For many years, Ana Maria Spagna has stayed put, mostly, in a small mountain valley at the head of a glacier-carved lake. You’re so lucky to live there, people say. She is lucky. But she is also restless. In Uplake she takes road trips, flies to distant cities, fantasizes about other people’s lives, and then returns home again to muse on rootedness, yearning, commitment, ambition, wonder, and love. These engaging, reflective essays celebrate the richness of it all: winter floods and summer fires, the roar of a chainsaw and a fiddle in the wilderness, long hikes and open-water swims, an injured bear, a lost wedding ring, and a tree in the middle of a river. Uplake reminds us to love what we have while encouraging us to still imagine what we want.

Can you be a successful businesswoman, a sister, and have a relationship? For Ever, Raye, and Taylor, that is the question these three sisters ask themselves daily while harboring a deadly secret. Ever is the oldest and has made it her mission to always protect her sister. But with the pain she’s endured in the past, will she able to open herself up to love again? Raye is used to turning up. She never requires much from a man, taking the bare minimum of whatever it is they give her. Will she be able to notice a real man when he presents himself to her, or will she be so used to untrustworthy guys that she’ll miss out on real love? Taylor loves to burn sage and work on her inner peace. But with the pain she encounters in her childhood, she has shunned relationships altogether until she meets someone worth loving. Being on top has its highs and lows. And Benny, Lake, and Tru know that all too well. With very little family, they are bonded by their loyalty and love for each other. Benny has lost more than most, but still, he finds a way to reign on top with his brothers. But will a chance encounter with a girl in the club leave him getting more than he thought? Lake has always been the chill one out of the group, focusing on raising his daughter and keeping his baby’s mother in check. Can someone help bring some peace to his already dysfunctional life? Tru always speaks his mind. Running a successful drug business with his brothers, he has to keep a flock of bitches on deck, but when he sees a familiar face in the crowd, he knows that there’s more to her. Take a ride with these characters and their journey through life and see who really is riding with their shooter.

The companion to Crossing the Stream is a moving story of friendship and a timely reminder of our duty to nature. Ato and his friends Dzifa and Leslie have been selected to visit Nnoma, the bird sanctuary that Ato’s father helped build before he died. Ato is convinced that his father hid something valuable on the island, meant only for him. When the trio arrives at Nnoma with other children from across West Africa, they are split into teams and given missions to help broaden their knowledge of nature. The winners will become Asafo—ambassadors of Nnoma and defenders of the Earth. But then the adults running Nnoma start behaving erratically and Ato suspects foul play. When the trio uncovers a sinister plot to exploit the sanctuary, Ato and his friends must work together to protect it—and his father’s legacy. Kirkus praised Crossing the Stream as “a powerful coming-of-age story of self-discovery” in their starred review. Now, Flying Up the Mountain calls upon each of us to do our part in safeguarding our planet.

In the 1950s, the city of Seattle began a transformation from an insular, provincial outpost to a vibrant and cosmopolitan cultural center. As veteran Seattle journalist R. M. Campbell illustrates in Stirring Up Seattle: Allied Arts in the Civic Landscape, this transformation was catalyzed in part by the efforts of a group of civic arts boosters originally known as “The Beer and Culture Society.” This “merry band” of lawyers, architects, writers, designers, and university professors, eventually known as Allied Arts of Seattle, lobbied for public funding for the arts, helped avert the demolition of Pike Place Market, and were involved in a wide range of crusades and campaigns in support of historic preservation, cultural institutions, and urban livability.