How I chose this: It actually had nothing to with that shiny 2005 Michael L. Printz Award sticker on the cover. The narrator, Kim Mai Guest, made me do it! Guest, who is apparently 43 (so says her Wiki bio), has one of those eternal voices, always...
Before you read further, you'll need to click here to catch up on the first three volumes of this creepy, obsessive, love-triangle-of sorts. While the three protagonists are tweenaged middle-schoolers, this is definitely not your kiddie manga: abusive language aside, the deviant psychological manipulations are shocking,...
A couple of days after filing my feature on Pauline A. Chen, I got on the phone to ask her all the questions I couldn’t find answers to out there in the virtual world of google-ing. True confession moment: I admit I was a wee bit...
When Pancho Sanchez arrives at St. Anthony's Home, his 17-year-old self has already survived too much death, and yet he's planning on more. The last of his family – his mentally challenged 20-year-old sister – was found dead in a motel room. While the police insist what...
What began with the scare-every-parent-to-death middle grade/young adult novel, The Face on the Milk Carton, concludes (for now) after 23 years, four sequels books, and one e-story (What Janie Saw, which I confess is the only part of the series I haven't read, mainly because I can't bear to...
Whenever I open a Shaun Tan book, my face just gets a goofy grin. It's a Pavlovian reaction, guaranteed. Although his latest doesn't come with a straightforward narrative, it does manage to cleverly include tidbits and reminiscences from his entire oeuvre to create a whimsical portrait...
Shimura Takako, a well-established manga artist recognized for her LGBT focus, continues her gender-bender series with sensitive honesty. That said, don't let the sweet, fuzzy cover fool you: Shimura knows well that protecting her two wide-eyed protagonists from their less-than-understanding peers will become less and...
Already designated “definitive political biography” on its back cover, The Rebellious Life of Mrs. Rosa Parks by Brooklyn College political science professor Jeanne Theoharis will reside in my personal reading history as the most difficult book I’ve ever reviewed. Never before – and hopefully never...
Let me start with what has been deemed as historical record. According to the Thomas Jefferson Foundation – which not only owns and operates Jefferson's legendary home, Monticello, but maintains the most comprehensive website focused on "Monticello, Jefferson, his family, and his times" – this is the official...
Life along the Silk Road – 19th-century style, imagined by and translated from a 21st-century Japanese original – moves onward west, meticulously detailed in creator Kaoru Mori's breathtaking manga. To catch up, make sure to read the first three installments; you definitely need the back story of young...
Both the inside and outside covers here are exactly the same: a mostly well-ordered, three-generation family tree ...
As the mother of three young girls, Ellen Oh is constantly on the lookout for good books that showcase female empowerment. She's found a few here and there – say, The Hunger Games trilogy by Suzanne Collins, The Girl of Fire and Thorns trilogy by Rae Carson, The Hero and the...
Need the verdict first? READ THIS. Stephen Dau's The Book of Jonas is one of those rare, shattering, lingering, breathtaking-at-unexpected-moments debut novels that arrive so perfectly formed you're left both haunted (wondering what you could possibly read next to dispel the terror) and grateful (utterly so, that...
On this final day of 2012, this could easily be me (replacing 'Esther' with my name and 'her journey' with this year): "Though she would not have admitted to any fixed expectations, Esther is still confounded by what meets her at the end of her...
The words "A Novel" adorn the top of the cover of Chopsticks – but that's definitely a debatable label. No such limits necessary here! A hybrid creation by novelist/short story writer Jessica Anthony and book designer/creative director (for Farrar, Straus, Giroux, who is not Chopsticks' publisher, in case you...
At 18, Andy Go "had life all figured out," but then so much for best-laid plans: "None of it came true, of course. Not a single damn thing." One morning he wakes fully clothed on his bed, in his room, in his (parents') house ...
“If I’d known, I wouldn’t have spent all my time studying and done all the things I really wanted to do,” thinks Yukari Hayasaka, dramatically believing she’s about to die. As a diligent 18-year-old preparing for high school final exams, her academic goals have thus...
Last seen on bookshelves sharing cover credit with National Book Award-finalist Gene Luen Yang on Yang's latest, Level Up, Thien Pham makes his solo debut with this slim heartbreaking-to-heart-recovering tale across continents and cultures. "What am I doing here," Scott wonders as he wakes to another...
Runners/walkers/movers: in case you ever wondered – yes, a gluttonous John Green-binge stuck in the ears really makes the miles fly by (public displays of sudden, extreme emotion notwithstanding). I began backwards with the latest of the JG-oeuvre, the incomparable, luminous The Fault in Our...
