Staff

Alicia

Hello there! I have been working at Inklings since​ 2006 and have loved every minute of it. When I am not at Inklings I am usually out gallivanting with friends and family, playing piano, baking yummy things and helping in the worship ministry at my church and college group. Over the past few years I have had the joy of going to school overseas with YWAM (Youth with a Mission) to Northern Ireland, India and Hawaii. I have come to love reading since working here. Some of my favorite genres to read include YA, Children's Fantasy, Religion and Biographies. 

Some of my favorite reads include:

• Holiness of God - R.C. Sproul
• Pastrix - Nadia - Bolz-Weber
• The Red Queen - Victoria Aveyard
• Forest Feast - Erin Gleeson
• Between Shades of Grey - Ruta Sepetys

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Becky 

I was born in Portland, OR, and have lived all over Oregon, Washington, and Idaho (with a brief stint in the Baltimore area as a nanny). My background is working professionally with children and families for over 25 years in afterschool, preschools, camps and conference centers, etc. I was a library director in rural Idaho for three years and LOVED creating and running programs for all ages. I also blog (and have been paid for it), and write children's fiction (but not paid yet).

I've been married to my very best friend Jeff for over five years, and we adopted our kiddos in the last year. I currently work part time as a bookseller, have an Essential Oil business, am working on my manuscript, cook and bake for my family, and chase small children all over. As a family we LOVE traveling, visiting national parks every summer, camping, and having adventures.

I'm an avid reader, and love paper books, e-books, and audio books! I remember my Mother reading The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe to us as young children, and falling in love with a good story. My favorite childhood books include The Velveteen Rabbit, Little House series, and C.S. Lewis books. I collect children's literature, mugs, and cookbooks. I also love Star Wars, Disney, and musicals!

Favorite Book forever and always: The Blue Castle by L.M. Montgomery

Current Favorite List (this could take days):

• Any cookbook by the Pioneer Woman Ree Drummond
• Mustache Baby by Bridget Heos
• If I had a Little Dream by Nina Laden
• Miss Buncle's Book by D.E. Stevenson (and the others in the series)
• Little Book of Hygge by Meik Wiking
• Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling
• Anything by L.M. Montgomery, Rick Riordan, Jane Austen, Tolkien, C.S. Lewis
• The Princess Bride by Goldman, William

Current Mom Recommendations:

• Peek a Who series by Nina Laden
• Peter the Cat books by James Dean
• Not Quite Narwhal by Jessie Sima
• Narwhal: Unicorn of the Sea by Ben Clanton
• Anything by Doreen Cronin, Mac Barnett, Dan Santat
• The Penderwicks series
• SO many more! Just ask!

Currently reading:

• Hiddensee by Gregory Maquire
• Rereading Harry Potter series

Chris

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Elisabeth

I started working at Inklings September of 2016. I was hired right as the Christmas chaos started up. On top of that, it was the first job outside of babysitting I had. I am also currently the youngest bookseller, at age 17. But I survived the rough part! I’m in love with being a part of the Inklings family. I get the opportunity to see what other people in our community reads and expand my range/knowledge of  books. I used to only read dystopian young adult novels, but now I select books from children’s fantasy, fiction, mystery, true crime, sci-fi, and classics to read. 

I grew up here in Yakima, and am currently in Running Start working on my prerequisites for nursing. I swing dance, do martial arts, and love winter sports. My ultimate goal is to go to UW, get my PhD in nursing, and become a nurse practitioner. One of my side dreams is to work in the gorgeous "Harry Potter" library/study hall at UW. 

Some of my favorite books:

A Series of Unfortunate Events - Lemony Snicket

The Name of This Book is Secret - Pseudonymous Bosch

Beautiful Disaster - Jamie McGuire

The Lonely Hearts Hotel - Heather O'Neill

To Kill A Mockingbird - Harper Lee

House - Frank Peretti and Ted Dekker

Eve (trilogy) - Anna Carey

The Way of Shadows - Brent Weeks

Under the Dome - Stephen King

My current reads:

Three Dark Crowns - Kendare Blake

The Hate U Give - Angie Thomas

Emily

• A Hologram for the King - by Dave Eggers
• The Lacuna - by Barbara Kingsolver
• The Tipping Point - by Malcolm Gladwell

