Books published by publisher Alaska Northwest Books Jan - 2008

The temperature outside is 20 below zero. Is school cancelled? Nope. How about recess outside? No way! Learn from the kids point of view about what it is like playing during recess when it is really cold,,, how it sounds outside, how it tastes outside, how it looks, and even how it smells when the therometer says it's 20 below. What happens when you put on layer after layer of clothing to avoid frostbite and then hit the playground? Did you see the tiny ice crystals in the air and hear your boots make a loud crunch, crunch, crunch sound when you walked? Pictures and words in 32 pages make have made this book popular all over North America because all the kids want to know what happens at 20 below zero

A collection of twenty stories showcasing the supernatural legends and unsolved mysteries of Southeast Alaska, with a focus on the region between Yakutat and Petersburg, where the author has lived his entire life, writing, teaching, guiding, commercial fishing, and investigating ghost stories. Each chapter is rooted in Bjorn’s own adventures and will intertwine fascinating history, interviews, and his reflections. Bjorn’s writing, sometimes poignant and often wickedly funny, brings to mind Hunter S. Thompson and Patrick McManus. Chapters touch on legends such as Alexander Baranov, Soapy Smith, James Wickersham, and the Kóoshdaa Káa (Kushtaka) to lesser known but fascinating characters like “Naked” Joe Knowles and purported serial killer Ed Krause. From duplicitous if not downright diabolical humans to demons of the fjords and deep seas and cryptids of the forest, Bjorn presents a lively cross-section of the haunter and the haunted found in Alaska’s Inside Passage.

A beautifully illustrated Alaska Native story of a young boy and his encounter with the fabled Fox Man, and how doing the right thing isn’t always easy but important in the end.Life is hard for Chia. His village doesn’t have enough food and every day there are many chores to do. Chia always goes to bed hungry and tired, until one day in the middle of the night he wakes to a strange noise. He decides to investigate—and meets the legendary Fox Man. Will the Fox Man be able to help Chia and his village?By the same team who brought you How Raven Got His Crooked Nose, this modern retelling of a traditional Dena’ina story teaches young readers that there is strength in humility and in doing what is right, especially when it’s hard. Also included is an author's note about Alaskan Dena'ina stories, plus a glossary of the Dena'ina words and their pronunciation.

Alaska is truly bear country. It is the only one of America’s fifty states to be inhabited by all three of North America’s ursine species: black, polar bear, and brown bear (also known as grizzly). Alaska’s Bears is a handy guidebook to the bears of Alaska, a book that slips easily into a jacket pocket or a day pack, and that provides entertaining armchair reading when you’re not in bear country. Here in one compact edition is a book that can help you understand Alaska’s bears and their natural histories. Learn about their appearances, behaviors, yearly cycles, ecological niches, and relationships with humans. Find full details on how to visit Alaska’s prime bear-viewing and get tips for traveling safely through bear country. Complementing Bill Sherwonit’s text are photographs from longtime Alaskan Tom Walker, a premier wildlife photographer who has spent hundreds of hours in the company of bears.

An extraordinary memoir of a woman’s unconventional childhood growing up in the Alaskan wilderness, on the grounds where the burned remains of a cannery once stood. In the 1980s the Neilson family moved out on a floathouse to the remote site of a former cannery in Southeast Alaska that had burned to the ground before statehood. They were miles away from any neighbors, surrounded on all sides by wolves, bears and other wildlife, entering the world of subsistence living in an uninviting land of dangerous weather and storms; yet the Neilsons were able to make themselves a home where few others would have found possible. Led by a jack-of-all-trades handyman for a father and a mother who was afraid of everything in the wilderness, Tara and her four siblings cleared the rough terrain to build atop the blackened, rusty ruins a new way of life that was completely their own. From a young age, Tara learned that anything was possible, so long as one can imagine it and then make it happen. When given her mother’s impractical design of a six-bedroom house, her father picked up his tools and crafted it into a reality. To reach the closest community, they built a wooden boat sixteen feet long for the perilous journey on the water. The Alaska wilds required independence and self-sufficiency from the family, and in return it provided a natural landscape that inspired romantic passion and unlimited dreams. With endless forest on one side and the wide ocean on the other, Tara embraced the lonesomeness of the burned cannery ruins that she called home, and often wondered what it once was with its people inside, their stories, where they went, and what happened to them. Beautifully poignant and completely original, Raised in Ruins escapes into the wilderness to discover a piece of Alaskan history wrapped in an incredible family adventure fueled by love, strength, hard work, endurance, and boundless imagination.

