P Is for Passport: A World Alphabet by Devin Scillian, illustrated by a collection of nationally acclaimed artists [in AsianWeek]
17 Oct, by in Absolute Favorites, Children/Picture Books, Nonethnic-specific, Nonfiction, Repost
When have you ever had an alphabet book that used “xenophobia” for the letter X? “… you’ll need to leave one X at home, and that’s for ‘xenophobia,’” it reads....
An energetic, kid-friendly tour (perfect for curious adults, too!) from a sushi bar to Tsukiji (the world’s largest fish market, located in Tokyo) to the sushi history annals, then back to the...
In order to sign up for the dancing class at the local recreation center – so it can get government funding – Fiona Cheng has to indicate her race. Being Scottish from...
Eleven essays capture almost a half-century of Nobel Prize-winning Naipaul’s literary life. The final essay, “Two Worlds,” which he begins and ends by invoking Proust, is the lecture he gave when accepting the Nobel...
Hong Kingston’s much awaited new book begins with the calamitous fires in the Oakland-Berkeley hills of October 1991 that strike as she is driving home from her father’s funeral –...
Capturing her rollicking journey through India’s phenomenal Bollywood industry, journalist Hardy recounts the glitz and glitter of stars, their starlets, directors and various groupies as she searches for elusive pretty-boy, mega heartthrob Hrithik Roshan.
Review:...
What might be considered a companion collection to 
Gathering History for the Future: A Profile of Curator & Historian Franklin Odo
The woman who inspired the Taj Mahal had all but been lost to history until Sundaresan recreated her in her historical novel The Twentieth Wife, released earlier this year in paperback. Sundaresan...
Make sure you get this one into your library – it's the very first collection of historical writings by and about APA women. It's about rethinking our collective past as...
The re-release of the 10-million copy-strong bestselling epic memoir about three generations of Chinese women, opens with a brand-new introduction by the author. First published in 1991, Chang chronicles the lives of her concubine...
A poignant, lovely bilingual tale about a little girl who visits her ancestral home in Vietnam and realizes that she can be both Vietnamese and American, with a home here...
From one of the world’s most famous – and favorite – ex-pats living in Japan comes a shrewd though appreciative look at Japan’s craze for fads, fashions, and style, from manga, pachinko, cell phones,...
A disturbing collection of essays that explores the inextricable link between sex and consumerism in art in Japan. It is one of those “you just can’t take your eyes away” sort of voyeuristic books...
An anthology of works from Mark Twain to Langston Hughes, from Saul Bellow to David Sedaris that captures America’s love affair with the legendary city, which, according to M.F.K. Fisher, “should only...
A fabulous collection of prose and poetry from a new generation of Korean American authors. Grouped into three sets of pairings – arrival/return, dwelling/crossing, descent/flight, all with multiple layers of meaning –...
The captivating inspiration for the award-winning film of the same title about 8-year-old Kahu, who must convince her great-grandfather that females can carry on ancient Maori traditions just as well – if not better!...
A collection of 23 traditional Chinese myths and legends, uniquely illustrated with rare advertising posters from the 1920s and ’30s.
Review: 
A perfect introduction for older children about the culture and arts of the ancient land of Korea. The book is especially timely now, if nothing else but to dispel some...
For two years before she left Iran, Nafisi, a resigned university professor, spent almost every Thursday morning with seven of her favorite former female students, discussing Western classics in a...