Family Archives - Page 18 of 144

From a Whisper to a Rallying Cry: The Killing of Vincent Chin and the Trial that Galvanized the Asian American Movement by Paula Yoo [in Shelf Awareness]

On June 19, 1982, 27-year-old Chinese American Vincent Chin was bludgeoned with a baseball bat by Ronald Ebens and stepson Michael Nitz. The two white men, like too many others, were driven by anti-Asian resentment over Detroit's declining auto industry due to Japanese competition. "It's...

Too Bright to See by Kyle Lukoff [in Shelf Awareness]

07 May, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Fiction, Middle Grade Readers, Nonethnic-specific, Repost

*STARRED REVIEW Kyle Lukoff has already received acclaim for his picture books, including his #OwnVoices 2020 Stonewall Award-winning When Aidan Became a Brother. Lukoff's middle-grade debut, Too Bright to See, is another illuminating story that explores gender identity, featuring a trans tween who's finally ready to...

Sparks Like Stars by Nadia Hashimi [in Booklist]

05 May, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Afghan, Afghan American, Audio, Fiction, Repost

*STARRED REVIEW Veteran narrator Mozhan Marnò has one of those gratifyingly recognizable, sigh-inducing audiobook voices that immediately immerses readers. Here, for 12 hours, she commands Afghan American pediatrician-turned-novelist Nadia Hashimi’s (A House without Windows, 2018) latest, ciphering the multi-pronged epic over decades and across continents, cultures, and...

A Phở Love Story by Loan Le [in Booklist]

03 May, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Audio, Fiction, Repost, Southeast Asian American, Vietnamese American, Young Adult Readers

Ryan Do and Vyvy Nguyen might be audiobook newbies, but they’re just what debut novelist Loan Le must have ordered: together, the trio offers an #OwnVoices treat combining a never-meant-to-be love story, family feuds, and drool-worthy Vietnamese cuisine. Vibrant Nguyen is Linh Mai, who’s always been...

The Removed by Brandon Hobson [in Booklist]

29 Apr, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Audio, Fiction, Native American/First Nations/Indigenous Peoples, Repost

*STARRED REVIEW A stellar #OwnVoices all-Indigenous cast gathers to heighten Brandon Hobson’s luminous follow-up to the 2018 National Book Award finalist Where the Dead Sit Walking. During the 15 years since Ray-Ray was wrongly, fatally shot by a white police officer, his surviving family has fractured....

What Could Be Saved by Liese O’Halloran Schwarz [in Booklist]

27 Apr, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Audio, Fiction, Nonethnic-specific, Repost

Here’s where veteran narrator Lisa Flanagan excels: unflaggingly individualizing myriad varied characters. Here’s where she disappoints: stumbling over non-English words and using a grating French accent. Quibbles aside, Flanagan consistently, remarkably maintains distinct voices for the peripatetic Preston family in Liese O'Halloran Schwarz’s (The Possible...

City of a Thousand Gates by Rebecca Sacks [in Booklist]

22 Apr, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Audio, Fiction, Israeli, Jewish, Middle Eastern, Palestinian, Repost

Lameece Issaq reads languidly, her voice an ongoing invitation to Rebecca Sacks’ debut in which so much happens, but by book’s end might feel narratively stagnant – not because of Sacks’ writing, but because Israel and Palestine remain relentlessly enshrouded in conflict. The opening credits wisely...

Lies We Bury by Elle Marr [in Booklist]

21 Apr, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Chinese American, Fiction, Hapa/Mixed-race, Repost

Claire Lou is restarting her life in Portland, Oregon, where she’s managed to find a new apartment (never mind the money she still owes on the security deposit) and she’s even gotten herself hired as the Portland Post’s photographer. Her mother is just two hours...

Seven Years of Darkness by You-Jeong Jeong, translated by Chi-Young Kim [in Booklist]

20 Apr, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Audio, Fiction, Korean, Repost, Translation

Seven years ago, 11-year-old Sowon was left a virtual orphan: his father, Hyonsu was convicted of killing Sowon’s mother and a father and young daughter, then opening the Seryong Village dam’s floodgates, which wiped out half the town, drowning four policemen. While Hyonsu landed on...

Nancy by Bruno Lloret, translated by Ellen Jones [in Shelf Awareness]

19 Apr, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Chilean, Fiction, Repost, South American, Translation

*STARRED REVIEW In Chilean author Bruno Lloret's inventively sly debut novel, Nancy, the narrative might seem relatively transparent: titular Nancy approaches death by cancer and recalls her happy childhood, her dangerous adolescence, her brother's disappearance, her mother's abandonment, her father's Mormon conversion, her husband's gruesome death....

