BookDragon Nonfiction

First They Killed My Father: A Daughter of Cambodia Remembers by Loung Ung + Author Interview

10 Mar, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Author Interview/Profile, Cambodian, Cambodian American, Memoir, Nonfiction, Southeast Asian, Southeast Asian American

For someone who has experienced hell, Loung Ung is a bright, welcoming voice filled with inviting laughter. She’s warm: “I just had dinner with my writing group last night. They’re my PenGals. I just love them! I don’t know what I would do without them.” She’s practical:...

Author Interview: Xinran [in Bookslut]

07 Mar, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Absolute Favorites, Adult Readers, Author Interview/Profile, British Asian, Chinese, Nonfiction, Repost, Translation

People, even complete strangers, feel compelled to tell Xinran their personal stories, from the simple happiness of sweet everyday lives to the most horrific memories of shocking abuse. Something in her soothing voice, the wordless encouragement to keep talking, exudes a sense of undeniable comfort...

A Tiger in the Kitchen: A Memoir of Food and Family by Cheryl Lu-Lien Tan

06 Mar, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Memoir, Nonfiction, Singaporean American, Southeast Asian, Southeast Asian American

A toothsome distraction from the recent Tiger Mother hunt, journalist Cheryl Lu-Lien Tan offers A Tiger in the Kitchen: A Memoir of Food and Family, which takes readers from Carnegie Hall into fragrant kitchens, trading threatened stuffed animals for pineapple tarts, Prokofiev for pandan. Tan's strong-willed...

Watch Me Grow! A Down-to-Earth Look at Growing Food in the City by Deborah Hodge, photographed by Brian Harris

01 Mar, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Canadian, Children/Picture Books, Nonethnic-specific, Nonfiction

First reaction after reading this inviting title: I wanna move to Vancouver ...

My Mom Is a Fob: Earnest Advice in Broken English from Your Asian-American Mom by Teresa Wu and Serena Wu, foreword by Margaret Cho

28 Feb, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Nonfiction, Pan-Asian Pacific American, Young Adult Readers

For those of you searching for an antidote to the Tiger Mom brouhaha, this is it! I kid you not. Picture this ...

Mei Ling in China City by Icy Smith, illustrated by Gayle Garner Roski

18 Feb, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Children/Picture Books, Chinese American, Japanese American, Middle Grade Readers, Nonfiction

I have to admit that the unnecessary chopsticky font and the strangely-eerie illustrations set me off temporarily, but the old adage 'never trust a book by its cover' proved true in this case: this real-life story is well worth your attention. Mei Ling lives in Los...

Wise at Heart: Children and Adults Share Words of Wisdom by Brody Hartman, Dr. Richard Steckel and Michele Steckel

16 Feb, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Children/Picture Books, Nonethnic-specific, Nonfiction

Surely the world is filled with many, many wise old souls ...

Nobody’s Son: Notes from an American Life by Luis Alberto Urrea

15 Feb, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Hapa/Mixed-race, Latina/o/x, Memoir, Nonfiction

This third and final installment of Luis Alberto Urrea's Border Trilogy is unmistakably his most personal. His "good Republican" mother from Staten Island never accepted his Mexican identity. His "devil on the dance floor"-father was once on Mexico's presidential staff, becoming a bowling alley janitor...

Scenes from an Impending Marriage: a prenuptial memoir by Adrian Tomine

14 Feb, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Graphic Title/Manga/Manwha, Japanese American, Memoir, Nonfiction

Shockingly enough, Valentine's Day wasn't actually created by Hallmark! In fact, the heartfelt holiday has two versions as to its origins. The Christians say the date commemorates three martyrs all named 'Valentine'; St. Valentine's Day was established at the end of the 5th century, only...

If the World Were a Village: A Book about the World’s People by David J. Smith, illustrated by Shelagh Armstrong

11 Feb, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Absolute Favorites, Adult Readers, Children/Picture Books, Middle Grade Readers, Nonfiction, Young Adult Readers

'Global village' is one of those overused phrases we hear so often we don't actively think about the meaning anymore ...

