BookDragon Friendship Tag

Eating Wildly: Foraging for Life, Love and the Perfect Meal by Ava Chin + Author Profile [in Bloom]

24 Nov, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Author Interview/Profile, Chinese American, Memoir, Nonfiction, Repost

Eating Wildly for the Belly and Soul with Ava Chin These days, Ava Chin is living her happy beginnings: she’s the mother to an energetic toddler, wife to the man of her dreams, professor of creative nonfiction and journalism at her undergrad alma mater, and – whenever...

Avatar: The Last Airbender | The Rift (Part Three) created by Bryan Konietzko and Michael Dante DiMartino, script by Gene Luen Yang, art by Gurihiru, lettering by Michael Heisler

21 Nov, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Chinese American, Fiction, Graphic Title/Manga/Manwha, Middle Grade Readers, Pan-Asian Pacific American, Young Adult Readers

Before reading another word, click here to catch up. You need to know how we got here before you can go on! As Part Three opens, Toph Beifong is "literally carrying the weight of our world." She's trapped underground, with Katara, Satoru, her father, and many...

Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? (And Other Concerns) by Mindy Kaling

19 Nov, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Audio, Indian American, Memoir, Nonfiction, South Asian American, Young Adult Readers

Confession: I've actually never seen The Mindy Project; I've never watched an episode of The Office (for which Kaling was a writer and star for some eight seasons). Yes, I live under a rock (surrounded by a lot of books). But I have ventured out enough to have seen Kaling in...

Attack on Titan (vols. 11-14) by Hajime Isayama, translated by Ko Ransom

16 Nov, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Fiction, Graphic Title/Manga/Manwha, Japanese, Translation, Young Adult Readers

If this is the first time you're hearing about this worldwide phenomenon that is Attack on Titan, please pause and take the time to catch up. Trust me when I warn you that this is not a series that you can pick up midway; you’ll need and want to follow...

Little Melba and Her Big Trombone by Katheryn Russell-Brown, illustrated by Frank Morrison

09 Nov, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Biography, Black/African American, Children/Picture Books, Nonfiction

Dizzy Gillespie. Billie Holiday. Quincy Jones. Duke Ellington. They're all household names, right? The list goes on: Count Basie, Tony Bennett, Aretha Franklin, Ray Charles, and so many more. So why is Melba Doretta Liston, who not only played with, but also composed and arranged music...

Fox’s Garden by Princesse Camcam

08 Nov, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Children/Picture Books, European, Fiction, Nonethnic-specific

Here's a book without words, which speaks a universal language that we all need to hear loud and clear: Be kind. Could the message be simpler? Somewhere, anywhere, on a cold wintry night made bright with snow, a single fox seeks shelter. The glow of soft...

El Deafo by Cece Bell, color by David Lasky

07 Nov, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Graphic Title/Manga/Manwha, Memoir, Middle Grade Readers, Nonethnic-specific, Nonfiction

You might not recognize her name immediately, but if you click here (and happen to have children of a certain age, and/or like to browse the kiddie sections of libraries and bookstores), you'll definitely recognize Cece Bell’s literally artful creations. This, her first graphic title, is...

She Weeps Each Time You’re Born by Quan Barry [in Library Journal]

04 Nov, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Fiction, Repost, Southeast Asian, Southeast Asian American, Vietnamese, Vietnamese American

*STARRED REVIEW In 2001, on an evening with a full moon –when Asian folklore says a rabbit appears on the lunar surface – Amy Quan searches for a woman in Vietnam, "where I was born in the same year as her, our lives diametrically opposite." The...

Deer Hunting in Paris: A Memoir of God, Guns, and Game Meat by Paula Young Lee + Author Interview [in Bookslut]

03 Nov, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Author Interview/Profile, Korean American, Memoir, Nonfiction, Repost

The title of Paula Young Lee's latest book (her fifth) is Deer Hunting in Paris. The subtitle, which announces it's a memoir (her first), includes two very loaded words, "God" and "Guns." The sub-subtitle explains further: "How a preacher's daughter refuses to get married, travels...

