BookDragon Origin/Ethnic Background

Bakuman 1 by Tsugumi Ohba, art by Takeshi Obata, translated by Tetsuichiro Miyaki

18 Nov, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Fiction, Graphic Title/Manga/Manwha, Japanese, Middle Grade Readers, Translation, Young Adult Readers

At 14, Moritaka Mashiro figures he's "just going to live a normal life." For a teenager, that translates into "getting into a good high school, a good college and a good company to work...

Shadow by Suzy Lee

17 Nov, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Children/Picture Books, Fiction, Korean

Here's unforgettable testimony to the endless possibilities of childhood imagination, brought to the page by the phenomenally inventive Korean-born, Singapore-based Suzy Lee. Surrounded by the usual basement detritus, a little girl climbs on top...

How to Understand Israel in 60 Days or Less by Sarah Glidden

16 Nov, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Graphic Title/Manga/Manwha, Israeli, Jewish, Memoir, Nonfiction, Young Adult Readers

Having grown up Catholic (I'm still in recovery), nothing works better than leftover Catholic guilt to get me to do something I'm whinge-ing about. The supreme irony about my former Catholicism is...

At Home with Madhur Jaffrey: Simple, Delectable Dishes from India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka by Madhur Jaffrey

14 Nov, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Bangladeshi, Indian, Indian American, Nonfiction, Pakistani, Sri Lankan

What perfect timing! Madhur Jaffrey's newest cookbook makes for a toothsome companion to one of last week's posts, Indivisible, the first anthology that brings together contemporary American poets...

Mirror by Jeannie Baker

12 Nov, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Absolute Favorites, Adult Readers, Australian, Bilingual, Children/Picture Books, Fiction, Middle Grade Readers, Moroccan, Young Adult Readers

The simplicity of Australian author/artist Jeannie Baker's latest title makes it simply stupendous. Open the book and you have two halves on either side, the left which begins in English, and right which...

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...

Dengeki Daisy (vol. 1) by Kyousuke Motomi, translated by JN Productions

10 Nov, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Fiction, Graphic Title/Manga/Manwha, Japanese, Translation, Young Adult Readers

Teru Kurebayashi is pretty much all alone in the world. Her parents are gone, and her beloved older brother is dead … but before his tragic too-early passing, he left her with a...

Bamboo People by Mitali Perkins

09 Nov, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Fiction, Indian American, Middle Grade Readers, Myanmarese (Burmese), Southeast Asian, Young Adult Readers

Inspired by three years of living in Thailand with her family and visiting refugee camps along the Thai-Burma border, Mitali Perkins’ latest novel follows the lives of two boys on...

Tears in the Darkness: The Story of the Bataan Death March and Its Aftermath by Michael Norman and Elizabeth Norman

08 Nov, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Audio, Filipina/o, Japanese, Nonethnic-specific, Nonfiction, Southeast Asian

In the book’s opening pages, the “Authors’ Note,” explains the title – ‘tears in the darkness’ is a literal translation of the Japanese kanji for anrui, “the kind of pain and sorrow...

What Janie Found by Caroline B. Cooney

07 Nov, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Fiction, Middle Grade Readers, Nonethnic-specific, Young Adult Readers

The final title of Caroline B. Cooney's award-winning Janie Johnson quartet begins with a newspaper article that marks the anniversary of the "Missing Child Milk Carton Campaign" that – for better...

The Voice on the Radio by Caroline B. Cooney

07 Nov, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Fiction, Middle Grade Readers, Nonethnic-specific, Young Adult Readers

If you haven’t read the first two titles of the Janie Johnson quartet, then skip this post for sure … no fun knowing too much! And, as the third volume proves, knowing...

Whatever Happened to Janie? by Caroline B. Cooney

06 Nov, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Audio, Fiction, Middle Grade Readers, Nonethnic-specific, Young Adult Readers

Award-winning author Caroline Cooney never intended to write a sequel to The Face on the Milk Carton, which she ends with an uncertain telephone call: "I wanted you...

I See the Sun in China by Dedie King, illustrated by Judith Inglese, translation by Yan Zhang

05 Nov, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Bilingual, Children/Picture Books, Chinese, Fiction, Nonethnic-specific

A young girl wakes with excitement, anticipating her early morning ferry ride that will take her from her village to visit her aunt in big-city Shanghai. At Auntie Yen's apartment, she...

The Secret Lives of Baba Segi’s Wives by Lola Shoneyin

04 Nov, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, African, Fiction

Bolanle is the only one of Baba Segi's four wives who is literate, has a college education, and retains her own name. When she becomes the prized final wife of...

Author Interview: Audrey Niffenegger [in Bookslut]

03 Nov, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Author Interview/Profile, British, Fiction, Graphic Title/Manga/Manwha, Nonethnic-specific, Repost

Sometimes jet lag has its advantages. Amazingly enough, I caught Audrey Niffenegger soon after her London arrival, when she wasn’t sleeping – “I am very bad at jet lag,” she confesses....

Taro and the Magic Pencil by Sango Morimoto, translated by Katherine Schilling

02 Nov, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Fiction, Graphic Title/Manga/Manwha, Japanese, Middle Grade Readers, Translation

Parents might recognize (and appreciate) the derivative homage to children's classic Harold and the Purple Crayon, Hayao Miyazaki/Studio Ghibli's animated Howl's Moving Castle, and more ...

It’s a Book by Lane Smith

01 Nov, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Absolute Favorites, Adult Readers, Children/Picture Books, Fiction, Middle Grade Readers, Nonethnic-specific, Young Adult Readers

Delighted guffawing is inevitable as soon as you open the pages. And most especially fitting if you are a proud, obstinate Luddite like me! Move over Kindles, Nooks, iPads, Vooks, and whatever other...

The Face on the Milk Carton by Caroline B. Cooney

31 Oct, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Audio, Fiction, Middle Grade Readers, Nonethnic-specific, Young Adult Readers

As today is Halloween, here's a story that promises to scare, chill, and thrill you ...

Eggs by Jerry Spinelli

30 Oct, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Audio, Fiction, Middle Grade Readers, Nonethnic-specific

David, age 9, and Primrose, age 13, make for strange friends, especially with the rate at which they seem to enjoy exchanging "I hate you!"-moments! But David is new to own, living with his grandmother since his mother suddenly died last year from a freak...

Jimi: Sounds Like a Rainbow | A Story of the Young Jimi Hendrix by Gary Golio, illustrated by Javaka Steptoe

29 Oct, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Biography, Black/African American, Children/Picture Books, Nonfiction

Growing up in Seattle, Washington, young Jimi Hendrix first made music on a one-string ukulele. He drew, he told funny stories, he hung out at the local record store with his friends "who never teased him about his worn-out clothes and wild hair ...