Suki’s Kimono by Chieri Uegaki, illustrated by Stéphane Jorisch [in AsianWeek]
An absolutely delightful tale about young Suki, who insists on wearing her special blue cotton kimono on her very first day of school. Unconcerned about what others might say, Suki wears her kimono to...
A young Chinese American boy is saddened when his beloved grandmother moves to San Francisco to live with her doctor daughter, who is better able to care for her. She leaves behind a collection...
The Little Engine That Could returns to give advice on how to live one's life – "Try to remember that the world is so wide, full of all kinds of...
With a name taken from each part of her life – Jane from her adoptive family, Jeong from her birthname, Trenka from her marriage – Trenka writes what just might be the...
In spite of the comical nature of many scenes, Chronicle of a Blood Merchant is ultimately a heartbreaking story of a Chinese man and his family caught in...
OK, this one is really odd – but, nevertheless, hard to put down. Yuki's a freelance finance writer whose older brother is found in a decomposing heap. On her way to her parents' home when she...
As the British-born daughter of a writer of Sufi fables, Shah heard endless mystical tales of the family's ancestral homeland of Afghanistan. At 21, Shah goes in search of those roots, eventually becoming a...
Originally self-published in London by Sri Lankan-born Chandraratna, then becoming a contender for the prestigious Man Booker Prize in 1999, Mirage simply tells the heartbreaking story of Sayeed, a quiet man getting on in years...
The sequel to
In the midst of the growing Japanese occupation of China via Manchuria in the 1930s, an unlikely relationship develops between a teenage girl and a Japanese soldier disguised as a...
A unique dialogue centered around 24 works by visual artists of varied Asian heritages, between the artists themselves and writers, cultural critics, social activists, curators, scholars, and other artists. The...
Looking Back at a Family's Internment: Julie Otsuka's novel debuts in paperback
OK, I'm going to go out on a limb and say that Julie Otsuka's
Move over, brothers – here’s an improved version of the now classic (though annoyingly exoticized) tale of Chinese siblings … this one’s all about girl power featuring seven sisters, each with remarkable...
No matter who is in your family and where those family members come from – mom, dad, and two kids with a sister from China, or two moms and their...
When have you ever had an alphabet book that used “xenophobia” for the letter X? “… you’ll need to leave one X at home, and that’s for ‘xenophobia,’” it reads....
A playfully clever, subversive story with fabulously whimsical pictures about a little Korean girl who doesn’t like her name spelled out in English letters: “Lines. Circles. Each standing alone,” she...
An energetic, kid-friendly tour (perfect for curious adults, too!) from a sushi bar to Tsukiji (the world’s largest fish market, located in Tokyo) to the sushi history annals, then back to the...
Adorable tale, invitingly illustrated, that juxtaposes the homeward journeys outside with a little boy’s one last round of toy play just before he goes to bed.
Review:
In the middle of a fierce storm, a wolf and a goat comfort each other in a completely darkened hut against the deafening thunder outside. The unlikely pair get to know one...
In the delightful sequel to