Every Day Is for the Thief by Teju Cole [in Booklist]

18 Apr, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, African, Audio, Black/African American, Fiction, Nigerian, Repost

“I wake up late the morning I’m meant to go to the consulate,” Teju Cole’s spare novel opens. As if in mid-confession, Peter Jay Fernandez’s tone is immediately familiar. In mere seconds, he’s drawing audiences into his confidence, sharing experiences, disclosing comments, and divulging secrets...

Afterlife by Julia Alvarez [in Booklist]

16 Apr, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Audio, Fiction, Latina/o/x, Repost

“Respected professor emeritus, writer, widow of a beloved doctor,” Antonia is trying to make the best of what should have been a pastoral Vermont retirement had her kind, grounding Sam not suddenly died. To her three sisters – “the Dominican Greek chorus,” she calls them...

Eat the Buddha: Life and Death in a Tibetan Town by Barbara Demick [in Booklist]

15 Apr, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Audio, Nonethnic-specific, Nonfiction, Repost, Tibetan

Let’s just agree that Casandra Campbell is not fluent in any Asian languages – which makes her an odd (mis)casting choice for a title set mostly in Tibet, populated by mostly Tibetan characters. That said, lauded journalist Barbara Demick’s extraordinary latest is a book to...

The Bad Muslim Discount by Syed M. Masood [in Booklist]

12 Apr, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Audio, Fiction, Pakistani, Pakistani American, Repost

YA novelist Syed M. Masood (More than Just a Pretty Face, 2019) makes his adult debut with a seemingly disparate dual narrative headed for collision. Self-described “lapsed lawyer” Anvar is drifting – he’s lost his love-of-his-life-since-childhood Zuha; he consistently embarrasses his devout Muslim Pakistani American family;...

The Parted Earth by Anjali Enjeti [in Booklist]

08 Apr, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Fiction, Indian, Indian American, Repost, South Asian, South Asian American

Before partition, the bloody 1947 cleaving that established India and Pakistan, Deepa was a happy teen in Delhi, loved by two parents who ran a medical clinic serving all in need. But hatred, politics, and fire destroyed her life. She left India, seemingly if not...

One of the Good Ones by Maika Moulite and Maritza Moulite [in Booklist]

06 Apr, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Audio, Black/African American, Fiction, Repost, Young Adult Readers

Ma likes to think her family is like Job’s, so much so that she and Dad named their daughters accordingly: Jemima Genesis, Keziah Leah, Keren Happuch. Generations on both sides have known tortuous tragedy, but no one is prepared when Kezi – a YouTube activist...

Eleven Diverse Audiobooks in Verse [in School Library Journal]

01 Apr, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Arab American, Audio, Black/African American, Canadian, Canadian Asian Pacific American, Fiction, Filipina/o American, Indian American, Korean American, Latina/o/x, Lists, Middle Grade Readers, Repost, South Asian American, Syrian American, Verse Novel/Nonfiction, Young Adult Readers

April is National Poetry Month. Of course, reading, writing, and performing poetry can and should be done any time of the year, but April encourages newbies and doubters to give verses a try. Audiobooks are a particularly effective medium for poetry, with well-chosen narrators enhancing and...

Author Interview: Kaitlyn Greenidge [in Shelf Awareness]

30 Mar, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Author Interview/Profile, Black/African American, Fiction, Repost

"I Write for Black Women" Kaitlyn Greenidge's debut novel, We Love You, Charlie Freeman, won the 2017 Whiting Award and was among the New York Times Critics' Top 10 Books of 2016. She is the recipient of fellowships from the Whiting Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts...

Serena Singh Flips the Script by Sonya Lalli [in Booklist]

25 Mar, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Audio, Canadian, Canadian Asian Pacific American, Fiction, Indian, Indian American, Repost, South Asian, South Asian American

Actor/dancer Ulka Simone Mohanty confidently makes her solo debut and is clearly poised to become a chosen voice for contemporary South Asian American protagonists. Her versatility is immediately clear as she effortlessly ciphers Sonya Lalli’s (Grown-Up Pose, 2020) diverse cast: beyond career-driven exec Serena Singh,...

Libertie by Kaitlyn Greenidge [in Shelf Awareness]

22 Mar, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Black/African American, Fiction, Repost

*STARRED REVIEW Kaitlyn Greenidge wowed the literary world with her disturbingly delightful debut novel, We Love You, Charlie Freeman; her follow-up, Libertie, shows no hints of sophomore slump. Inspired by Susan Smith McKinney Steward, New York's first Black female doctor (and the third U.S. Black woman...

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