• Jane Eyre - by Charlotte Bronte
• A Wrinkle in Time - by Madeline L'Engle
• Persuasion- by Jane Austen
• The Lioness Quartet - by Tamora Pierce
• Small Gods - by Terry Pratchett
• Beauty - by Robin McKinley
• The Abhorsen Trilogy - by Garth Nix 

Jason N.  (IT guy)

Even though I am the Technical Support for Inklings, I still enjoy reading, and always have since childhood. I remember going to the downtown library and trying to read all the children's books they had. I especially loved Encyclopedia Brown by Donald J. Sobol, Cam Jansen by David Adler, and books about knots, origami, and all craft books. I also love cooking books, like: Cooking for Geeks, anything by Mark Bittman, and America's Test Kitchen. Can't forget to mention Backyard Ballistics, either. 

Now I am mostly a technical reader, although I have to confess that I liked The Hunger Games series and couldn't put Orson Scott Card's Pathfinder down. Loved the sequel, Ruins.

I am married to another Inklings employee, Renee'. We have three young daughters.

Jessie

Jessie went to college in Bellingham, where she gained a B.A. in English and a fondness for fog. She has since traveled up and down the coast (or rather, down and back up again) and would one day like to live by the ocean. When not selling books, Jessie is reading, writing, editing, exploring, and building community. She loves strong coffee and eerie YA fantasy.

All-time faves:

• The Raven Cycle - Maggie Stiefvater
• A Monster Calls - Patrick Ness, inspired by an idea from Siobhan Dowd
• Uprooted - Naomi Novik
• The Graveyard Book - Neil Gaiman
• Santa Olivia - Jacqueline Carey
• The Bloody Chamber - Angela Carter
• The Squire's Tales - Gerald Morris
• Artemis Fowl - Eoin Colfer
• Harry Potter - JK Rowling

Mariscela 

I became a member of Inklings Staff in 2017. It has been one of the best experiences being surrounded by books and people who enjoy reading as much as I do. For as long as I can remember I have loved reading books, in elementary school I spent countless hours in the library and that continued all the way through my high school years. Everywhere I go I have a book in my hands and I can’t wait  to share the latest book adventure I’ve encountered. I read almost anything that sounds interesting to me, the genre that I gravitate to most is, Young Adult Fiction, Fantasy, and Historical Fiction.

Some of my favorite books are:

•Harry Potter- J.K Rowling
•To Kill A Mockingbird- Harper Lee
•Hamilton: The Revolution- Lin Manuel- Miranda
•Night- Elie Wiesel
• Fangirl- Rainbow Rowell
•The Lunar Chronicles- Marissa Meyer
•The Series of Unfortunate Events- Lemony Snicket

Rachel

• The Infernal Devices trilogy by Cassandra Clare
• Red Queen by Victoria Aveyard
• Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clarke
• The Outlander series by Diana Gabaldon
• Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo
• The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater
• Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card
• The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern
• The Hobbit by J. R. R. Tolkien

• A Thousand Pieces of You by Claudia Grey
• The Dream Thieves by Maggie Stiefvater

Renee'

I've been working at Inklings since 2003 and hope to continue doing so for a long time. I love to surround myself by books, and was first introduced to the world of literature by my grandpa, George Simon. I would sit on his lap and we would read the Children's Book of Virtues. There are so many wonderful stories in that book and I'm glad I got to share them with him. I'm excited that my three daughters also have grandparents who like to read to them.

There are many books that I love to read over and over and over:

• The Giver (my ALL time favorite) by Lois Lowry 
• Books of Bayern: Goose Girl, Enna Burning, River Secrets and Forest Born by Shannon Hale 
• Sevenwaters Trilogy: Daughter of the Forest, Son of the Shadows, Child of the Prophecy and Heir to Sevenwaters by Juliet Marillier 
• The Host by Stephanie Meyer 
• The Red Tent by Anita Diamant 
• Percy Jackson and the Olympians  by Rick Riordan
• City of Ember, People of Sparks, Diamond of Darkhold by Jeanne DuPrau 

Some of my other favorites are: 

• Ender's Game and Pathfinder and its sequel, Ruins by Orson Scott Card
• Delirium by Lauren Oliver
• Everything by Sandra Dallas
• I Am Number Four by Pitticus Lore
• Matched by Allie Condie
• The Forest of Hands and Teeth by Carrie Ryan
• Chaos Walking Trilogy by Patrick Ness 

