Thura’s Diary: My Life in Wartime Iraq by Thura Al-Windawi, translated by Robin Bray [in AsianWeek]
30 Apr, by in Iraqi, Memoir, Middle Grade Readers, Nonfiction, Repost, Translation, Young Adult Readers
While the premise of a young girl’s diary about surviving war in contemporary Iraq is promising – if not necessary in order to put an innocent human face to the so-called ‘war on terrorism’...
Told in the alternating voices of two Chinese American girls – American-born Sarah and recently arrived Ting – Cheng captures the story of an unlikely friendship. While Sarah and Ting, both fourth graders, may...
Is it a textbook? Is it a comic book? It’s both, it’s neither. It’s a unique (and clever!) hybrid made up of 30 lessons that use manga to teach basic conversational Japanese....
Behind the Mountains by Edwidge Danticat
Flight to Freedom by Ana Veciana-Suarez
Finding My Hat by John Son
The Stone Goddess by Minfong Ho
With the exception of the Native Americans—and some may still argue that they walked over the...
Oh, if only my thick fingers were so deft! Here’s 80 new creations to try, divided into four sections: Part 1 has basic pieces; Part 2 introduces all sorts of living things;...
An adoption story for slightly older kids that not only acknowledges the love and support of adoptive families, but also deals with the bittersweet questions and doubts about...
The latest in the 
A young Chinese American boy is saddened when his beloved grandmother moves to San Francisco to live with her doctor daughter, who is better able to care for her. She leaves behind a collection...
An energetic, kid-friendly tour (perfect for curious adults, too!) from a sushi bar to Tsukiji (the world’s largest fish market, located in Tokyo) to the sushi history annals, then back to the...
While she may be a bona-fide genius, 11-year-old Millicent Min, who has skipped five grades and is taking a college class for fun, learns that using just the brain does not a whole person...
The third installment in the 
In order to sign up for the dancing class at the local recreation center – so it can get government funding – Fiona Cheng has to indicate her race. Being Scottish from...
Having survived the horrors of war in her native Laos and 10 long years of living in a cramped, filthy, and dangerous refugee camp in Thailand, Mai Yang and her grandmother are finally allowed...
One of the three newest additions to the Girls of Many Lands series [click 
A touching story about an immigrant Muslim family of five from Egypt, which shows details from their everyday lives. The book is especially relevant now, in order to expose young readers to...
The captivating inspiration for the award-winning film of the same title about 8-year-old Kahu, who must convince her great-grandfather that females can carry on ancient Maori traditions just as well – if not better!...
A collection of 23 traditional Chinese myths and legends, uniquely illustrated with rare advertising posters from the 1920s and ’30s.
Review: 
A perfect introduction for older children about the culture and arts of the ancient land of Korea. The book is especially timely now, if nothing else but to dispel some...
A children’s version of the Polly Bemis story – called the Pacific Northwest’s most famous Chinese American pioneer – released in time for the 150th anniversary of Bemis’ birth in 1853.
Review: 
Chasing the Wandering Warrior
With unabashed pride, I readily admit that I’m a Da Chen groupie. I’ve been one since reading and writing about his two luminous bestselling memoirs, Colors of the Mountain (HarperCollins, 2000),...