanks is given by the author to Mary Hammer and (recently-retired) Dave Hastings of the Washington State Archive for their assistance with the book.

ISBN-13: 978 0738580364

Available at the Washington State Library,  NW 979.779 BULLOCK 2010
Not available as an eBook, talking book, or as a Braille edition.

The Sisters Brothers. By Patrick deWitt.
New York: Ecco, 2011. 328 p.

Recommendation by:
Carolyn Petersen, CLRS Project Manager, Tumwater, WA.

In The  Sisters Brothers author Patrick deWitt has produced a darkly comic tour of the Old West. Brothers Eli and Charlie Sisters are hit men who work for an enigmatic boss.  The story begins in 1850’s Oregon City when the brothers receive orders from the “Commodore” to kill a man who is working a mining claim outside of Sacramento.

As they journey to find this man, they encounter a witch, a bear, a parlor full of drunken floozies, and a gang of murderous fur trappers.  These encounters allow deWitt to explore the human costs of the clichés of the Old West. This revisionist and subversive western tale received much critical acclaim.

ISBN-13: 978-0062041265

Available at WSL, NW 813.6 DEWITT 2011
Available in talking book or Digital Book editions.
Not available in a Braille edition.

Title contains adult themes.

Beneath Cold Seas: The Underwater Wilderness of the Pacific Northwest. By David Hall; foreword by Christopher Newbert; introduction by Sarika Cullis-Suzuki.  Vancouver: Greystone Books; Seattle: University of Washington Press, c2011. 160 p.

Sean Lanksbury, NW and Special Collections Librarian, Washington State Library

This recently released book of photography is an absorbing and rewarding read and Hall’s thoughtfully composed and beautifully executed photographs.   The images reveal a world filled with color lying just beyond the sandy shores of the oft-muted Pacific Northwest that is above sea level.  It is hard not to appreciate this glimpse into a relatively alien aquatic world.

The introductory essays compel readers to consider the effects of environmental change upon the life contained therein and to appreciate the difficulties involved in creating these hard-won images.  The vignettes interspersed throughout add to understanding these marvelous seascapes, while outline the photographer’s method, serve to remind us what our seas stand to lose, and places of this magical realm equal in investigation to the alien worlds beyond this earth.

ISBN-13: 9780295991160

Available at the Washington State Library, NW 778.73 HALL 2011
Not available as an eReader edition.
Not available as an talking book, or as a Braille edition.