By no means is Jinchalo your conventional manga/manwha/graphic work. Not to be going around in circles, but its title – which, in Korean, means something akin to 'really?' 'is that for real?' – works rather appropriately as a response to experiencing this adventure ...
For a couple of days, I went back and forth with The Snow Child stuck in my ears (which the inimitable Debra Monk – one of my favorite stage actors ever! – happens to narrate, oh wow!) and reading Ruta Sepetys' between shades of gray on the page...
"One starry night in old Kabul ...
With the gushing acknowledgement of her debut novel – 2011 Orange Prize, 2011 National Book Award finalist, enthusiastic thumbs up from the New Yorker, New York Times, and too many starred reviews to count – Téa Obreht is already a renowned wunderkind. Always curious about that level of fuss, I...
Quick: Growing up, how many kids did you know who carried epi-pens? I can't think of a single child (I'm dating myself, I'm sure), except for silly me, but mine were for bee stings. That certainly is not the case now! Our daughter was always...
Let me know if you’ve heard this one before – a poor man gets rich, gets greedy, not to mention careless and lazy, and loses everything. No … I’m actually not referring to the latest Wall Street headlines! This playful new version gets retold by peripatetic...
Since Craig Thompson's Habibi hit shelves last week (official release date was last Tuesday, September 20), I guess the secret of its magnificence is out ...
The First Tale: The Robe of Skulls The Second Tale: The Bag of Bones The Third Tale: Heart of Glass The Fourth Tale: The Flight of Dragons Since today is Independence Day, I figured the time is right to explore our colonial roots and see what one of...
Here's the initial scene: an orange fox chases a grey rabbit, both heading toward an almost-washed out wooden bridge perched over a fast-moving river swollen from heavy rains. The rabbit sees the bridge as an escape route, while the fox is convinced he's about to get...
Fact: Luis Alberto Urrea's creativity is limitless. Lest you cast doubt about quantity vs. quality, rest assured: Urrea's got BOTH. He's done the award-winning, list-making, bestselling memoirs, novels, short stories, poetry collections, anthologies, and provided the thousand words for others' pictures ...
As we head into the holiday weekend, here's a debut novel to help you celebrate ...
My contrary self is taking me through Jennifer Egan's oeuvre backwards, having started earlier this year with her latest, A Visit from the Goon Squad, just before she deservedly won both the 2011 National Book Critics Circle Award and 2011 Pulitzer for fiction. First things first about Egan's...
International storyteller Ashley Ramsden retells a Norwegian tale about the rich rewards of patient tenacity. "One winter's evening, a lone traveler trudged down a winding forest road looking for a place to spend the night ...
Two brothers, a girlfriend, and a part-time fox set up what will certainly be a multi-volume, another-world adventure from internationally bestselling Cornelia Funke, creator of Inkworld, her last alternate universe series. While definitely filled with swash-buckling fun and heart-thumping adventure, Reckless aims at an older...
If Gregory Maguire is not exactly a household name, his signature work, Wicked, certainly is known throughout the world, living an everlasting life on stages everywhere in its Tony...
To commemorate a dear friend's birthday, today's title had certain content requirements: something about a new year, obedient children (every parent's dream-birthday wish!), delicious food, giggly humor, all wrapped up in colorful packaging. Thankfully,...
Jiro and his father arrive at Mr. Ozu's to wish him a happy new year. As the grown-ups talk, Jiro wanders first out of the room, then into the garden where he sees a striking, unmoving large bird. As he approaches it, laughter breaks out...
Eight years after making her debut in Betsy Who Cried Wolf!, young shepherd Betsy is back ...
Possibly best known for her award-winning, mega bestselling Ella Enchanted (the book, by the way, is far better than the film, ahem!), Gail Carson Levine is certainly not unfamiliar with rewriting, re-spinning fairy tales. This one – not unlike "The Boy Who Cried Wolf" –...
Sometimes the simplest things are beyond understanding … exactly because of their simplicity. While resting against a crumbling old wall, Joha happens upon a wishing stick … but everything he wishes for has exactly the opposite results. He gets himself in trouble again and again, eventually...
