BookDragon April 2012

Birdie Flies Away | Pararillo se va volando by Kat Aragon, illustrated by Andrea Yomtob

30 Apr, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Bilingual, Children/Picture Books, Fiction, Latina/o/x

Billed as "the nation's only bilingual children's book publisher dedicated to Parent Involvement," Lectura Books is actively working to change some startling statistics: One in four children under age 5 is Hispanic/Latino, but according to the Department of Education, whose who identify as Hispanic or Latino have...

I Am the Messenger by Markus Zusak

29 Apr, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Audio, Australian, Fiction, Young Adult Readers

I probably shouldn't have been so surprised when a wonderful literary friend (who is also a children's literature expert, professor, and recent judge for one of those major book awards) remarked that in Markus Zusak's native Australia, this and his unforgettable The Book Thief were initially not...

Scat and Chomp by Carl Hiaasen

28 Apr, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Audio, Fiction, Middle Grade Readers, Nonethnic-specific, Young Adult Readers

Mega-bestselling author Carl Hiaasen might write formulaic young adult titles, but he's just so goofball funny, it's hard to put his books down – not to mention the covers are so irresistible, too. Following the massive success of his YA debut Hoot (which also got...

A Bride’s Story (vols. 2-3) by Kaoru Mori, translated by William Flanagan

27 Apr, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Central Asian, Fiction, Graphic Title/Manga/Manwha, Japanese, Translation, Young Adult Readers

What began as a visual marvel in volume 1, surely does not disappoint in the continuing two volumes. 'Exquisite' still hardly does the panels justice, but just know that every page will make you want to linger to discover and enjoy the glorious details – the...

A Wedding in Haiti by Julia Alvarez [in Christian Science Monitor]

26 Apr, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Caribbean, Caribbean American, Haitian, Latina/o/x, Memoir, Nonfiction, Repost

Neither Julia Alvarez nor her husband Bill can remember exactly when she fell in love with a Haitian boy named Piti. But both distinctly recall the first meeting, which happened in 2001 on one of their many trips to Alvarez’s native Dominican Republic. “[S]hort and...

Children of Manzanar edited by Heather C. Lindquist

24 Apr, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Japanese American, Nonfiction, Young Adult Readers

The PR materials that arrived with this remarkable title contains one of the most effective descriptions of the Japanese American imprisonment during World War II I've ever read: " ...

The Marriage Plot by Jeffrey Eugenides

22 Apr, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Audio, Fiction, Nonethnic-specific

"To start with, look at all the books." Thus opens Jeffrey Eugenides third and latest novel with another memorable first-line zinger – most definitely three for three. Alas, what follows that fabulous start isn't nearly quite as zingy. So far, Eugenides is averaging a new title about...

Ichiro by Ryan Inzana

19 Apr, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Fiction, Graphic Title/Manga/Manwha, Hapa/Mixed-race, Japanese, Japanese American, Middle Grade Readers, Young Adult Readers

A shape-shifting teapot which releases a mischievous tanuki when heated. A fatherless hapa Japanese American boy headed to Japan to stay with his mother's father whom he barely knows. Two stories, two cultures, two vastly different worlds, all intertwine to create a fantastical adventure in Ryan Inzana's surprising,...

River of Doubt: Theodore Roosevelt’s Darkest Journey by Candice Millard

18 Apr, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Nonethnic-specific, Nonfiction, South American

Being always a dozen or so titles behind, a confluence of certain events seem to need to happen for some posts to finally get from my brain to the ...

Excuses Excuses by Anushka Ravishankar, art by Gabrielle Manglou

15 Apr, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Absolute Favorites, Children/Picture Books, Fiction, Indian, South Asian

Ack! Taxes are due today! Already! For those filing extensions, this one's for you (and me, ahem!) ...

