... and back on the left coast, Anne Marshall Homan's two community histories, both in second printing: The Morning Side of Mount Diablo, about the San Francisco Bay Area's historic Morgan Territory Road, and  Historic Livermore, California: A-Z.

In Umnak: The People Remember, the Aleut elders of the last village on Umnak Island tell stories tragic and joyous of life on the edge of the Bering Sea. We're grateful that the children of Nikolski, population 34, helped collect these tales.

Kachemak Bay Years, Elsa Pedersen's homesteading memoir, is the last book by the author of many classic Alaskan novels for young readers. Each chapter is illustrated with a fine wood engraving by Sitka artist Rebecca Poulson.

Family After All: Alaska's Jesse Lee Home, Vol. I (Unalaska 1889-1925), tells of the people who established the Home and persevered there, of the neighbors who saw that perseverance as a threat, and of the children, whose well-being – however defined – was everyone’s aim.

Family After All: Alaska's Jesse Lee Home, Vol. II (Seward 1925-1965), draws on the writings and reminiscences (and photographs) of ex-Jesse Lee residents for an often poignant, occasionally hilarious account of life in remarkable surroundings.

With an affectionate look back at his New England forebears, Nelson F. Getchell's wide-ranging memoir follows his professional life as textile scientist and art and antiques dealer. But there's a reason "Fin" gets top billing.

Unga Island Girl [out of print for now] brings the Catalog full circle in a sense. It's a daughter's account of the life of Ruth Lauritzen Benson Soberg, from her girlhood on what is now a ghost island through 80+ years in and out of her beloved Alaska.

 In Spanish rhyme with direct English translation, on 20 colorful pages from the imagination of Seattle artist Laura Healy Engelstad, this librito tells of el nieto nuevo – the new grandson – and his brave big sister, la valiente hermana mayor. With mailing envelope.