BookDragon Adventure Tag

The Queen of the Night by Alexander Chee [in Christian Science Monitor]

22 Feb, by SIBookDragon in Adult Readers, European, Fiction, Hapa/Mixed-race, Korean American, Nonethnic-specific, Repost

'The Queen of the Night' blends opera and mystery into a grandiose read Fourteen-plus years after his Whiting Award-ed debut, Edinburgh, hit shelves in late 2001, literary social media-darling Alexander Chee returns with The Queen of the Night, in which another – albeit very different –...

The Tea Party in the Woods by Akiko Miyakoshi

18 Feb, by SIBookDragon in Children/Picture Books, Fiction, Japanese, Translation

Perhaps "fractured fairy tale" isn't the most inviting descriptor, but the growing genre of parodied, subverted new versions of familiar stories can be fabulously enticing, not to mention downright inventive and – oxymoronic as it sounds – incredibly original. Thanks to Canada's marvelous indie Kids Can...

Master Keaton (vol. 5) by Naoki Urasawa, story by Hokusei Katsushika and Takashi Nagasaki, translated and adapted by John Werry

12 Feb, by SIBookDragon in Absolute Favorites, Adult Readers, British Asian, Fiction, Graphic Title/Manga/Manwha, Hapa/Mixed-race, Japanese, Translation, Young Adult Readers

For those of us of a certain (old) age, we might remember an animated rabbit used to sell artificially colored, chemically flavored powder that altered milk into some sort of sweet goop: Quiky the Quik Bunny would quip "You can't drink it slow, if it's Quik."...

Dear Yeti by James Kwan

10 Feb, by SIBookDragon in Children/Picture Books, Chinese American, Fiction

Ready for an adventure with big bad beasts in a battle to the death against the fiercest elements? What? Not tonight? How about something a bit more ...

Ultraman (vol. 2) by Eiichi Shimizu, illustrated by Tomohiro Shimoguchi, translated by Joe Yamazaki, English adaptation by Stan!

05 Feb, by SIBookDragon in Fiction, Graphic Title/Manga/Manwha, Japanese, Middle Grade Readers, Translation, Young Adult Readers

Volume 1 promised "This is the beginning of a new age" on its intriguing cover page. And yep, did it ever deliver – for oldster-fans delirious with gleeful nostalgia and a brand new generation of young 'uns lucky to discover this hero-version-2.0! Yes, indeedy, Ultraman is...

Otters Love to Play by Jonathan London, illustrated by Meilo So [in Booklist]

02 Feb, by SIBookDragon in British, British Asian, Children/Picture Books, Nonethnic-specific, Nonfiction, Repost

Last year’s beaver den is this year’s cozy lair for a mother otter and three newborn pups. When they are finally allowed out, they lose no time leaping and tumbling, pouncing and wrestling, because, well, otters love to play. With their waterproof fur coats, the pups...

Avatar: The Last Airbender | Smoke and Shadow (Parts One and Two) created by Bryan Konietzko and Michael Dante DiMartino, script by Gene Luen Yang, art by Gurihiru, lettering by Michael Heisler

22 Jan, by SIBookDragon in Chinese American, Fiction, Graphic Title/Manga/Manwha, Middle Grade Readers, Pan-Asian Pacific American, Young Adult Readers

Avatar Aang takes a temporary narrative back seat to his Fire Lord buddy Zuko in Part One of the newest Last Airbender three-part installment. Now that Zuko has been reunited with his long-lost mother Ursa [you'll need to read The Search for the full backstory], he's bringing...

A Beginner’s Guide to Bear Spotting by Michelle Robinson, illustrated by David Roberts [in Booklist]

12 Jan, by SIBookDragon in British, Children/Picture Books, Fiction, Nonethnic-specific, Repost

Going for a walk in “bear country” could be very dangerous business, unless you heed the wise advice of this intrepid child, whose well-stocked, oversize backpack contains all the many things necessary to negotiate potential sightings. When confronted by a black or brown bear, pepper spray...

Fearless Flyer: Ruth Law and Her Flying Machine by Heather Lang, illustrated by Raúl Colón [in Booklist]

11 Jan, by SIBookDragon in Biography, Children/Picture Books, Latina/o/x, Nonethnic-specific, Nonfiction, Repost

*STARRED REVIEW It’s true: “When Ruth Law made up her mind, there was no use trying to stop her.” With tenacious aplomb, Law announced that she would fly from Chicago to New York in one day – a distance, in 1916, that had never before been...

Hilo: The Boy Who Crashed to Earth (Book 1) by Judd Winick

08 Jan, by SIBookDragon in Black/African American, Chinese American, Fiction, Graphic Title/Manga/Manwha, Middle Grade Readers, Nonethnic-specific

Given all the anti-immigrant hubbub in the news, Hilo is an absolutely surprising standout, least of all because the blonde, sometimes blue-eyed (not on the cover, but check pages 8 and 33, for example) hero here turns out to be the alien. Yup, Hilo (as in 'high-low')...

