Until she found her agent in 2015, Mira T. Lee thought of her writing as a “dirty little secret.” Although she started publishing short stories almost a decade ago, she didn’t start writing “seriously” until 2012, buoyed by an Artist Fellowship from Mass Cultural Council: “I...
As a boy, Nek Chand "played and planted, laughed and listened ...
Here's your upfront warning: gruesome horror ahead. As one of Japan's most successful horror manga artists, Junji Ito knows how to make your hair rise, your heart race, your stomach churn. This one comes with quite the social commentary, too: beware of empty, false apologies....
Beyond the barrage of soul-depleting headlines is this much-needed reminder of utter goodness, when one brave woman affected the lives of dozens of young children. And books – that very best antidote for all '-isms' – were, of course involved. Among the 120,000 Americans of Japanese descent who...
Emilia Nightingale returns from Hong Kong to her childhood home in Peasebrook in the middle of the English Cotswolds when she inherits Nightingale Books after her father's death. Taking over the establishment means that the villagers immediately become part of her inheritance, including a klepto...
African American legends like Serena Williams and Michael Jordan are household names, but not long ago, professional sports were strictly segregated. Jackie Robinson broke Major League Baseball's color barrier in 1947; the National Basketball Association allowed Earl Lloyd to play in 1950; Brown v. Board of...
Compassion goes a long way when writing about death – especially the death of loved ones. Narrating such a book requires a gentleness, a soothing rhythm. That Danticat reads her latest nonfiction – a thoughtful meditation bookended by her mother's fatal cancer diagnosis and Danticat's...
Now-adult adoptees who arrived in the United States from other countries are learning that their U.S. citizenship can’t be assumed. Two recent tragedies have highlighted the shocking realization: the May 2017 suicide of Phillip Clay, adopted at eight by a Philadelphia family and deported to Seoul 29...
Kirby Heyborne deploys his gentle charm to give voice to 12-year-old Walter Lavender Jr. who, owing to "a motor speech disorder," might seem mute to the outside world but has an imaginative soul that can't be silenced. Always an insightful observer, Walter is an unparalleled...
With raw honesty (the memoir opens with suicide ideation), debilitating angst (the unrelenting hold of mental illness), and humor when least expected (the terrors of securing a prom date), Haroon Moghul’s memoir becomes an illuminating antidote to contemporary Islamophobia. As the U.S.-born son of immigrant Pakistani...
When Diane dies in a car accident, her daughters, 18-year-old Mary and 4-year-old Hannah, are left effectively with nothing. The family's rundown New Jersey seaside motel, which has always been home, is less than worthless owing to back taxes. Without resources, Mary and Hannah head...
Maile Meloy (Madame Lazarus) makes her narrating debut with this disturbing thriller that showcases a parent's worst nightmare – the disappearance of children. Best friends and cousins Liv and Nora take their husbands and two children (each) on a holiday cruise. The families bask in...
Monsters under the bed, specters hiding in closets, demons just outside the door seem to afflict – and limit – every child at some point in their young lives. But what if those "Shadows on the wall / Noises down the hall" could be confronted...
Japanese-born, Germany-based Tawada (Memoirs of a Polar Bear) writes facilely in both languages and creates incomparable award-winning fiction that defies easy labels. Tawada's latest in translation (smoothly rendered by Mitsutani, who also translated one of Tawada's earliest works, the three-storied The Bridegroom Was a Dog)...
Talk about a new kind of family ...
As the youngest winner of the Nobel Peace Prize – in 2014 at age 17 – Malala Yousafzai is an internationally recognized icon for girls' education and empowerment. Her story here speaks to the youngest readers, instilling potential and hope, rather than highlighting the fear and...
Those eyes. Those piercing, don't-turn-away-from-me eyes. In horrific times of conflict and war, turning children into collateral damage seems to be the worst crime of all. Rosemary McCarney, Canada's Ambassador to the United Nations, gathers the faces of children made into refugees in too many countries...
While this lovable series is 13-titles strong in its native Japan with over three million copies sold throughout Asia and France, more Stateside readers could use multiple doses of this dinosaur-sized delight. Even for a reptilian-averse cynic like me, Tatsuya Miyanishi's Tyrannosaurus provides irresistible charm. As...
While we groupies wait for the next volume-in-translation of Shimura Takako's internationally-lauded and mega-awarded Wandering Son series (one of my personal favorites ever) from Fantagraphics, take a look at this endearing new (in English) series from manga powerhouse Viz Media about complex relationships between high...
Jule West Williams is "the kind of woman it would be a great mistake to underestimate." Her background might be imagined, but the self-assessment is exact. Her invented 10-year "highly unusual education" – not unlike the epic journeys of white hetero heroes, which she both...