China Road: A Journey into the Future of a Rising Power by Rob Gifford

10 Feb, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Audio, British, Chinese, Memoir, Nonfiction

At the end of a six-year stint in Beijing as the China correspondent for NPR, Rob Gifford sent his wife and children ahead to London to start their new lives. Gifford, who first arrived in China as a language student in his early 20s, embarks on...

Little Princes: One Man’s Promise to Bring Home the Lost Children of Nepal by Conor Grennan [in Christian Science Monitor]

07 Feb, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Memoir, Nepali, Nonfiction, Repost

Two warnings: 1. Don’t read Little Princes: One Man’s Promise to Bring Home the Lost Children of Nepal in public unless you enjoy making a spectacle of yourself, wiping your eyes and blowing your nose every few pages; 2. Skip the middle photo insert until...

By the Lake of Sleeping Children: The Secret Life of the Mexican Border by Luis Alberto Urrea, photographs by John Lueders-Booth

31 Jan, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Hapa/Mixed-race, Latina/o/x, Memoir, Mexican, Mexican American, Nonfiction

Once I opened this second volume in Luis Alberto Urrea's Border Trilogy, I simply couldn't stop. So here's the best thing I can say about Lake after reading his first border title, Across the Wire: Lake is more of the same ...

This Child, Every Child: A Book about the World’s Children by David J. Smith, illustrated by Shelagh Armstrong

28 Jan, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Children/Picture Books, Middle Grade Readers, Nonfiction, Young Adult Readers

The award-winning team that brought you the fascinating bite-sized statistics of If America Were a Village and If the World Were a Village delves into the lives of children all around the world. The statistics here might surprise you ("children make up about one-third of the...

Across the Wire: Life and Hard Times on the Mexican Border by Luis Alberto Urrea, photographs by John Lueders-Booth

27 Jan, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Hapa/Mixed-race, Latina/o/x, Memoir, Mexican, Mexican American, Nonfiction

Thanks to a sudden snowstorm and ensuing power outage, I had every excuse to strap on my headband flashlight and read the first of Luis Alberto Urrea's Border Trilogy without pause. Given the sheer gawk-factor of these pages, any excuses were negligible: This is definitely...

Pretty Delicious by Candice Kumai, photographs by Quentin Bacon

22 Jan, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Hapa/Mixed-race, Japanese American, Nonfiction

Forget pillow talk; get in the kitchen with your favorite FWBs – that's Foods With Benefits, according to Candice Kumai, also known as the Stiletto Chef and co-host of Lifetime's Cook Yourself Thin. Thanks to her FWBs, Kumai's first cookbook is all about "eating well that's healthy,...

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot

17 Jan, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Absolute Favorites, Adult Readers, Audio, Black/African American, Nonfiction

From the age of 16 when she took a biology class at a community college (making up for a failed high school freshman year because "she never showed up"), award-winning science writer Rebecca Skloot has seemingly spent the majority of her life preparing to write...

Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother by Amy Chua [in San Francisco Chronicle]

08 Jan, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Chinese American, Memoir, Nonfiction, Repost

Amy Chua's Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother did more than speak to me. It screamed, shouted and lectured me. It made me simultaneously laugh with empathy and cringe with embarrassment and exasperation. "This is a story about a mother, two daughters, and two dogs," the...

501 Must-Visit Destinations by Jackum Brown, David Brown, Rebecca Walder, with contributions from Kieran Fogarty

03 Jan, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Nonethnic-specific, Nonfiction, Young Adult Readers

It's back-to-reality day for most of us ...

The 14th Dalai Lama: A Manga Biography by Tetsu Saiwai

01 Jan, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Biography, Graphic Title/Manga/Manwha, Japanese, Middle Grade Readers, Nonfiction, Tibetan, Young Adult Readers

Every new year seems to begin with a fervent prayer/wish/hope for true PEACE. So far in my own lifetime, worldwide peace hasn't been achieved. Still, I have a few more years left in me and surely enough stubbornness to believe peace can truly happen before...