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BookDragon Poetry

Orchards by Holly Thompson, illustrations by Grady McFerrin

06 May, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Fiction, Hapa/Mixed-race, Japanese, Japanese American, Middle Grade Readers, Poetry, Verse Novel/Nonfiction, Young Adult Readers

Holly Thompson’s novel-in-verse begins with a jarring slam: "One week after / you stuffed a coil of rope / into your backpack / and walked uphill into / Osgoods' orchard / where blooms were still closed fists // my father looked up summer airfares to...

Around the World on Eighty Legs by Amy Gibson, illustrated by Daniel Salmieri

30 Mar, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Children/Picture Books, Nonethnic-specific, Poetry

Warning: reading this whimsical globe-trotting picture book debut from Amy Gibson with your young 'uns will surely make them peripatetic adventurers sooner than later in life. Divided by continent, Gibson wanders the globe sharing giddy, often enlightening poems about animals familiar and hidden. In South America,...

The Lives of Rain by Nathalie Handal, foreword by Carolyn Forché

02 Feb, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Palestinian American, Poetry

I am the first to admit I missed having the poetry function installed when my limited brain got assembled. So when I DO actually GET poetry, I feel a true sense of gratitude to the writer, not to mention a few outbursts of gleeful accomplishment. Nathalie...

One Story, Thirty Stories: An Anthology of Contemporary Afghan American Literature edited by Zohra Saed and Sahar Muradi, foreword by Mir Tamim Ansary

27 Dec, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Afghan American, Fiction, Nonfiction, Poetry, Short Stories

The title of this diverse anthology is taken from the opening line of Afghan fairy tales, not unlike 'once upon a time.' In this case, afsanah, seesanah – one story, thirty stories...

Indivisible: An Anthology of Contemporary South Asian American Poetry edited by Neelajana Banerjee, Summi Kaipa, and Pireeni Sundaralingam

11 Nov, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Bangladeshi American, Indian American, Nepali American, Pakistani American, Poetry, South Asian American, Sri Lankan American, Young Adult Readers

The title – Indivisible – the editors explain, is "a word taken from the U.S. Pledge of Allegiance." Through the 49 diverse American voices represented here with roots in Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Pakistan, and...

Locomotion by Jacqueline Woodson

27 Oct, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Audio, Black/African American, Middle Grade Readers, Poetry, Verse Novel/Nonfiction

Heads up for DC-area locals … mark your calendars: you can meet Jacqueline Woodson on November 9, 2010 at Fairfax County Government Center, Fairfax, Virginia! Click here for details! And now through October 31, 2010, a play version of Locomotion is up at the Kennedy Center...

Migritude by Shailja Patel

26 Oct, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Drama/Theater, Indian African, Indian American, Memoir, Nonfiction, Poetry, South Asian American

Given the sheer number of books that arrive in the mailbox, I rarely pick up a title and start reading immediately. But something about Migritude (debuting from fabulous indie publisher Kaya Press: 'Smokin' Hot Books'!!) demanded 'read me NOW!' Once opened, I could hardly put...

heartbeat by Sharon Creech

09 Aug, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Audio, Fiction, Middle Grade Readers, Nonethnic-specific, Poetry, Verse Novel/Nonfiction

I fully admit to being poetically challenged (damaged?). I don't get musicals either. But something about free verse is sooo gloriously addictive – when the rhythm is just right and you can't seem to put the pages down ...

We Troubled the Waters by Ntozake Shange, illustrated by Rod Brown

14 Jun, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Black/African American, Middle Grade Readers, Poetry, Young Adult Readers

Although at first glance, this might look like a children's title – it is essentially a picture book – the sometimes difficult contents make it much more suitable for middle grade readers and older. Even adults will certainly find deeply resonating moments to appreciate throughout. Ntozake...

I Am an Emotional Creature: The Secret Life of Girls Around the World by Eve Ensler, foreword by Carol Gilligan

22 May, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Drama/Theater, Fiction, Poetry, Young Adult Readers

As the mother of a teenage girl (and too-soon-to-be-teenage son, too, egads!), I vacillate constantly between nervous fear and proud elation. My daughter is a miracle in so many ways ...

Amazing Faces with poems selected by Lee Bennett Hopkins, illustrated by Chris Soentpiet

19 May, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Black/African American, Children/Picture Books, Korean American, Latina/o/x, Native American/First Nations/Indigenous Peoples, Nonethnic-specific, Pan-Asian Pacific American, Poetry

In a word – and to quote from the title – this book is amazing. Filled with poems chosen by award-winning poet Lee Bennett Hopkins that celebrate the wonders of our diversity, this gorgeous book is populated by the vibrant immediacy of Chris Soentpiet's stunning canvases...

