The wait is just about over: Book Six hits shelves in just 11 days. Yes, almost two years have passed since Book Five pubbed, but creator Kazu Kibuishi has hardly been resting on his mega-bestseller laurels: that he was the artist chosen to give the legendary...
Welcome to Peach Blossom, a faraway ancient farming village known for its peaches and almonds. The inhabitants rely on Dragon Bridge to get in and out, especially during the harvest season when they sell or trade their bounty in the neighboring town. One autumn, disaster occurs: Dragon...
So maybe I'm getting older faster, but oh my goodness, I'm surprised this trilogy is rated for kids – ages 12+ and grade 7+! Fair warning from this parent: the violence is graphic, the body count immeasurable, and by the end, most of the main characters...
If you're looking for a feel-good love story, this won't be it. If three separate tragic romances connected by heart-thumping, horrifying adventures sounds about right, then here it is – supercharged adrenaline rush most definitely guaranteed. First comes young love. While exploring an older section of 1970s Barcelona,...
Hungry? Then don't read this ...
"Once upon a time, there was a family with two daughters, and a mother and father who promised to love them both exactly the same." "She was my twin, my fun-house mirror, my whirlwind other half. It's important to note that I was also all those...
Just to be totally up front, we have four months of waiting for Part Three. Just saying (and sighing). Until then, in case you need to flash back, here's a look at Part One, which landed Avatar Aang and his motley entourage at what should have been the...
Readers with groupie-tendencies (like me), take careful note: Hattie Ever After is positive proof that if you ask an author enough times for more, you just might receive. "When I left Hattie at the end of Hattie Big Sky," confesses Kirby Larson in her ending "Author's...
Open this penultimate volume, and the belly begins flip-flopping over how it might – must? – end. Creator Shuzo Oshimi has clearly shown himself to be one scary manipulator, so already I'm trying to prepare for the inevitably shattering shock this October when that final installment comes out. Oh, but the agony of...
Not to discourage anyone, but feel free to stop reading any further and just go to your favorite bookstore, walk to your nearest library, click online, or visit your most literary buddy's shelves, and open to the first page of Our Happy Time as soon...
Micah is a boy. Micah is a girl. Micah is 17, a senior in a progressive New York City private school. Micah's father went to Marseille in search of his unknown black French father and came back with a white French wife. Micah's father is an...
Apparently, I've jumped way ahead and will need to go backwards sooner than later: GTO: 14 Days in Shonan is the sequel to the wildly successful original GTO which debuted in 1997 and quickly thereafter became a TV drama, live-action film, anime, and more. And the...
Welcome to Choctaw country: native storyteller Greg Rodgers re-introduces a "hidden away" tale transcribed from the 1930s to "the living world of Choctaw literature," while native artist Leslie Stall Widener animates Rodgers' words with whimsical renditions of the animal characters garbed in Choctaw-inspired colorful duds. Young (and old, ahem!)...
In a roundabout way I can't quite recall, I ended up at this 2007 New York Times article, "Young Man Behaving Badly," and learned that bestselling author Glen Duncan is hapa British Asian. I found his latest title, By Blood We Live, magically waiting on my shelves, only...
"In 1975 ...
Although Fridays are predominantly reserved for manga, I thought July Fourth trumped the usual today. Kirby Larson’s Hattie Big Sky, a 2007 Newbery Honor title, examines American patriotism from a perspective I can't remember encountering before in fiction. While the target audience is younger readers, surely adults...
Welcome to the corner of Broadway and West 139th Street in New York City: Today, Kameeka is determined that she will finally claim her rightful title as the Hula-Hoopin' Queen of 139th Street! But today is also the beloved Miz Adeline's birthday – "I love Miz...
Nate Foster, who at "four foot eight" looks much younger that his almost-14 years, makes up for his diminutive height with outsized dreams – and the grandest of plans to make them come true. While his parents are away for a romantic weekend (Dad's trying to make...
And you thought you knew Little Red and the Big Wolf? Look again ...
Not quite a teenager, Poni loses her 12-year-old best friend in violent increments: to too-early forced marriage, three failed suicide attempts, and finally to childbirth long before her natural time. Poni – and her fiercely supportive mother – are determined that Poni will somehow stay in school...