The Artist of Disappearance by Anita Desai

13 Apr, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Fiction, Indian, Indian American, Short Stories, South Asian, South Asian American

How silly of me for waiting so long to read this, the venerable Anita Desai's latest, when I've had the galley for almost a year (it pubbed last December). Instead, I've slogged through too many disappointing, tedious, nightmare-inducing titles when I could have been celebrating...

Museum of Innocence by Orhan Pamuk, translated by Maureen Freely

12 Apr, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Audio, Fiction, Translation, Turkish

In spite of its heft (500+ pages, or 20.5 hours if you let the perfectly-paced John Lee read to you), not much really happens in The Museum of Innocence. I'm adding here the requisite spoiler alert, but I'm fairly certain that most readers will guess the outcome...

20th Century Boys (vol. 20) by Naoki Urasawa, with the cooperation of Takashi Nagasaki, English adaptation by Akemi Wegmüller

11 Apr, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Fiction, Graphic Title/Manga/Manwha, Japanese, Translation, Young Adult Readers

Manga addict though I am, I DO try to keep manga posts spaced out, so I don't look TOO panel-dependent (even though I am!). But right now, I can't contain my effusive excitement over the latest volume of 20th Century Boys – which hit shelves yesterday! –...

Princess Knight (vols. 1-2) by Osamu Tezuka, translated by Maya Rosewood

10 Apr, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Fiction, Graphic Title/Manga/Manwha, Japanese, Translation, Young Adult Readers

With all that swashbuckling fun, Princess Knight – recently available in full, in English translation, in two volumes – is seemingly one of the godfather of manga's more goofy stories. Up in heaven, God's in the process of deciding gender for each about-to-be-born baby, assigning a girl heart...

Sông I Sing: Poems by Bao Phi

09 Apr, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Poetry, Southeast Asian American, Vietnamese American, Young Adult Readers

April is National Poetry Month. Every once in a long while, even a poetry-dullard like me has a poetic WOW!-moment. Certainly I'm not alone ...

Return to Sender by Julia Alvarez

08 Apr, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Audio, Caribbean American, Fiction, Latina/o/x, Middle Grade Readers, Young Adult Readers

Here's a rather unique literary coincidence: Julia Alvarez's Finding Miracles ends with an uncle missing the grandmother's wedding because of hemorrhoid surgery. Return to Sender begins with the mention of another uncle (in a totally unrelated story) suffering through a hemorrhoid operation. Try and find two...

Mr. Reaper by Tatsuya Miyanishi, translated by Vertical, Inc.

06 Apr, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Children/Picture Books, Fiction, Japanese, Translation

While most of us all know our birthdays, not all of us know when we might pass from this life. "The only one who knows, / the one who decides the day / is me, the Reaper." Out in the forest, the Reaper points out a...

What Is the What: The Autobiography of Valentino Achak Deng by Dave Eggers

05 Apr, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, African, Audio, Black/African American, Fiction, Memoir

First things first: Let's try to clear up some of the oxymoronic labels. Although this title is classified as a novel written by Dave Eggers (he of bad boy-genius fame for his debut, A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius, and, of course, the mini-empire that is McSweeney's),...

Larf by Ashley Spires

03 Apr, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Canadian, Children/Picture Books, Fiction, Nonethnic-specific

As we leave the wild mountains and head back to (so-called) civilization this morning, I'm convinced that Ashley Spires' Larf captures that disorienting journey just right, with lots of easy laughter offered on every page. Re-entry always requires maintaining a sense of humor! Larf thinks he...

Escape from Camp 14: One Man’s Remarkable Odyssey from North Korea to Freedom in the West by Blaine Harden [in Christian Science Monitor]

02 Apr, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Korean, Nonfiction, North Korean, Repost

Escape from Camp 14 is the most devastating book I have ever read. Perhaps the resilience of youth got me through the aftermath of learning about slavery, the Holocaust, even Iris Chang’s now-classic The Rape of Nanking: The Forgotten Holocaust, the title I previously held...