My recent mini-Ethiopian self-study (from the heartwarming No Biking in the House Without a Helmet to the shattering Beneath the Lion's Gaze to the wondrous Cutting for Stone) continues with an older title written for younger readers about the saving power of friendship – as well as redemptive...
"In Khardji [Yemen], the village where I was born, women are not taught how to make choices," Nujood Ali explains. Her mother married her father at age 16 without protest, and said nothing when her husband brought home another wife four years later. "It was...
My first reaction a few chapters into Uma Krishnaswami's latest middle-grade romp of a novel was, 'Take me, take me! I wanna move to Swapnagiri, too!' Dini and her family's South Indian adventures hadn't even started yet, and I was ready to pack my bags...
Hatshepsut of Egypt Artemisia of Caria Sorghaghtani of Mongolia Qutlugh Terkan Khatun of Kirman Isabella of Castile Nur Jahan of India Happy birthday to the world's most famous queen (still!) who turns 85 today, making her son the oldest prince-waiting-to-be-king in British history. Next week, on April 29, Queen E2 will...
I picked up Gayle Tzemach Lemmon's already-bestselling debut title with a mission: after reading too many death-and-destruction books one after another, I needed some inspiration to reverse me out of a downward spiral. Our mutual involvement in a fabulous project which puts us on the same web...
Lucky for the Smithsonian to own a piece of legendary Olympic ice skater Kristi Yamaguchi ...
Sometimes even the saddest tragedies can eventually lead to happy new beginnings ...
Long, long ago, the Eight Noble Sages helped a noble warrior found the ancient great nation of Saiunkoku, "the country of the coloured clouds," and eventually "brought about the dawning of the Age of Man." Therein lies the problem, of course ...
How cool is this? You can read the serialized version of this manga by clicking here. Or, you can watch the anime version online by clicking here. Although, I'll have to admit that I much prefer having it all right here in one book (the first...
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" –...
Never mind the series title, it's girl power all the way: locked up in church with a bursting audience as witnesses, young Kanna manages to get the biggest gangster bosses to call a truce and band together to protect the imminently-visiting Pope. Meanwhile, Koizumi Kyoko has...
Here's an entertaining title just in time for upcoming Banned Books Week – this year, it's September 25 through October 2, which means you've even got time to read Volume 1 and catch up before grabbing this latest installment. Here's the set up: in the not-too-distant...
My tween son grabbed the third installment of Kazu Kibuishi's inventive, adventurous series before I could even say 'three,' then lamented at the six months he would have to wait for Book Four, Book Four: "Do I really have to wait so long?" followed with "Can't...
I think this is my introduction to CLAMP, an all-woman collective of manga artists that began in the mid-1980s with varying members through the years, but consistently cranking out high-sales series that often get turned into anime. Go, girls, go! That said, I probably need to...
Sylvia Ross, LA-born and “raised … apart from her family Chukchansi culture,” as stated in her bio, has focused her writerly life on her Native American culture. Her latest title captures an inspiring ‘girl power’ story of long ago … about a “medium-sized” Yaudanchi child...
Janet Wong has gone literally hybrid. Her latest title, debuting next month, is part graphic novel, part regular prose. Thanks to her flexible illustrator Elizabeth Buttler, the result is an entertaining new way for young readers to enjoy a story on different levels. Popular. pretty Rolly Maloo is...
With the too-often news of banned books that crop up to remind us that our reading choices can easily be restricted at any moment, the premise of Library Wars is not so far-fetched, regardless of its futuristic setting. Making its English translation debut this month,...
Despite the fact that Ling and Ting are twins, they are not – regardless of their many similarities, regardless of what the barber says – exactly the same! And ever since Ting sneezed at just the wrong moment during their latest haircuts and lost an uneven...
For years, this 1996 National Book Award finalist in Children's Literature sat high on my night-table stack. But once I finally opened its pages – annoyingly marked with multiple intrusive stamps of "Discarded by the Yankton Community Library" as I ordered it used – the book...
Let the giggling begin! Mother/daughter writing team of hundreds-and-hundreds-of-titles-between-the-two-of-them present girl power with a pink-less crown on top! And what an absolutely delightful collaboration indeed. Not to disparage the color pink – I admit it! I loathe the color! – but really, pink is just...
