Innocent World by Ami Sakurai, translated by Steven Clark [in AsianWeek]
Innocence lost: 17-year-old Ami is both schoolgirl and prostitute, pregnant by her mentally challenged older brother, brutally gang raped by a rock star and his groupies, but capable of restoring the dormant virility of...
If this 120-page novel rife with sex and violence were any longer, reading it would be unbearable. That it won Japan’s highest literary honor, the Akutagawa Prize, for its then 20-year-old author,...
Uh-oh! Every time this energetic little girl is ready to go out, the weather changes, but nothing deters her delightful determination to have a great day.
Review:
Sweet Briar Skunk remembers how she felt when the other animals were not very welcoming on her first day of school. So at camp, she comes to the...
A delighful underwater pop-up journey with Samantha Squid as she introduces all her favorite sea friends.
Review:
The first two installments of a new trilogy from YA master Yep. Tiger’s Apprentice opens with the untimely death of Mistress Lee, the current Guardian of the mysterious rose which holds the future hope...
I can only hope that the majority of APA adolescent boys are nothing like Nick Park – the lone Asian American in a Connecticut suburb, convinced that his Korean American-ness is what...
Somehow missed this title earlier, even as it won the 2004 Paul Zindel First Novel Award. While the story is familiar – a young girl moves from a loving home filled with extended family...
Published under a pseudonym because of its autobiographical nature, this hoping-to-be controversial novel recounts the erotic maturation of a young Muslim woman. She’s married off at 17 to an older man who brutalizes her under familial...
The long-awaited follow-up to the provocative
Wonderful illustrations recount a kitten’s first outside romp in search of an elusive butterfly.
Review:
Welcome to the fabulous world of the Bindi Babes, otherwise known as the dynamic Dhillon sisters, Amber, Jazz, and Geena. In the first installment of the trilogy, Bindi Babes, they manage to...
Confession time: I was ready to hate these – those names, for heaven’s sake! But how entertaining – and empowering – to have a hapa Chinese American girl, Agatha Wong, and her...
Perfect beach read: A father arrives in NYC to visit his estranged daughter and stumbles onto a murder for which his daughter is arrested as the prime suspect. Little by little, he must not...
Personal favorite of the month – and favorite of many others as it won the
Thirteen leftover travelers from a 323-passenger cancelled flight to Tokyo are left stranded overnight at the airport. They pass the time by each sharing a story – haunting, surprising, delicious, tales that span time...
First reaction: WOW! Second reaction: Read it! The story revolves around the Harmony Silk Factory, a textiles shop in rural Malaysia run by Johnny Lim, part crook, part untouchable legend.
Three narrators...
Su-Jen becomes “Annie” when she immigrates to Canada at age 6 with her mother. Her father has set up a Chinese restaurant, and in the small Ontario town...
Confession: I’m an utter Ishiguro groupie. His latest novel makes me only more obsessed, even as it completely creeps me out. Hailsham (halcyon? sham? ) is the English countryside boarding...
Vicenza, 14, is F.O.P. – fresh off the plane – from the Philippines where she was undoubtedly the belle of ball. Now a financially challenged immigrant in San Francisco who’s...