Facts for Visitors: Poems by Srikanth Reddy

02 May, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Indian American, Poetry, South Asian American

Confession: I got to hang out twice with Srikanth – otherwise known as "Chicu" – Reddy two days in a row last weekend, first for the Asian American Literary Review's "8: A Symposium," and then for an Amnesty International Human Rights Art Festival literary panel. Even though my...

How We Are Smart by W. Nikola-Lisa, illustrated by Sean Qualls

24 Nov, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Biography, Black/African American, Children/Picture Books, Chinese American, Japanese American, Latina/o/x, Native American/First Nations/Indigenous Peoples, Poetry

Using research originally developed by Harvard psychologist Dr. Howard Gardner about multiple intelligences which was made popular by Dr. Thomas Armstrong, author Nikola-Lisa chooses 12 achievers to show how they were each 'smart' in different, important ways. "Here are eight basic ways people can be...

T4: A Novel by Ann Clare LeZotte

09 Nov, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in European, Fiction, Jewish, Middle Grade Readers, Poetry, Verse Novel/Nonfiction, Young Adult Readers

In just over a hundred pages of sparse, haunting verse, LeZotte illuminates a part of the Holocaust tragedy that takes up little shelf space in libraries today: the organized mass murder of mentally ill and physically challenged people, as well as the massacre of European...

The Heart’s Traffic by Ching-In Chen

24 Sep, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Chinese American, Poetry

The "traffic" in Chen's collection revolves around broken love, made even more jarring by a literal jaggedness on the page with the layout of her words. The protagonist, Xiaomei, loses love too many times. In childhood, her first loss is her father who "disappeared into...

Tofu Quilt by Ching Yeung Russell

16 Sep, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Chinese, Chinese American, Memoir, Middle Grade Readers, Poetry, Verse Novel/Nonfiction, Young Adult Readers

Based on the Ching Yeung Russell's own path toward becoming a writer, Tofu Quilt is one delicious free-verse memoir. In the summer before she starts kindergarten, Yeung Ying is a rambunctious young child who cannot sit still, but can effortlessly recite the difficult classical poems...

Brushing Mom’s Hair by Andrea Cheng, illustrated by Nicole Wong

10 Jun, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Middle Grade Readers, Nonethnic-specific, Poetry, Verse Novel/Nonfiction, Young Adult Readers

Through a collection of sparse free verse, Cheng captures a family in crisis. Ann, not yet 15, can't tell her friends that her mother just lost her breasts to cancer. But everyone seems to know already, asking after her mother and bringing chili with beans...

all the broken pieces: a novel in verse by Ann E. Burg

06 Jun, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Absolute Favorites, Adult Readers, Fiction, Hapa/Mixed-race, Middle Grade Readers, Poetry, Southeast Asian, Southeast Asian American, Verse Novel/Nonfiction, Vietnamese American, Young Adult Readers

Not only will you be unable to put this down, you'll have to be careful to remember to breathe while reading this unforgettable debut novel written entirely in free verse. By age 10, Matt Pin has already had a harrowing life as a child of...

I and I: Bob Marley by Tony Medina, illustrated by Jesse Joshua Watson

05 Jun, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Biography, Black/African American, Caribbean American, Children/Picture Books, Nonfiction, Poetry

A gorgeously rendered collection of poems that capture the colorful life of Nesta Robert Marley, born in 1945 to a young island girl just 18 and a 63-year-old British white man in a small town in Jamaica. Although his father quickly abandoned the young family,...

Tan to Tamarind: Poems about the Color Brown by Malathi Michelle Iyengar, illustrated by Jamel Akib [in Bloomsbury Review]

01 Jan, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Black/African American, Children/Picture Books, Latina/o/x, Native American/First Nations/Indigenous Peoples, Pan-Asian Pacific American, Poetry, Repost, South Asian American

A joyful celebration of all sorts of brown-tinted skin colors, reflected in the tan of a spicy masala chai to the cocoa of a frothy hot chocolate to the ochre of  a bridal mehendi hand design to the coffee brown of café con leche to the adobe...

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SmithsonianAPA brings Asian Pacific American history, art, and culture to you through innovative museum experiences and digital initiatives.

About BookDragon

Welcome to BookDragon, filled with titles for the diverse reader. BookDragon is a new media initiative of the Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center (APAC), and serves as a forum for those interested in learning more about the Asian Pacific American experience through literature. BookDragon is inhabited by Terry Hong.

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