BookDragon Origin/Ethnic Background

Studio Ghibli: The Films of Hayao Miyazaki & Isao Takahata by Colin Odell and Michelle Le Blanc and Satoshi Kon: The Illusionist by Andrew Osmond

01 Oct, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, British, Japanese, Nonfiction, Young Adult Readers

Studio Ghibli and Satoshi Kon are together an empowering exercise in girl power: strong, independent female protagonists of all ages abound in their anime. With countless awards, including a Best Animated Feature Oscar for Spirited Away, Hayao Miyazaki is one of anime's greatest. His Ponyo...

So Few of Me by Peter H. Reynolds

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

Certain kiddie authors whose books that my children have outgrown I can't bear to part with – in fact, I keep buying their latest titles anyway, even as my children have moved on to Steinbeck (our now-teenage daughter) and Cisneros (our tween son) to keep...

Monster (vol. 1) by Naoki Urasawa, English adaptation by Agnes Yoshida, translated by Satch Watanabe

28 Sep, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Graphic Title/Manga/Manwha, Japanese, Translation, Young Adult Readers

So I'm jumping on the Monster bandwagon a little late (which debuted in 1995 in Japan to multiple awards but took another 11 years to arrive Stateside in translation) ...

The Octonauts & the Great Ghost Reef by Meomi

26 Sep, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Canadian Asian Pacific American, Children/Picture Books, Fiction, Nonethnic-specific

First a little note about the creators: Meomi is a dynamic design duo made up of Vicki Wong, based in Vancouver, and Michael Murphy, who calls Los Angeles home. Together, they also happen to write adorable, colorful kiddie books ...

The Calligrapher’s Daughter: A Novel by Eugenia Kim

25 Sep, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center 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...

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...

Ōoku: The Inner Chambers (vol. 1) by Fumi Yoshinaga, translated by Akemi Wegmüller

24 Sep, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Graphic Title/Manga/Manwha, Japanese, Translation

Welcome to an alternative premodern Edo Japan where women do everything – including rule! Girl power all the way! Without a cure, the mysterious Redface Pox has ravaged the country's male population until it finally "stabilized at about one-fourth that of the female." Men have become...

Boy Dumplings by Ying Chang Compestine, illustrated by James Yamasaki

23 Sep, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Children/Picture Books, Chinese, Chinese American, Fiction, Japanese American

Missing his usual buckets of left-out food (garbage, unbeknownst to him), a hungry Beijing ghost happens upon a plump little boy out too late with his lantern. The ghost traps his tasty morsel, hurries home, thinking he's going to have a special feast. But the...

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...

In Her Hands: The Story of Sculptor Augusta Savage by Alan Schroeder, illustrated by JaeMe Bereal

16 Sep, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Biography, Black/African American, Children/Picture Books

Thank goodness young Augusta Savage had a supportive mother to balance out her discouraging father who crushed her youthful sculpture beneath his feet to prevent her from wasting time. "You ought to be reading the Bible instead," her preacher father insisted, "cultivating your mind, saving...

Vermonia 1: Quest for the Silver Tiger by YoYo

14 Sep, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Fiction, Graphic Title/Manga/Manwha, Japanese, Middle Grade Readers

"At the center of the universe, at the beginning and end of all creation, sits the planet of Vermonia, ruled by Queen Frasinella." Thus begins the first of a 10-volume series that stars none other than a heroic skateboarding foursome of 12-year-old warriors-in-training. But I...

Ball Peen Hammer by Adam Rapp, artwork by George O’Connor, color by Hilary Sycamore

14 Sep, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Graphic Title/Manga/Manwha, Nonethnic-specific

The Booklist review blurb on the stark black back cover (with a heart-breaking pink balloon floating away) should serve as quite the warning: "Not for gentle readers." Probably best known as a playwright, Adam Rapp has certainly created a busy, award-winning career by exploring the darker characteristics...

The Pleasures and Sorrows of Work by Alain de Botton

12 Sep, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, British, Nonethnic-specific, Nonfiction

"At first I was afraid, I was petrified ...

X-Men 1: Misfits by Raina Telgemeier and Dave Roman, art by Anzu

12 Sep, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Graphic Title/Manga/Manwha, Middle Grade Readers, Nonethnic-specific, Young Adult Readers

The already well-established X-Men franchise of books (and films) gets a somewhat peculiar makeover in the first of a new series designed for the middle grade/13+ crowd. "Don't fix what ain't broke," comes to mind. But that might be an old-age reaction ...

The Meaning of Everything: The Story of the Oxford English Dictionary by Simon Winchester

11 Sep, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, British, Nonfiction

From "aa" to "zyxt" [you'll have to look up the meanings yourself, because you thankfully can], the Oxford English Dictionary is filled with ...

Red Snow by Susumu Katsumata, translated by Taro Nettleton

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

So indulge me for a reductive semantic moment: 'serious' comic books are graphic novels (say, Archie vs. Will Eisner's A Contract with God and Other Tenement Stories); in Japanese terms, 'serious' manga is also known as gekiga. If you're interested (otherwise skip to next paragraph), here's...

The Writer as Migrant by Ha Jin

08 Sep, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Chinese American, Nonfiction

In spite of a spare not-quite 100 pages, Ha Jin's first nonfiction – and must-read – title is filled with fascinating, challenging ideas about writers living in countries and creating in languages not originally their own. Best known for his 1999 National Book Award winning novel, Waiting,...

Border Town by Shen Congwen, translated by Jeffrey C. Kinkley

04 Sep, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Chinese, Fiction, Translation

September 26 through October 3 this year is "Banned Books Week"! Good thing someone one told me! So how fitting that I was lucky enough to receive Border Town, the pre-Communist Revolution masterpiece by Shen Congwen (1902-1988), who although virtually unknown in the West, is...

My Name is Phillis Wheatley: A Story of Slavery and Freedom by Afua Cooper

02 Sep, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Biography, Black/African American, Fiction, Middle Grade Readers, Young Adult Readers

At just age 19, in the year 1773, the American slave Phillis Wheatley made her literary debut to a welcoming London audience waiting to hear from her upcoming poetry collection. Born free in Senegal, the young poet – originally named Penda Wane – was captured...

My Name is Henry Bibb: A Story of Slavery and Freedom by Afua Cooper

02 Sep, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Biography, Black/African American, Fiction, Middle Grade Readers, Young Adult Readers

A fictionalized biography of a heroic young man born into slavery in 1814 and determined against all odds to be free. With the history of slaveowners abusing their women slaves reflected in his pale face, Henry Bibb could pass for white. Raised together with the...