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BookDragon Coming-of-age Tag

Little Gods by Meng Jin [in Booklist]

24 Dec, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Chinese, Chinese American, Fiction, Repost

*STARRED REVIEW The story starts at the end – “Today Su Lan begins to die” – and finishes at the beginning – “her new American life.” In between, multiple fragments pieced together from various points of view present an immigrant teenager’s quest to understand who she...

b, Book, and Me by Kim Sagwa, translated by Sunhee Jeong [in Booklist]

23 Dec, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Fiction, Korean, Repost, Translation, Young Adult Readers

*STARRED REVIEW Although set in a coastal suburb outside Seoul, the cycle of neglect by stressed or careless adults can and does happen anywhere. In such an all-too-familiarly indifferent environment, lauded Korean writer Kim Sagwa (Mina, 2018) introduces three misfits: two teen girls and a socially-outcast,...

The Water Dancer by Ta-Nehisi Coates [in Booklist]

20 Dec, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Audio, Black/African American, Fiction, Repost

*STARRED REVIEW Ta-Nehisi Coates (Between the World and Me) is one of – potentially the – most sought-after contemporary voice on the politics of race, and his debut fiction could not have been more laudably anticipated. Now sporting Oprah’s seal of approval as her latest Book...

Red at the Bone by Jacqueline Woodson [in Booklist]

19 Dec, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Audio, Black/African American, Fiction, Repost

*STARRED REVIEW National Book Award-winner Jacqueline Woodson (Another Brooklyn) exquisitely examines the (dis)connections of three generations of a Brooklyn family that is tenuously held together by Melody, whose coming-of-age ceremony is just beginning in her grandparents’ brownstone. Through 21 spare, dazzling chapters, Woodson reveals the past...

King and the Dragonflies by Kacen Callender [in Shelf Awareness]

18 Dec, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Black/African American, Fiction, Middle Grade Readers, Repost

Kacen Callender, who identifies as queer, trans POC, wrote the Stonewall and Lambda winner Hurricane Child as Kheryn Callender; they debuted their name change in May 2019 with the announcement of the sale of their upcoming transgender YA novel Felix Ever After. Callender's second middle-grade title, King and the...

Bone Talk by Candy Gourlay [in Shelf Awareness]

13 Dec, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in British Asian, Fiction, Filipina/o, Middle Grade Readers, Repost, Southeast Asian

Growing up in the Philippines, Candy Gourlay (Tall Story) "wondered why all the books she'd ever loved didn't resemble her steamy, tropical home in Manila." As she explains in her author bio, it took years as a journalist and author for Gourlay, who now lives...

Almost American Girl by Robin Ha [in Booklist]

12 Dec, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Graphic Title/Manga/Manwha, Korean, Korean American, Memoir, Repost, Young Adult Readers

*STARRED REVIEW “The End of the World as I Know It” – Robin Ha’s first chapter heading – happened when she was 14. As a student in 1995 in Seoul, Korea, Ha was mostly a typical teenager, enjoying close friendships, studying hard, and obsessed with reading...

Banned Book Club by Hyun Sook Kim with Ryan Estrada, illustrated by Hyung-Ju Ko [in Booklist]

06 Dec, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Graphic Title/Manga/Manwha, Korean, Memoir, Nonfiction, Repost, Translation, Young Adult Readers

*STARRED REVIEW Busan-based wife-and-husband team Hyun Sook Kim and Ryan Estrada mine Kim’s young adult experiences to expose a chilling period of recent Korean history so antithetical to the globally addictive entertainment of K-dramas and K-pop currently synonymous with South Korea. In 1983, Hyun Sook is a...

Run Me to Earth by Paul Yoon [in Booklist]

05 Dec, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Fiction, Korean American, Laotian, Repost

*STARRED REVIEW The story begins and ends with Alisak, one of three inseparable Laotian orphans in 1969, who, in the final pages, will have become an almost-content Spanish shopowner on his way to a birthday celebration in 2018. Traversing countries and continents during a half-century, Paul...

The Enlightenment of the Greengage Tree by Shokoofeh Azar [in Booklist]

03 Dec, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Australian, Australian Asian, Fiction, Iranian, Persian, Repost, Translation

*STARRED REVIEW Although the page facing the title of Azar’s first novel to be translated into English clearly states, “Translated from the Farsi,” the linguistic enabler remains anonymous; the publisher’s official line is, “the translator of this book has asked not to be named out of...

The Fountains of Silence by Ruta Sepetys [in Booklist]

29 Nov, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Audio, European, Fiction, Latina/o/x, Repost, Young Adult Readers

L.A.-born, Madrid-raised Maite Jáuregui makes her audiobook debut with one of the year’s most anticipated/lauded/likely to be awarded titles. Jáuregui dominates a sizable cast (Joshua Kane, Robert Petkoff, Oliver Wyman, Richard Ferrone, Neil Hellegers, Liza Kaplan), while her co-stars take turns momentarily interrupting chapters with...