The Good Little Book by Kyo Maclear, illustrated by Marion Arbona

24 Nov, by SIBookDragon in Absolute Favorites, Canadian, Canadian Asian Pacific American, Children/Picture Books, Fiction, Hapa/Mixed-race

Winter is quickly settling around us ...

You Look Yummy! [Tyrannosaurus series 1] by Tatsuya Miyanishi, translated by Mariko Shii Gharbi

19 Nov, by SIBookDragon in Children/Picture Books, Fiction, Japanese, Translation

I admit it: I'm not much of a dinosaur fan – on the page, anyway. Far too many books starring these behemoth  beings seem to loom over my desk. That said, every once in a (long) while, I discover an irresistible prehistoric beast with a story that...

Some Kind of Courage by Dan Gemeinhart [in Booklist]

18 Nov, by SIBookDragon in Chinese American, Fiction, Middle Grade Readers, Native American/First Nations/Indigenous Peoples, Nonethnic-specific, Repost, Young Adult Readers

*STARRED REVIEW Says a grateful admirer to Joseph and his unlikely traveling companion, “You boys. You got some kind of courage.” In the Wild West of 1890 Washington State, Joseph, not yet 13, has lost his mother and sister to typhoid and his father to a...

Master Keaton (vols. 3-4) by Naoki Urasawa, story by Hokusei Katsushika and Takashi Nagasaki, translated and adapted by John Werry

16 Oct, by SIBookDragon in Absolute Favorites, Adult Readers, British, British Asian, Fiction, Graphic Title/Manga/Manwha, Hapa/Mixed-race, Japanese, Translation, Young Adult Readers

Well, I've done it now – binge-read two volumes of my latest favorite manga obsession. I really was trying to space out the fabulous adventures of Taichi Hiraga Keaton, our British/Japanese hapa professor/insurance investigator (ha! of course, he's so much more than that!), but once begun...

One-Punch Man (vol. 1) by ONE, illustrated by Yusuke Murata, translated by John Werry

02 Oct, by SIBookDragon in Fiction, Graphic Title/Manga/Manwha, Japanese, Translation, Young Adult Readers

When’s the last time you encountered a bored superhero – bored because he hasn’t encountered a single worthy opponent? Meet Saitama – albeit you'll need old-people glasses to see the tiny type in the small box in the Table of Contents which seems to be the one and...

Zen Socks by Jon J. Muth

23 Sep, by SIBookDragon in Children/Picture Books, Fiction, Nonethnic-specific

Who knew ...

Dalia’s Wondrous Hair/ El cabello maravilloso de Dalia by Laura Lacámara, translated by Gabriela Baeza

10 Sep, by SIBookDragon in Bilingual, Children/Picture Books, Cuban, Cuban American, Fiction, Latina/o/x, Translation

One night as Dalia sleeps, her hair grows "straight up to the sky, tall and thick as a Cuban royal palm tree." Delighted, Dalia decorates her gorgeous locks with "wild tamarind, violet and coontie leaves," then requests that her mother guess "what kind of tree I...

Colossal Paper Machines created by Phil Conigliaro, text by Theo Baker

07 Sep, by SIBookDragon in Children/Picture Books, Middle Grade Readers, Nonethnic-specific, Nonfiction

Labor Day already? How about some working fun – literally??!! The directions are right on the cover: pop out, fold, glue. It really is that straight-forward to create these "10 giants models that move!" They're not exaggerating on size: the book alone is a few pounds of heavy...

The Beast in My Belly by Grzegorz Kasdepke, illustrated by Tomek Kozłowski, translated by Agnes Monod-Gayraud

03 Sep, by SIBookDragon in Children/Picture Books, European, Fiction, Middle Grade Readers, Translation

You know those days you forget to eat because you're running around here and there, and your belly LOUDLY (usually at inopportune moments) reminds you to "FEEEEEED MEEEE!!!"? Those grumbles and rumbles DO sound just like a hidden beast! If you're an inquisitive kid who hasn't...

The Kurosagi Corpse Delivery Service (vol. 14) by Eiji Otsuka, art by Housui Yamazaki, translated by Toshifumi Yoshida, edited by Carl Gustav Horn

07 Aug, by SIBookDragon in Adult Readers, Fiction, Graphic Title/Manga/Manwha, Japanese, Translation

After more than two-and-a-half years since volume 13 hit Stateside shelves in December 2012, the Kurosagi quintet-plus-puppet (I mean alien) are FINALLY back. And then some. Because in this latest volume, it's Kurosagi x 3, as in three distinct Kurosagi versions fighting for page time. Guess they...