Adrian and the Tree of Secrets by Hubert, illustrated by Marie Caillou, translated by David Homel

31 Oct, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in European, Fiction, Graphic Title/Manga/Manwha, Middle Grade Readers, Translation, Young Adult Readers

Bespectacled, sweater-vested, and "as shiny as a new penny," Adrian is the quiet nerd who too often gets bullied at school. At home, his mother keeps him on a tight leash, even as he is clearly trying to pull away. His father is never mentioned. His...

Vintage by Susan Gloss

27 Oct, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Audio, Fiction, Indian American, Nonethnic-specific, South Asian American

A divorcée with her baby clock ticking, a teenage-math-prodigy-mother-to-be who no longer needs that wedding dress, and an immigrant Indian woman who's just found out her husband has spent the better part of their three-decade marriage lying to her, gather in a vintage clothing shop...

Attack on Titan (vols. 1-4) by Hajime Isayama, translated by Sheldon Drzka

24 Oct, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Fiction, Graphic Title/Manga/Manwha, Japanese, Translation, Young Adult Readers

Check out this headline from last week: "'Attack on Titan' Drives Manga Rebound at New York Comic Con." With over 1.5 million copies in print in the U.S. (which actually seems a bit paltry compared to the 40 – not a typo! – million worldwide as of...

Jasmine Skies by Sita Brahmachari

23 Oct, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in British, British Asian, Fiction, Hapa/Mixed-race, Middle Grade Readers, Young Adult Readers

When she made her Stateside debut last year in Sita Brahmachari's Mira in the Present Tense (titled Artichoke Hearts in the original edition across the Pond), hapa Jewish Indian British tween Mira Levenson seemed wise beyond her 12 years in the midst of losing her paternal grandmother...

The Secret Place [Dublin Murder Squad 5] by Tana French

22 Oct, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Audio, European, Fiction, Irish

"One road and two extra-high walls" separate St. Kilda's and St. Colm's, two privileged, private schools for girls and boys, respectively. Christopher Harper, 16, of St. Colm's is found dead on the grounds of St. Kilda's. Over the next year, his murder remains unsolved ...

The Possibilities by Kaui Hart Hemmings

20 Oct, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Audio, Fiction, Hapa/Mixed-race, Hawaiian, Nonethnic-specific

So as not to prolong the disappointment and annoyance, I'm going to try to keep this short. I actually skip posting about duds more often than not because the energy feels so wasted, but this title has history: it was attached to a 'how-many-of-these-have-you-read?"-query from a...

Cardfight!! Vanguard (vols. 1-2) by Akira Itou, translated by Satsuki Yamashita and Shizuki Yamashita

17 Oct, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Fiction, Graphic Title/Manga/Manwha, Japanese, Middle Grade Readers, Translation

So I'm feeling especially last-century today ...

The Seventh Day by Yu Hua, translated by Allan H. Barr [in Library Journal]

15 Oct, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Chinese, Fiction, Repost, Translation

*STARRED REVIEW Yang Fei is dead. Arriving at the funeral parlor as directed, he's denied eternal rest because he has "neither urn nor grave"; over the next seven days, he revisits his short 41 years. Yang Fei was temporarily famous as "the boy a train gave birth...

The Whispering Town by Jennifer Elvgren, illustrated by Fabio Santomauro

14 Oct, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Children/Picture Books, European, Jewish, Nonfiction

Sometimes, whispers can speak more loudly than any shouts and screams ...

Gustave by Rémy Simard, illustrated by Pierre Pratt, translated by Shelley Tanaka

12 Oct, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Canadian, Children/Picture Books, Fiction, Nonethnic-specific

As much as Gustave tends toward dark (both in illustrations and initial narrative content), it's even more so about hope ...

Ashes to Ashes [Burn for Burn Trilogy 3] by Jenny Han and Siobhan Vivian

09 Oct, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Fiction, Korean American, Nonethnic-specific, Young Adult Readers

"The idea for the Burn for Burn trilogy began over cupcakes, as the best ideas usually do," the back cover teases, citing YA-writing BFFs Jenny Han and Siobhan Vivian's inseparable relationship. That said, little is sweet about this searing series featuring three high school girls bound together...