Eagle Harbor Book Co. is excited to announce that we are among a select group of Pacific Northwest booksellers chosen to display artwork created by famed author and illustrator Nikki McClure and included in her latest book Something About the Sky.  Her gorgeous new book is based on a previously unpublished essay by Rachel Carson, and Nikki created an entirely new set of her evocative illustrations to complement the story.

Nikki is sending us the original of one of the illustrations she created for Something About the Sky which we will display in our store. The artwork will be on display from April 1 through April 8, after which it will be sent on to another PNW bookstore. Come with your kids, young and old, and see Nikki's beautiful creation for yourself. We will also have signed bookplates for each copy of the book sold during this period.

Rachel Carson once wrote, “It is not half so important to know as to feel.” What do we know about clouds? There are three basic types: stratus, cumulus, and cirrus. Some are fleecy and fair-weathered while others portend storms. But clouds are more than pretty or ominous backdrops. They’re the vehicle of water between sea and land, land and sea, in a cycle without end or beginning. They are the writing of the wind on the sky, a language all their own.

An illustrator note explains the origins of Rachel Carson’s shimmering essay—previously unpublished in its entirety—and the process of adapting it to picture book format, as well as how the author of Silent Spring forever changed the way we think about science and progress. Bringing the soft edges of clouds and the natural world to vivid life with a new, more fluid approach to her signature cut-paper technique, Nikki McClure inspires true emotional engagement with the world we all share. An antidote to “get your head out of the clouds,” this art-meets-science tribute to curiosity and wonder is a gift for daydreamers and nature lovers of all ages.

Nikki McClure is a self-taught cut-paper artist renowned for her calendars and her highly acclaimed picture books for children, including Old Wood Boat. Outspoken about living well and responsibly with the earth, she makes her home in Olympia, Washington.

Rachel Carson (1907–1964) spent most of her professional life as a marine biologist with the US Fish and Wildlife Service. By the late 1950s, she had written three lyrical, popular books about the sea, including the best-selling The Sea Around Us, and had become the most respected science writer in America. Her book Silent Spring helped shape a powerful social movement that has altered the course of history.