Just look at that cover! Clearly, the emergency room beckons! Even as you already know what not to do as a parent, these things ...
I admit it: I'm not much of a dinosaur fan – on the page, anyway. Far too many books starring these behemoth beings seem to loom over my desk. That said, every once in a (long) while, I discover an irresistible prehistoric beast with a story that...
"SHHHH! Quiet." Because Roger is not only reading, he's reading a book. A book. Oh, for the love of books, this is the perfect book for book lovers of all ages. Yes, Roger is reading. Or trying to, anyway. He's got a spotlight illuminating the pages just so,...
Sweden's Stieg Larsson died of a heart attack in 2004, but his internationally famed, mismatched hacker/journalist duo are proving to be immortal. Yes, Lisbeth Salander and Mikael Blomkvist are back in a fourth installment of what is now the Millennium series (a 'trilogy' no more) with a new writer, Swedish journalist and...
So it wasn't even dusk yet and already the spine was tingling as soon as I opened the book. I kept looking around to make sure what was on the page hadn't somehow escaped and was about to pounce on me. With Halloween just over...
A "cheapskate" who longs for a wife who will work hard but never eat, a greedy young man who attempts to steal his brother's good fortune, a magic "hood" that allows the wearer to understand animals, a boy whose nap lasts three years, a wily fox who...
Well, I've done it now – binge-read two volumes of my latest favorite manga obsession. I really was trying to space out the fabulous adventures of Taichi Hiraga Keaton, our British/Japanese hapa professor/insurance investigator (ha! of course, he's so much more than that!), but once begun...
*STARRED REVIEW Credited with revitalizing Korea’s publishing industry, Shin’s 2011 Please Look After Mom (the author’s debut in English) made this international powerhouse the first woman to win the Man Asian Literary Prize. Her latest, arriving stateside 20 years after its Korean publication, is part memoir,...
Death by Water takes readers on a wild ride of epic proportions In addition to being noted for his prodigious literary accomplishments, 1994 Nobel Prize-winning Kenzaburō Ōe is known for being politically outspoken. He made international headlines again during this year’s 70th anniversary of the Nagasaki/Hiroshima...
When’s the last time you encountered a bored superhero – bored because he hasn’t encountered a single worthy opponent? Meet Saitama – albeit you'll need old-people glasses to see the tiny type in the small box in the Table of Contents which seems to be the one and...
We're right in the middle of National Hispanic Heritage Month – now through October 15. Do you know where your books are? If you're looking for a delightful, heart-tugging, bilingual even (!) picture book, this is it! Monica Brown, creator of the rollicking Marisol McDonald series, introduces...
Who can resist a lost little kitten? Furry-friendlies unite: this adorable black-grey-and-white fluff-bundle will set your heart all aflutter. Wandering out with Mommy Cat and two siblings, this little one gets lost. She's woofed at by a dog (thankfully leashed), and narrowly misses getting run over...
A young girl and her father are traveling, with little more than a backpack each. She counts what she sees to pass the time: cows, hens, a bored donkey, the clouds ...
One unintentionally wrong word uttered in a children's cartoon lost Mana Neyestani his job, his freedom, and nearly his life. As editor of the children's pages for Iran's Iran-Jomeh, Neyestani drew his recurring 10-year-old character confronting a cockroach that replies with a single Azeri word: "Namana." As Neyestani...
One night as Dalia sleeps, her hair grows "straight up to the sky, tall and thick as a Cuban royal palm tree." Delighted, Dalia decorates her gorgeous locks with "wild tamarind, violet and coontie leaves," then requests that her mother guess "what kind of tree I...
You know those days you forget to eat because you're running around here and there, and your belly LOUDLY (usually at inopportune moments) reminds you to "FEEEEEED MEEEE!!!"? Those grumbles and rumbles DO sound just like a hidden beast! If you're an inquisitive kid who hasn't...
Adolescence is difficult enough to navigate, but throw in a few gender-bender issues and you've got multiple challenges earlier generations probably didn't (wouldn't? couldn't?) openly face. With all manner of identity awareness growing worldwide, Shimura Takako’s award-winning, internationally lauded manga series gently and insightfully reflects the gender spectrum on...
Salmon meunière, acqua pazza, mizuna and onion salad, yellowtail teriyaki ...
*STARRED REVIEW Watanabe Yuichi sits behind bars in Japan’s infamous Fukuoka Prison. After World War II, the former “soldier-guard” is now an incarcerated “low-level war criminal” under U.S. control. His written confession, which highlights two people — “one prisoner and one guard; one poet and one...
After more than two-and-a-half years since volume 13 hit Stateside shelves in December 2012, the Kurosagi quintet-plus-puppet (I mean alien) are FINALLY back. And then some. Because in this latest volume, it's Kurosagi x 3, as in three distinct Kurosagi versions fighting for page time. Guess they...
