October 2014 - BookDragon

Adrian and the Tree of Secrets by Hubert, illustrated by Marie Caillou, translated by David Homel

31 Oct, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in European, Fiction, Graphic Title/Manga/Manwha, Middle Grade Readers, Translation, Young Adult Readers

Bespectacled, sweater-vested, and "as shiny as a new penny," Adrian is the quiet nerd who too often gets bullied at school. At home, his mother keeps him on a tight leash, even as he is clearly trying to pull away. His father is never mentioned. His...

Festival of Bones | El Festival de las Calaveras: The Little-Bitty Book for the Day of the Dead by Luis San Vicente, translated by John William Byrd and Bobby Byrd

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

What? Tomorrow is Halloween? Next thing you know, turkeys will trot and oversized bearded men will be out walking the streets. Hard to believe 2014 is almost over already ! But no future-tripping! Well, just for a day, because you'll want to be ready to share...

Malala: A Brave Girl from Pakistan | Iqbal: A Brave Boy from Pakistan by Jeanette Winter

29 Oct, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Biography, Children/Picture Books, Nonethnic-specific, Nonfiction, Pakistani, South Asian

Earlier this month, 17-year-old Malala Yousafzai made world history by becoming the youngest recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize. She shares the award for 2014 with India's Kailash Satyarthi: the pair were cited "for their struggle against the suppression of children and young people and for the...

Vintage by Susan Gloss

27 Oct, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Audio, Fiction, Indian American, Nonethnic-specific, South Asian American

A divorcée with her baby clock ticking, a teenage-math-prodigy-mother-to-be who no longer needs that wedding dress, and an immigrant Indian woman who's just found out her husband has spent the better part of their three-decade marriage lying to her, gather in a vintage clothing shop...

Attack on Titan (vols. 1-4) by Hajime Isayama, translated by Sheldon Drzka

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

Check out this headline from last week: "'Attack on Titan' Drives Manga Rebound at New York Comic Con." With over 1.5 million copies in print in the U.S. (which actually seems a bit paltry compared to the 40 – not a typo! – million worldwide as of...

Jasmine Skies by Sita Brahmachari

23 Oct, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in British, British Asian, Fiction, Hapa/Mixed-race, Middle Grade Readers, Young Adult Readers

When she made her Stateside debut last year in Sita Brahmachari's Mira in the Present Tense (titled Artichoke Hearts in the original edition across the Pond), hapa Jewish Indian British tween Mira Levenson seemed wise beyond her 12 years in the midst of losing her paternal grandmother...

The Secret Place [Dublin Murder Squad 5] by Tana French

22 Oct, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Audio, European, Fiction, Irish

"One road and two extra-high walls" separate St. Kilda's and St. Colm's, two privileged, private schools for girls and boys, respectively. Christopher Harper, 16, of St. Colm's is found dead on the grounds of St. Kilda's. Over the next year, his murder remains unsolved ...

Twenty-two Cents: Muhammad Yunus and the Village Bank by Paula Yoo, illustrated by Jamel Akib

21 Oct, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Bangladeshi, Biography, British Asian, Children/Picture Books, Korean American, Nonfiction

Even as a child, Muhammad Yunus recognized inequity: a story of an 8-year-old Yunus giving his meal to a hungry woman and her daughter opens multi-media author/screenwriter/television producer Paula Yoo’s latest picture book. Into this inspiring biography of the Nobel Peace Prize-winning contemporary hero, Yoo also manages to weave...

The Possibilities by Kaui Hart Hemmings

20 Oct, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Audio, Fiction, Hapa/Mixed-race, Hawaiian, Nonethnic-specific

So as not to prolong the disappointment and annoyance, I'm going to try to keep this short. I actually skip posting about duds more often than not because the energy feels so wasted, but this title has history: it was attached to a 'how-many-of-these-have-you-read?"-query from a...

