Fly Free! by Roseanne Thong, illustrated by Eujin Kim Neilan
12 Jul, by in Children/Picture Books, Fiction, Korean American, Vietnamese
Outside the temple gates, young Mai feeds the caged sparrows ...
BookDragon Korean American
Me and Rolly Maloo by Janet S. Wong, illustrated by Elizabeth Buttler
21 Jun, by in Chinese American, Fiction, Korean American, Middle Grade Readers, Nonethnic-specific
Janet Wong has gone literally hybrid. Her latest title, debuting next month, is part graphic novel, part regular prose. Thanks to her flexible illustrator Elizabeth Buttler, the result is an entertaining new way for young readers to enjoy a story on different levels. Popular. pretty Rolly Maloo is...
The Surrendered by Chang-rae Lee
10 Jun, by in Absolute Favorites, Adult Readers, Audio, Fiction, Korean, Korean American
Certain writers – Chang-rae Lee and Khaled Hosseini immediately come to mind – paralyze my reading capability. I say that with the utmost respect. I become so attached to an author's previous book (in the rare case, books), that I find myself unable to even...
The Long Season of Rain by Helen Kim
04 Jun, by in Fiction, Korean, Korean American, Middle Grade Readers, Young Adult Readers
For years, this 1996 National Book Award finalist in Children's Literature sat high on my night-table stack. But once I finally opened its pages – annoyingly marked with multiple intrusive stamps of "Discarded by the Yankton Community Library" as I ordered it used – the book...
Amazing Faces with poems selected by Lee Bennett Hopkins, illustrated by Chris Soentpiet
19 May, by 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...
Author Interview: Sonya Chung [in Bookslut]
04 May, by in Adult Readers, Fiction, Korean, Korean American, Repost
By the time I actually met Sonya Chung, debut novelist of Long for This World, which hit shelves in March, I was already a groupie. Long was one of those suddenly-surprising-out-of-nowhere books that make you gasp. A publicist sent it to me initially and it...
City of Spies by Susan Kim and Laurence Klavan, artwork by Pascal Dizin
29 Mar, by in Fiction, Graphic Title/Manga/Manwha, Jewish, Korean American, Middle Grade Readers, Nonethnic-specific
Young Evelyn gets dumped at her surprised aunt’s posh NYC penthouse so her neglectful father can take yet another honeymoon with the latest young wife. Evelyn’s managed to escape her lonely life by creating her very own manga series, “The Amazing Adventures of Zirconium Man...
The Can Man by Laura E. Williams, illustrated by Craig Orback
28 Feb, by in Children/Picture Books, Fiction, Korean American, Nonethnic-specific
In today's tough times filled with unemployment woes and economic downturns, The Can Man is all too real a story. Once a neighbor with a job – and a real name, Mr. Peters – the homeless man everyone just calls The Can Man wanders the...
Long for This World by Sonya Chung [in Library Journal]
16 Feb, by in Absolute Favorites, Adult Readers, Fiction, Korean, Korean American, Repost
*STARRED REVIEW The title of Sonya Chung’s exquisite novel, Long for This World, seems to be missing a word: “not long for this world” would be the easy, expected phrase. But little is ‘easy’ or ‘expected’ in this multilayered story of two brothers – one Korean,...
What Will You Be, Sara Mee? by Kate Aver Avraham, illustrated by Anne Sibley O’Brien
09 Feb, by in Children/Picture Books, Fiction, Korean American
The story could not be any sweeter. A big brother greets his little sister on the morning of her first birthday, and lovingly explains the happy events of the special day ahead. Following Korean tradition, the first birthday is an especially auspicious day, filled with loving...
Momofuku by David Chang and Peter Meehan, photographs by Gabriele Stabile
13 Jan, by in Adult Readers, Korean American, Nonfiction, Pan-Asian Pacific American
Don't even open this book without a very full stomach, because you'll be salivating almost immediately. Culinary bad-boy David Chang, creator of the impossible-to-get-in restaurants of the Momofuku chain (noodle bar, ssäm bar, ko, milk bar, and má pêche coming soon) surely knows how to feed. He's a Korean...
Wait Until Twilight: A Novel by Sang Pak
28 Dec, by in Adult Readers, Fiction, Korean American, Nonethnic-specific
Samuel Polk is 16, athletic, has good friends, and lives in a small southern town in Georgia. He tells everyone he's gotten over his mother's sudden death a year ago. While his relationship with his father isn't the closest, they've managed to establish a daily...
The Calligrapher’s Daughter: A Novel by Eugenia Kim
25 Sep, by in Adult Readers, Fiction, Korean, Korean American
Historical works about Korea in English – especially during the tragic years of the Japanese occupation (officially 1910-1945) – seem few and far between. So I really wanted to fall madly in love with this debut novel by fellow Korean American Eugenia Kim. While I was grateful for...
Shining Star: The Anna May Wong Story by Paula Yoo, illustrated by Lin Wang
01 Jun, by in Biography, Children/Picture Books, Chinese American, Korean American, Nonfiction
A fabulous biography for the youngest readers about the first-ever bonafide Asian American superstar. And what a figure she was ...
The Summer I Turned Pretty by Jenny Han
16 May, by in Absolute Favorites, Fiction, Korean American, Middle Grade Readers, Nonethnic-specific, Young Adult Readers
For about-to-turn-sweet-16 Belly (no one calls her Isabel), summers at the beach is where her real life happens. The rest of the year pales to comings-and-goings of the large rambling seaside house, populated by two best-friend mothers and their two children each for the three...
Songs of the Dragons Flying to Heaven and Other Plays by Young Jean Lee
15 May, by in Drama/Theater, Korean American
Young Jean Lee has made quite the career of being the bad-child darling of the theater world. Founder and director of her very own Young Jean Lee's Theater Company, Lee never hesitates in making her audiences squirm. No one is safe on her stage, including...
Ten Days and Nine Nights: An Adoption Story by Yumi Heo
07 May, by in Children/Picture Books, Fiction, Korean, Korean American
Here's a new perspective on the adoption experience: an older-sister-to-be marks off the days, one by one, as she and her father and grandparents make special preparations for the return of her mother who will be bringing her new sibling from Korea. Yumi Heo's illustrations...
Once the Shore: Stories by Paul Yoon [in San Francisco Chronicle]
27 Apr, by in Absolute Favorites, Adult Readers, Fiction, Korean, Korean American, Repost, Short Stories
I have to say it: ‘Yoon’ rhymes with ‘swoon’ for a reason! ...
Miles from Nowhere by Nami Mun [in Bloomsbury Review]
07 Apr, by in Adult Readers, Fiction, Korean American, Repost
Nami Mun’s debut is the disturbing but ultimately hopeful story of runaway Joon, a Korean American teenager whose father abandons the family, whose mother loses her sanity, who must somehow navigate homelessness, drug addiction, and sexual abuse to survive the unprotected streets of 1980s New...
Everything Asian: A Novel by Sung J. Woo [in Bloomsbury Review]
26 Mar, by in Adult Readers, Fiction, Korean American, Repost
Loosely woven together from revealing vignettes about the interconnected characters that share 12-year-old protagonist Dae Joon Kim's world, Sung Woo's debut novel is a well-measured, carefully laid out storycloth filled with tenderness and great warmth. After five years of separation, Dae Joon (soon to be David), his sister...