Chronicle Books Holds Biggest Sale of the Year

One of my favorite publishing companies, Chronicle Books, is holding its biggest sale of the year through August 5, with 35% off your purchase plus free shipping when you use the promo code FRIENDS at checkout.

I like Chronicle Books for a lot of reasons, some of them a little random–their e-postcards, their manuscript submission policy, and the awesomeness of their craft and graphic design books.

One of the really cool things about the book selection at Chronicle is that so much of it is eco-friendly, and so much of it emphasizes the DIY lifestyle over mass-market consumer culture.

Here are some of my favorites:

Stencil101 by Ed Roth. Twenty-five reusable stencils allow you to customize even the most generic mass-market clothing. Mix and match them or mod them to be really original.
Handmade Nation by Fayth Levine and Cortney Heimerl. So you can talk all intellectual-like about the rise of the indie DIY lifestyle.
The Guerilla Art Kit by Keri Smith. Another reaction to mass-market consumer culture, Smith encourages the concept of “guerilla art” as an outreach to show the beauty and meaning of original, handmade work.
52 Nature Activities by Lynn Gordon. Art projects and activities to engage children and their adults with the natural world.
Magical Menagerie by Junzo Terada. Paper animals to punch out of their pages and fit together using slots and notches.
Moleskine Notebooks. Perfect for a crafty journal or a sketchbook.