GUIDE TO THE BIRDS OF ALASKA has been a must-have for Alaska birders for more than thirty years. In the sixth edition, Robert Armstrong provides hundreds of new photographs. Every bird is now illustrated including the casuals and accidentals. This comprehensive guide provides the most current knowledge about the birds in Alaska.Bob Armstrong has pursued a career in Alaska as a biologist, naturalist, and nature photographer since 1960. He is the author of the best-selling book NATURE OF SOUTHEAST ALASKA and numerous other popular and scientific books and articles on the natural history of the state. He lives in Juneau, Alaska. www.naturebob.com

The temperature outside is 20 below zero. Is school cancelled? Nope. How about recess outside? No way! Learn from the kids point of view about what it is like playing during recess when it is really cold,,, how it sounds outside, how it tastes outside, how it looks, and even how it smells when the therometer says it's 20 below. What happens when you put on layer after layer of clothing to avoid frostbite and then hit the playground? Did you see the tiny ice crystals in the air and hear your boots make a loud crunch, crunch, crunch sound when you walked? Pictures and words in 32 pages make have made this book popular all over North America because all the kids want to know what happens at 20 below zero.

Pam Flowers' newest book just published (!) SOJO, MEMOIRS OF A RELUCTANT SLED DOG, chronicles the life of one of Pam's sled dogs (Sojo) while on the arctic journey in a jaunty tale told from the dog's perspective.NOW - more about the book - ALONE ACROSS THE ARCTIC!Eight sled dogs and one woman set out from Barrow, Alaska, to mush 2,500 miles alone across the arctic. For nearly an entire year during the epic journey Pam and her dogs endure and deal with intense blizzards, melting pack ice, and a polar bear. Yet in the midst of such danger, Pam also relishes the time alone with her beloved dogs. Their survival---her survival---hinges on their mutual trust and love. Pam Flowers was the first woman and first American to cross the arctic alone.

The patience of a little musk ox is sorely tried when he suffers an itch that he can’t scratch. There’s not a tree in sight—nothing to rub against for relief—so he wanders away from the herd looking for a branch, a rock pile, anything. On his journey, he meets with three individuals: a buffalo, a wolf, and a Native woman. Through his interaction with each one, he learns something new and affirming about himself before returning to the herd. Endnotes include information about how musk ox were native to Alaska until they were decimated by hunters in 1865, then reintroduced in the early 1930s; biological/behavioral details about the animals; and info about the cottage industry among Native villages in which women knit the qiviut (KIV-ee-oot), the rare underwool, into beautiful, warm garments. "Learn more" two-page section provides facts and information about the animal and about qiviut, the softest wool in the world which comes from musk ox.

Alaska is truly bear country. It is the only one of America’s fifty states to be inhabited by all three of North America’s ursine species: black, polar bear, and brown bear (also known as grizzly). Alaska’s Bears is a handy guidebook to the bears of Alaska, a book that slips easily into a jacket pocket or a day pack, and that provides entertaining armchair reading when you’re not in bear country. Here in one compact edition is a book that can help you understand Alaska’s bears and their natural histories. Learn about their appearances, behaviors, yearly cycles, ecological niches, and relationships with humans. Find full details on how to visit Alaska’s prime bear-viewing and get tips for traveling safely through bear country. Complementing Bill Sherwonit’s text are photographs from longtime Alaskan Tom Walker, a premier wildlife photographer who has spent hundreds of hours in the company of bears.

Eight sled dogs and one woman set out from Barrow, Alaska, to mush 2,500 miles. ALONE ACROSS THE ARCTIC chronicles this astounding expedition. For an entire year, Pam Flowers and her dogs made this epic journey across North America arctic coast. The first woman to make this trip solo, Pam endures and deals with intense blizzards, melting pack ice, and a polar bear. Yet in the midst of such danger, Pam also relishes the time alone with her beloved team. Their survival—-her survival—-hinges on that mutual trust and love.