Birthday by Meredith Russo [in Shelf Awareness]

21 Nov, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Fiction, Nonethnic-specific, Repost, Young Adult Readers

Born on the same day during a freak September blizzard in Tennessee, Eric and Morgan – and their families – "became friends for life." The shared birthday anchors them through life's most dramatic changes: Morgan's mother dies and Morgan's father shuts down, while Eric's once-perfect...

Now Hear This: Priya Ayyar [in Booklist]

12 Nov, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Arab American, Audio, Author Interview/Profile, Fiction, Indian American, Middle Grade Readers, Persian American, Repost, South Asian American, Young Adult Readers

“Bringing these diverse books to life” is why Priya Ayyar does what she does. She narrates the books she didn’t have when she was growing up – books that resonate with her experiences as a California-born Indian American. “To think that someone who’s Muslim American...

Trans Mission: My Quest to a Beard by Alex Bertie [in Booklist]

06 Nov, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Audio, British, Memoir, Nonethnic-specific, Nonfiction, Repost, Young Adult Readers

YouTube star Alex Bertie readily admits “that as far as trans people go, I’m very privileged. I’m a white educated male with family support, a roof over my head, and a job.” Being British also guaranteed access to a national health system that paid for...

Beijing Payback by Daniel Nieh [in Booklist]

29 Oct, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Audio, Chinese, Chinese American, Fiction, Hapa/Mixed-race, Repost

*STARRED REVIEW With a mere handful of solo credits, Ewan Chung is a relative newbie to audiobooks, but his remarkable versatility proves the ideal fit to showcase Daniel Nieh’s outstanding thriller. The DC-born Chung is a talented polyglot, fluent in Mandarin (he translated the DVD audio...

More to the Story by Hena Khan [in Booklist]

28 Oct, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Audio, Fiction, Middle Grade Readers, Pakistani American, Repost, South Asian American

Louisa May Alcott’s Little Women gets a diverse contemporary makeover in Hena Khan’s (Amina’s Voice) latest middle-grade novel, relocated to Atlanta, featuring the Muslim Pakistani American Mirza family’s four daughters – Maryam, Jameela, Bisma, and Aleeza – with their father working in Abu Dhabi, and...

Like a Love Story by Abdi Nazemian [in Booklist]

17 Oct, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Audio, Fiction, Persian American, Repost, Young Adult Readers

*STARRED REVIEW It’s 1989 and AIDS is a death warrant, but first love knows no limits. Despite a teeny little blip when Lauren Ambrose mispronounces “Audre Lorde,” the cast of Abdi Nazemian’s latest presents in near-perfect pitch. Ambrose is fashion-forward creative genius Judy (named after Garland),...

There’s Something about Sweetie by Sandhya Menon [in Booklist]

11 Oct, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Audio, Fiction, Indian American, Repost, South Asian American, Young Adult Readers

Vikas Adam has deservedly earned the title of Sandhya Menon’s male voice of choice, assuming hero status in all her titles thus far. He affably returns here as Ashish, the younger brother of Rishi from When Dimple Met Rishi (2017), and he’s about to get a Bollywood-worthy romance of...

Love from A to Z by S. K. Ali [in Booklist]

07 Oct, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Arab American, Audio, Canadian, Fiction, Repost, Young Adult Readers

In an unusual narrative structure, S. K. Ali (Saints and Misfits, 2017) inserts herself directly into her latest #OwnVoices Muslim rom-com, making her aural debut. She opens by introducing two teens intrigued with “marvels” and “oddities” – whose alternating journal entries follow – then intervenes...

Nothing to See Here by Kevin Wilson [in Shelf Awareness]

30 Sep, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Fiction, Nonethnic-specific, Repost

Families of the particularly dysfunctional variety seem to be Kevin Wilson's forte, whether artistically constructed as in The Family Fang or experimentally psychological as in Perfect Little World. Despite a sense of head-shaking impossibility, Wilson somehow manages to make his make-believe believable – in between the inappropriate laughing...

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Asian Pacific American Center

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202.633.2691 | APAC@si.edu

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SmithsonianAPA brings Asian Pacific American history, art, and culture to you through innovative museum experiences and digital initiatives.

About BookDragon

Welcome to BookDragon, filled with titles for the diverse reader. BookDragon is a new media initiative of the Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center (APAC), and serves as a forum for those interested in learning more about the Asian Pacific American experience through literature. BookDragon is inhabited by Terry Hong.

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