Alaska reader

From fish and fiddleheads to salmonberries and Spam, Alaskan cuisine spans the two extremes of locally abundant wild foods and shelf-stable ingredients produced thousands of miles away. As immigration shapes Anchorage into one of the most ethnically diverse cities in the country, Alaska's changing food culture continues to reflect the tension between self-reliance and longing for distant places or faraway homes.

The shock of icy water as a boat crashes onto rocks feels real; so does the castle high above him that is almost hidden in the mists. And what about the number 11 woven into all those dreams? The papers Sam finds in the locked box in the attic may hold the answers - if only he could read them.

A journey of 167,000 lights years begins with...a bar of soap? Fasten your zero gravity restraints for Robert Heinlein's novel of intergalactic adventure, a story that carries teenager Clifford "Kip" Russell from his job as soda jerk to space-suit winner to alien abductee! Along the way Kip is joined by a pint-sized genius named Peewee and an empathetic alien creature known as "the Mother Thing."