Shirley

I’ve lived in the Yakima Valley my life long. Growing up in the hamlet of Sawyer where my roots began in a very big house. The land stretched out before me with orchards, farmland, creeks, river, and the adventures began. My favorite place, as known to me then was the second creek. This creek split and over time had formed a small island. There, at age eight or so, I would wade through those shallows to my favorite spot with book in hand. Yes, a “free range” child paging through books ever since. There are several good things which bring elements of joy to life and then those of passion. Mine gather around books, commuting by bike, nature, tea and foods. Books keep bits and pieces of life about us that we might not otherwise gather. My reads gravitate to self –help, non-fiction, young adult (sorry no vampires) and by no means least cookbooks. But truly I follow my inklings from the bookshelves. Golly, where do I begin my list for favorites? As the mindful would say, here:

• The Contented Little Pussy Cat by Frances Ruth Keller
• Winnie the Pooh by A.A. Milne
• Stuart Little by E.B White
• Bikenomics by Elly Blue
• Everyday Bicycling by Elly Blue
• Counting by 7s by Holly Sloan
• A Natural History of the Senses by Diane Ackerman
• Chocolat by Joanne Harris
• Wanderlust by Rebecca Solnit
• Undeniable by Bill Nye
• Job’s Body by Dean Juhan

Come in, browse, and enjoy the textured surroundings within Inklings Bookshop.

Sue

 I grew up in Sacramento, California and graduated from California State University in Sacramento with a degree in English Lit. After living in several states and raising two daughters with my husband, I'm now single and have three grandsons. I love animals and have two dogs, a cat, fish and a turtle that is about 40 years old. I have loved reading all my life and have worked in book shops for over 20 years. I'm also a runner. I'm pretty slow, but I do manage to run in a half-marathon or two a year, often with one of my daughters who are both runners also. You might see me running each morning on the road with my dogs.

Among my favorite books are:

• Anna Karenina - Tolstoy
• Possession - A.S. Byatt
• A Prayer for Owen Meany - John Irving
• Shoeless Joe - W.P.Kinsella. 

Other favorite authors: Eudora Welty, Anne Tyler, Ivan Doig, Charles Todd, Agatha Christie, Martin Cruz Smith.

Favorite poets: Basho, Gary Snyder, Seamus Heaney, Mary Oliver, Stephen Dunn, and Mark Doty.

Susan

I was born in North Bend, WA in 1953. Having two older brothers, I was a surprise, and I guess, a happy one. Living in Small Town, USA for the first 7 years of my life, I had hours of outdoor play and hours with some of my best friends - books! My long hair needed tending each morning, so my Mom sat behind me brushing, braiding and teaching me to read when I was four. After our family moved up to Snoqualmie Pass where our nearest neighbors were distant, that friendship with books and the North Bend librarian, gave me hours of imagination and companionship.

Attending a rural school with 100 kids in 1st through 12th grades gave me a good childhood full of teachers who cared about me and my education. Having no social life to speak of, I read all the time, worked hard as a student and didn't even mind long winters with six feet of snow on the ground. While my Dad worked nights for the Department of Transportation plowing that snow, I watched my Mom keep the furnace stoked with coal and wood and enjoyed a wonderful companionship with her, a kindred book spirit.

I married that tall blond basketball player that my Home Ec. teacher said looked like a Greek god. He likes me to remember that. We were only 18, so we kind of grew up the rest of the way together, and we've been married 42 years. We spent a few years in Chicago and Tennessee going to school and then moved back to Central Washington where we raised our four children and Jim started an aircraft rebuilding and manufacturing company called Cub Crafters.

We opened Inklings Bookshop in September of 2000 with no retail experience and a lot of optimism. My business partner, Mandi, made up for all my deficiencies in education, organization and creativity and she made us look good from the start. I am now the sole owner, but I use what I learned from her every day. I can't believe that Inklings is approaching its fifteenth birthday. What a ride this has been and continues to be. I love what I get to do every day, the people I meet and the challenges that keep me growing!

One of my other favorite roles is being Grandma Sue and spending a weekly afternoon with my granddaughter, Sophie, a sixth grader who reads like a whiz and has the best sense of humor! I also have another granddaughter named Merit and three grandsons named Atlas, Corbin and Levi.  Though Merit and Atlas are only four, they are also doing some incredible reading, carrying on the noble Inklings tradition.  I thoroughly enjoy each of them.