BookDragon Nonfiction
Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates
10 Aug, by in Adult Readers, Audio, Black/African American, Memoir, Nonfiction
Ferguson one year later and another shooting. Black Lives Matter activists shut down Bernie Sanders. And that's just the last 24 hours. Listen to Toni Morrison: "This is required reading," she extols on the cover of this slim, tense volume of just 152 pages. Many have...
Discover WeNeedDiverseBooks with Kate Schatz’s Rad American Women A-Z
03 Aug, by in Adult Readers, Biography, Black/African American, Children/Picture Books, Hapa/Mixed-race, Jewish, Latina/o/x, Middle Grade Readers, Native American/First Nations/Indigenous Peoples, Nonethnic-specific, Nonfiction, Pan-Asian Pacific American, WeNeedDiverseBooks, WNDB.SummerReadingSeries2015, Young Adult Readers
The Remarkable Story of George Moses Horton: Poet by Don Tate
29 Jul, by in Biography, Black/African American, Children/Picture Books, Nonfiction
Remarkable is indisputably the operative word here. Born into slavery, George Moses Horton didn't become a free man until he was 66. Even enslaved, Horton managed to teach himself to read – by eavesdropping on the master's children's lessons, then studying a book of songs and an...
Ghetto Brother: Warrior to Peacemaker by Julian Voloj, illustrated by Claudia Ahlering, introduction by Jeff Chang
24 Jul, by in Adult Readers, Black/African American, Graphic Title/Manga/Manwha, Latina/o/x, Nonfiction, Puerto Rican, Young Adult Readers
Given that gang violence, unfortunately, makes for all-too-familiar headlines, the story of a gang truce is truly noteworthy news to be lauded and emulated. Back in the 1960s and 1970s, New York's Bronx was both a haven for poor ethnic communities pushed out of Manhattan, and...
Mister Doctor: Janusz Korczak and the Orphans of the Warsaw Ghetto by Irène Cohen-Janca, illustrated by Maurizio A.C. Quarello, translated by Paula Ayer
22 Jul, by in Biography, European, Jewish, Middle Grade Readers, Nonfiction, Translation, Young Adult Readers
While this summer's Justice League and Fantastic Four make for great celluloid entertainment, for true inspiration, Mister Doctor – as Dr. Janucz Korczak was called by his beloved children – is a real life superhero to be admired and emulated. His accomplishments beyond doctoring included also being a scholar,...
I Will Always Write Back: How One Letter Changed Two Lives by Caitlin Alifirenka and Martin Ganda with Liz Welch
21 Jul, by in African, Audio, Memoir, Middle Grade Readers, Nonethnic-specific, Nonfiction, Young Adult Readers
"I was a typical twelve-year-old girl, far more interested in what I should wear to school than what I might learn there," co-author Caitlin Stoicsitz (as she was named then) introduces her 1997 self. "I assumed most kids, regardless of where they lived, had lives...
How much do you know about literature by and about immigrants? [in Christian Science Monitor]
07 Jul, by in Adult Readers, Fiction, Lists, Memoir, Nonfiction, Repost
How much do you know about literature by and about immigrants? Try our quiz! How much do you know about literature by and about immigrants, old and new? Test your melting pot, tossed salad, multi-culti, all-American literary knowledge here … from A to Z! Published: Christian Science...
The Peace Tree from Hiroshima: The Little Bonsai with a Big Story by Sandra Moore, illustrated by Kazumi Wilds
01 Jul, by in Children/Picture Books, Japanese, Japanese American, Nonethnic-specific, Nonfiction
Four centuries ago, in a forest on the Japanese island of Miyajima, a tree "pushed up through the dirt." Still a small sapling, the tree was "carefully dug" by a visitor named Itaro who wanted to take home a "'souvenir of this island, of the trees that...
How much do you know about women’s literature? [in Christian Science Monitor]
22 Jun, by in Adult Readers, Fiction, Lists, Nonfiction, Repost
How much do you know about women's literature? From the oldest novel to the youngest Booker Prize-winner, from poetry to twitterature, from Alabama to Zimbabwe, women writers have added immeasurable diversity and enhanced the quality of what can be found on bookshelves worldwide. How much do...
Mike’s Place: A True Story of Love, Blues, and Terror in Tel Aviv by Jack Baxter and Joshua Faudem, illustrated by Koren Shadmi
12 Jun, by in Adult Readers, British, Graphic Title/Manga/Manwha, Israeli, Middle Eastern, Nonfiction
Most of this true, part of this is reasonable conjecture, all of it is electrifying. Filmmaker Jack Baxter arrives in Tel Aviv in 2003 to make a film that never happens. But on the night before his departure back to New York, he stumbles upon a...
Halfway Home: Drawing My Way Through Japan [aka Diary of a Tokyo Teen] by Christine Mari Inzer
05 Jun, by in Graphic Title/Manga/Manwha, Hapa/Mixed-race, Japanese, Japanese American, Memoir, Middle Grade Readers, Nonfiction, Young Adult Readers
On the book's front cover, mega-bestselling Bone-creator Jeff Smith uses the word "wonderful." On the back, French Milk’s award-winning Lucy Knisley talks about "the wit and pen of someone well beyond her years." Inside, those blurbs get further expanded, followed by many more phrases of praise, including...
Hanok: The Korean House by Nani Park and Robert J. Fouser, photography by Jongkeun Lee
28 May, by in Adult Readers, Korean, Korean American, Nonfiction
Two of my favorite people in the world are becoming Seoul residents! Which means more reason for prolonged visits, hopefully sooner than later. One of the experiences I'm determined to make happen is an intense exploration of hanok. If your curiosity is at all piqued, definitely...
Rad American Women A-Z: Rebels, Trailblazers, and Visionaries Who Shaped Our History . . . and Our Future! by Kate Schatz, illustrated by Miriam Klein Stahl
26 May, by in Adult Readers, Biography, Black/African American, Hapa/Mixed-race, Jewish, Latina/o/x, Middle Grade Readers, Native American/First Nations/Indigenous Peoples, Nonethnic-specific, Nonfiction, Pan-Asian Pacific American, Young Adult Readers
Rad American Women A-Z is the first-ever kids' title in 60 years of "storied history" from San Francisco's iconic bookseller/publisher City Lights. What a way to grab attention ...
The Amazing Age of John Roy Lynch by Chris Barton, illustrated by Don Tate
20 May, by in Biography, Black/African American, Children/Picture Books, Hapa/Mixed-race, Middle Grade Readers, Nonethnic-specific, Nonfiction
Naysayers: picture book this is, yes, but I guarantee that unless you happen to be a post-Civil War scholar, you'll have something to learn inside these informative pages. Here are four reasons why most of us need to read this book: First reason: history. We all should know more about Reconstruction – a "cultural blind spot," as Chris...
Your Illustrated Guide to Becoming One with the Universe by Yumi Sakugawa
15 May, by in Adult Readers, Graphic Title/Manga/Manwha, Japanese American, Nonfiction, Young Adult Readers
Although I've been devoutly agnostic most of my adult life, I will admit that I get the occasional, random message from the higher-powers-that-be: understanding doesn't always come with these missives, more like nudges that I need to listen better. I keep trying ...