BookDragon Young Adult Readers

No Longer Human (vol. 3) by Usamaru Furuya, based on the novel by Osamu Dazai, translated by Allison Markin Powell

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

The three-part manga adaptation of Dazai Osamu's classic semi-autobiographical novel of human disconnect concludes here with utter fear and loathing. To catch up to this point, click here for the first two volumes. Yozo Oba, now 22, is living so blissfully with his lovely young wife Yoshino...

Lovetorn by Kavita Daswani

14 Feb, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Fiction, Indian, Indian American, Middle Grade Readers, South Asian, South Asian American, Young Adult Readers

Ah, this day of mislaid Hallmark hearts ...

Voice of a Dream by Glaydah Namukasa

12 Feb, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, African, Fiction, Young Adult Readers

Nanfuka wants nothing more than to finish her education and become a nurse – the first in her village. While still a child herself, the teenager is suddenly forced to leave school and thrust into adult responsibilities when she is called home as her father...

The Gemma Doyle Trilogy: A Great and Terrible Beauty, Rebel Angels, and The Sweet Far Thing by Libba Bray

11 Feb, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Audio, British, Fiction, Nonethnic-specific, Young Adult Readers

Here's a dilemma: If you knew how much a book series might deteriorate by its final title, would you read all the way through to the bitter end? As contrary as I am, I probably would ...

Waiting: A Novel of Uganda at War by Goretti Kyomuhendo, afterword by M.J. Daymond

10 Feb, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, African, Fiction, Young Adult Readers

Still a young teenager, Alinda knows only too well the potential horrors of war ...

Little Rock Girl 1957: How a Photograph Changed the Fight for Integration by Shelley Tougas

06 Feb, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Black/African American, Middle Grade Readers, Nonfiction, Young Adult Readers

Take a careful look at this book cover ...

Schooled by Gordon Korman

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

Ever since the fabulous audible version of No More Dead Dogs kept my then-backseated young 'uns highly entertained through many a traffic jam, Gordon Korman holds special favor on the contraptions that have taken over their now-teenage ears. [Pop, by the way, earned a double rave.] Oldster me is still laughing along...

Drums, Girls, and Dangerous Pie and After Ever After by Jordan Sonnenblick

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

Being in the throes of adolescence, my two teenagers have little they agree on ...

The Silence of Our Friends by Mark Long and Jim Demonakos, illustrated by Nate Powell

02 Feb, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Black/African American, Graphic Title/Manga/Manwha, Nonfiction, Young Adult Readers

Houston, 1968 is a tough place to be different. The Long family has just moved from San Antonio to a Houston suburb where Jack Long has taken a new job as "the race reporter" for a local television station. At home, his wife watches the...

The Tiny Book of Tiny Stories (Volume 1) by hitRECord and Joseph Gordon-Levitt

31 Jan, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Nonethnic-specific, Short Stories, Young Adult Readers

Short shorts (of the literary variety, ahem!) are not particularly new. Hemingway (no, I'm not a fan) probably gave the genre its biggest boost with his exemplary six-word version: "For sale: baby shoes, never worn." Given our overloaded 21st-century mental circuits, short shorts seem to be just...

Genkaku Picasso (vols. 2-3) by Usamaru Furuya, translated by John Werry

29 Jan, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Fiction, Graphic Title/Manga/Manwha, Japanese, Repost, Translation, Young Adult Readers

Doh! For some reason, I had no idea the other-worldly adventures of the Picasso/Chiaki dynamic duo [pocket-angel Chiaki directs the surviving Picasso towards doing good deeds for his fellow students] was a trilogy. I figured on a few more years of diving into secret sketches since...

Tesoro by Natsume Ono, translated by Joe Yamazaki

22 Jan, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, European, Fiction, Japanese, Short Stories, Translation, Young Adult Readers

More and more, I've noticed book cover flaps yielding important tidbits (which makes me a bit concerned about such covers going astray, especially for picture books handled by so many little hands!). But worry aside, how fitting to find this on the front flap about...

Tina’s Mouth: An Existential Comic Diary by Keshni Kashyap, illustrated by Mari Araki

19 Jan, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Fiction, Graphic Title/Manga/Manwha, Indian American, Japanese American, South Asian American, Young Adult Readers

"Dear Mr. Jean Paul Sartre, I know that you are dead and old and also a philosopher. So, on an obvious level, you and I do not have a lot in common." Thus begins 15-year-old Tina's class project for her English Honors elective on existential...

Stir It Up by Ramin Ganeshram

17 Jan, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Caribbean American, Fiction, Indian American, Young Adult Readers

Food writer Ramin Ganeshram shares her Indo-Caribbean culinary prowess in her debut title for younger readers about eighth-grader Anjali Krishnan who really knows how to stir things up ...

Wandering Son (vol. 2) by Shimura Takako, translated by Matt Thorn

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

The ongoing gender-bender adventures of Nitori Shuichi – a boy who wants to be a girl – and his best friend Takatsuki Yoshino – a girl who wants to be a boy – open with the beginning of the 6th-grade school year. What commenced as mostly cross-dressing fun in volume...

Nervous Conditions by by Tsitsi Dangarembga

07 Jan, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, African, Fiction, Young Adult Readers

The first sentence of Tsitsi Dangarembga's semi-autobiographical novel sets a haunting tone: "I was not sorry when my brother died." With his death, 13-year-old Tambu is presented with a profound opportunity: even though she's a girl, as the now-eldest child in her poor village family...

No Ordinary Day by Deborah Ellis

28 Dec, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Canadian, Fiction, Indian, Middle Grade Readers, Young Adult Readers

Canadian author Deborah Ellis has harnessed the power of words to create miraculous results: her multi-award-winning Breadwinner Trilogy (The Breadwinner, Parvana's Journey, and Mud City) has raised over a million dollars in royalties for Canadian Women for Women in Afghanistan and Street Kid International. With her...

The Unforgotten Coat by Frank Cottrell Boyce, photography by Carl Hunter and Clare Heney

16 Dec, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in British, Fiction, Middle Grade Readers, Mongolian, Young Adult Readers

I know it says "Afterword" for a reason, but sometimes starting from the back of a book (must be an Asian thing!) feels just right. In this latest title from British author/screenwriter Frank Cottrell Boyce (Millions – which was also a pretty good film – and Framed), the...

20th Century Boys (vol. 18) by Naoki Urasawa, with the cooperation of Takashi Nagasaki, English adaptation by Akemi Wegmüller

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

"Guta-rara ...

Stargazing Dog by Takashi Murakami, translated by Atsuko Saisho and Spencer Fancutt

28 Nov, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Absolute Favorites, Adult Readers, Fiction, Graphic Title/Manga/Manwha, Japanese, Translation, Young Adult Readers

Much to my children's dismay (and longing), we don't have a dog (allergies). I am, however, so lucky to have a regular canine companion, Z, whose mother brings her on our twice-a-week hikes through the woods. As I was sniffling and snuffling through this heartfelt...