Winner of the 2011 New Voices Award from innovative multi-culti press Lee & Low, journalist/new author Jennifer Torres’ Finding the Music hit shelves earlier this month. [In case you need the exact details, the original title was Live at the Cielito Lindo, the publisher is Children's Book Press – one...
Yes, indeed – too much of a good thing is detrimentally possible. Take electricity, for example: as much as we need and use that energy, "city lights always [turn] the night sky gray and dull." For young Phoebe, that's especially disappointing, because tonight, Saturn and...
*STARRED REVIEW Few writers, even the most seasoned, can produce collections of evenly superb stories. Mia Alvar triumphs on her first try. Her nine stories reflect her own peripatetic background (Manila born, Bahrain/New York raised, Harvard/Columbia educated), featuring a cast of immigrants, expats, travelers, runaways, and...
Reprising the unique delight he brought to his debut, Work: An Occupational ABC, Canadian artist/author Kellen Hatanaka makes opposites all new, taking the youngest readers on a Drive from "start" to "finish," exploring distance, size, directions, weather conditions, time, age, and so much more. Piled...
The more I read about North Korea, the more flabbergasted I become that THREE generations of Kim dictators have managed to shutter out most of the world for this long. So tragically epic or utterly preposterous – with little in between – are the limited...
By age 4, Liz Prince knew something important about herself: she could be "totally happy as long as [she] didn't have to wear a dress." Before you pass any judgments, Prince explains at age 31, "I look like a total tantrum-throwing brat, which I wasn't...
Orhan's Inheritance cleverly intertwines first love, ancient betrayal, secrets, and war crimes At age 8, Aline Ohanesian’s great-grandmother interrupted her seventh viewing of The Sound of Music with a promise: “I have a story, too.” That was the first and last time Ohanesian heard about her Nene’s...
Việt Thanh Nguyễn – Associate Professor at USC in English and American Studies – has a 25-page CV online that highlights countless publications, including articles, essays, book chapters, reviews, blog posts, commentaries, short stories, and more. His accomplishments are numerous: citations, awards, fellowships, etc. All...
April is National Poetry Month: do you know where your verses are? If you're looking for entertaining true love set to 5/7/5 syllabic meter, you won't do better than this adorable twosome...
This latest from Amit Chaudhuri (Freedom Song; The Immortals) offers minimal plot: a 22-year-old homesick Indian literature student and aspiring poet wakes in his shabby London studio, practices his singing, meets his university tutor, delivers his rent, and visits his uncle Radhesh, with whom he...
Sona's sister is getting married: "There is so much to do. Even I have a job!" Sona exclaims with excitement. Relatives from India have arrived, and so many more friends and family have all gathered, "turning our house into a festival." Amidst the ongoing hustle-bustle...
"I WISH YOU WOULD BOTH JUST DISAPPEAR!!!" What child hasn't at least thought that about their parents at some point?! If you're half-witch, and half-human, and you actually voice such words really loudly on your 10th birthday – cake candles and all – you just...
In real life, Linda Lavin (known to a certain generation as TV's Alice, also known to others for her almost-half-century of on-stage success) isn't quite as old as the titular Boston Girl, but she absolutely epitomizes the ideal narrator here. The year is 1985, and...
After four novels, four poetry collections, editing an anthology (and multiple awards), Eric Gansworth – who is also a playwright and visual artist – takes on young adult fiction for his 10th title. His 7th-grade hero, Lewis Blake, calls the Tuscarora Reservation in upstate New...
Both my kids regularly refer to me as 'the crazy cat lady.' When Eldest gets especially annoyed, I get shooed off with advice to conduct feline conversations instead. So imagine my delight in discovering a shared obsession with Canadian Korean cartoonist Seo Kim! Currently Los Angeles-domiciled and...
Here's a narrative I haven't seen often: a not-yet-an-immigration story. Young Aref has one more week left to spend in his idyllic home in Muscat, the capital city of his native Oman. In too-few days, he and his mother will fly to the other side of the...
Some of us should probably stay out of the kitchen – "cooking is not one of your strong points," Eldest remarked gravely the other day after the rice fell and the chicken was way too dry (and we had guests, egads!). To avoid such culinary disappointments,...
As the story begins, the titular 'I' is dead. That's actually not a spoiler – "The day after Meg died ...
Juna and Hector are best friends as well as apartment neighbors. They share regular "kimchi jar adventures," filling the large, clear jar with "colorful rocks and small bugs." One day, Hector is no longer with his grandmother downstairs; while Juna was out, Hector left to...
So when's the last time you took screen shots of book pages and sent them to friends and family because you wanted to guffaw in virtual company? Once upon a time, my middle brother and I would have long lasting giggle-fests triggered by what might not have been...
