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 "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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
"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...
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...
"At first I was afraid, I was petrified ...
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 ...
From "aa" to "zyxt" [you'll have to look up the meanings yourself, because you thankfully can], the Oxford English Dictionary is filled with ...
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...
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,...
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...
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...
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...
With the adorably acclaimed Ponyo now out in theaters nationwide with its dubbed all-star Hollywood cast (Miley Cyrus' little sister? one of the Jonas Brothers?), a whole new young audience is enjoying the latest from anime maestro Hayao Miyazaki, creator of the spectacularly successful My Neighbor...
That the book opens with a three-page list of characters seems a bit daunting ...
Just in time for back-to-school, Lisa Yee (of the fabulous Millicent/Stanford/Emily trilogy) debuts her latest middle grade novel about two best friends who suddenly find each other on opposing sides ...
Two young mice, out "on a cold, lonely night," meet a mysterious older mouse who leads them to a magical place where "departed loves ones" appear to remind the two adventurers that they will never be alone. "They're not truly gone, but watch over you...