Cardfight!! Vanguard (vols. 1-2) by Akira Itou, translated by Satsuki Yamashita and Shizuki Yamashita

17 Oct, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Fiction, Graphic Title/Manga/Manwha, Japanese, Middle Grade Readers, Translation

So I'm feeling especially last-century today ...

The Seventh Day by Yu Hua, translated by Allan H. Barr [in Library Journal]

15 Oct, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Chinese, Fiction, Repost, Translation

*STARRED REVIEW Yang Fei is dead. Arriving at the funeral parlor as directed, he's denied eternal rest because he has "neither urn nor grave"; over the next seven days, he revisits his short 41 years. Yang Fei was temporarily famous as "the boy a train gave birth...

The Whispering Town by Jennifer Elvgren, illustrated by Fabio Santomauro

14 Oct, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Children/Picture Books, European, Jewish, Nonfiction

Sometimes, whispers can speak more loudly than any shouts and screams ...

My Beloved World by Sonia Sotomayor

13 Oct, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Audio, Latina/o/x, Memoir, Nonfiction, Young Adult Readers

As National Hispanic Heritage Month draws to a close this week, the audible rendition of this empowering memoir is an ideal celebration of two of the most legendary contemporary Latina heroes: Rita Moreno, the only actress ever to have taken Oscar, Tony, Grammy, and two Emmys...

Gustave by Rémy Simard, illustrated by Pierre Pratt, translated by Shelley Tanaka

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

As much as Gustave tends toward dark (both in illustrations and initial narrative content), it's even more so about hope ...

Joseph Fipps by Nadine Robert, illustrated by Geneviève Godbout, translated by Claudia Z. Bedrick

11 Oct, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Children/Picture Books, European, Fiction, Translation

Like many 5-year-olds, Joseph Fipps is a never-resting ball of energy. Which means things like potted plants, wall hangings, ladders, and anything else in the way of his adventures might not necessarily remain intact. His mother calls him Gremlin for all his "kind of silly" bumps...

Even More Bad Parenting Advice by Guy Delisle, translated by Helge Dascher

10 Oct, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Canadian, Graphic Title/Manga/Manwha, Memoir, Nonethnic-specific, Translation

Even when we old folks have only the noblest intentions, our parenting skills don't always live up to the 'skill' part, ahem. Canadian French comic master Guy Delisle humorously mines his own follies, and gives us the perfect opportunity to keep laughing with him, and even more...

Ashes to Ashes [Burn for Burn Trilogy 3] by Jenny Han and Siobhan Vivian

09 Oct, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Fiction, Korean American, Nonethnic-specific, Young Adult Readers

"The idea for the Burn for Burn trilogy began over cupcakes, as the best ideas usually do," the back cover teases, citing YA-writing BFFs Jenny Han and Siobhan Vivian's inseparable relationship. That said, little is sweet about this searing series featuring three high school girls bound together...

The Distance Between Us: A Memoir by Reyna Grande

08 Oct, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Audio, Latin American, Latina/o/x, Memoir, Nonfiction, Young Adult Readers

She was left at age 2 by her father, then at 4 watched her mother go; both parents braved the border into "El Otro Lado" (The Other Side) to make enough American dollars to reunite the family in their dream house someday. The youngest of three children, Reyna...

Author Interview: Manjushree Thapa [in Bookslut]

06 Oct, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Author Interview/Profile, Canadian Asian Pacific American, Fiction, Nepali, Nepali American, Repost, Short Stories, South Asian, South Asian American

Blame it on family, on the country-of-residence-at-the-moment, on the tumultuous politics of her motherland of Nepal, but certainly Manjushree Thapa has lived a life in flux, repeatedly adjusting to unpredictability. Born in Kathmandu, she moved as a toddler to Canada (young enough to acquire English...

Don’t by Litsa Trochatos, illustrated by Virginia Johnson

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

If you like to giggle and guffaw – and really, who doesn't?! – have I got a book for you! "Don't start a food fight with an octopus." Why? Well ...

BookDragon October 2014