My Name Is Blessing by Eric Walters, illustrated by Eugenie Fernandes
09 Nov, by in African, Canadian, Children/Picture Books, Nonfiction
Muthini – whose name means "suffering ...
BookDragon Grandparents Tag
My Happy Life by Rose Lagercrantz, illustrated by Eva Eriksson, translated by Julia Marshall
27 Oct, by in Children/Picture Books, European, Fiction, Middle Grade Readers, Swedish, Translation
When Dani can't sleep, she doesn't count sheep, she "counted all the times she'd been happy." Now she's also excited, as well as happy: "She'd waited her whole life to start school." Her first day is "'[m]aybe a little bit scary, but lots of fun,'"...
The Keeping Quilt and The Blessing Cup by Patricia Polacco
05 Oct, by in Children/Picture Books, Jewish, Memoir, Nonfiction, Russian
Although published a quarter century apart, these are two books that tell a single tears-of-joy-inducing family story. If chronology is important, you might read Patricia Polacco's multi-generational family epic out of publication order – that is, Blessing Cup (out this year) first, and then Keeping Quilt (which debuted in...
Mira in the Present Tense by Sita Brahmachari
02 Oct, by in British, British Asian, Fiction, Hapa/Mixed-race, Middle Grade Readers, Young Adult Readers
On the evening of her 12th birthday, Mira Levenson receives three life-changing (death-defying) gifts: a diary, a charm, and her period. As one-quarter of a school writing class (led by an author named Miss Print!), Mira finds her voice – silently at first through the diary...
My Father’s Arms Are a Boat by Stein Erik Lunde, Illustrated by Øyvind Torseter, translated by Kari Dickson
07 Sep, by in Absolute Favorites, Children/Picture Books, European, Fiction, Translation
A dear friend lost her mother this week; even if a parent is granted almost a century of life well lived, the surviving child's loss resonates for always. When a parent dies while the child is still very young, to understand and accept such loss...
Furious Cool: Richard Pryor and the World That Made Him by David Henry and Joe Henry [in Library Journal]
03 Sep, by in Adult Readers, Biography, Black/African American, Nonfiction, Repost
The latest biography of "the world's most brilliant stand-up comedian" is the culmination of a project that took more than a decade (originally intended as a three-act screenplay) by screenwriter David Henry and his brother, musician Joe Henry. Born in 1940 in Peoria, IL, Richard...
Maya’s Notebook by Isabel Allende, translated by Anne McLean
10 Jul, by in Adult Readers, Audio, Fiction, Latina/o/x, Repost, South American, Translation
I've never seen, but have read about (no surprise) the international popularity of telenovelas, but I imagine that if this, Isabel Allende's latest novel, was transferred to the little screen, it would fit quite well in what seems to be a rather histrionic genre with...
Alvin Ho: Allergic to Camping, Hiking, and Other Natural Disasters (Book 2), Allergic to Birthday Parties, Science Projects, and Other Man-Made Catastrophes (Book 3), Allergic to Dead Bodies, Funerals, and Other Fatal Circumstances (Book 4), Allergic to Babies, Burglars, and Other Bumps in the Night (Book 5) by Lenore Look, illustrated by LeUyen Pham
08 Jul, by in Chinese American, Fiction, Middle Grade Readers, Vietnamese American
As part of appreciating the versatile art of LeUyen Pham – who with her hubby Alex Puvilland imbued Friday's post, Templar, with such swashbuckling energy – I thought I should keep a good thing going by adding a few more Pham-tabulously illustrated titles this bright new Monday. [Truth be told, I...
Rainbow Stew by Cathryn Falwell
03 Jul, by in Black/African American, Children/Picture Books, Fiction, Nonethnic-specific
This week has been especially stormy and wet, so I thought I needed to throw in a rainbow in the midst of bursting clouds. The waking glee of three young children staying with their grandfather quickly turns to "[w]himper, sigh, cloudy sky," when their plans for...
Bella’s Rules by Elissa Haden Guest, illustrated by Abigail Halpin
25 Jun, by in Children/Picture Books, Fiction, Nonethnic-specific
Meet irresistible, rambunctious, adorable Bella ...
Beyond the Moongate: True Stories of 1920s China by Elizabeth Quan
17 Jun, by in Canadian, Canadian Asian Pacific American, Children/Picture Books, Chinese, Memoir, Nonfiction
"Moongates dotted the landscape of Old China," the second of artist Elizabeth Quan's two-part childhood memoir begins. "Stepping through one of these doorways was to enter a world of peace and happiness ...
The Homecoming of Samuel Lake by Jenny Wingfield
26 May, by in Adult Readers, Audio, Fiction, Nonethnic-specific
Jenny Wingfield seems to be a bit of serial first-hit wonder. That's actually not a judgment but an observation: her first film she wrote, The Man in the Moon, was glorified by the late Roger Ebert, gave Reese Witherspoon her screen debut, and was the last...
Where the Streets Had a Name by Randa Abdel-Fattah
04 Apr, by in Australian, Fiction, Middle Grade Readers, Palestinian, Young Adult Readers
Here's the seemingly simple story: When her grandmother falls ill, 13-year-old Hayaat decides that a jarful of her ancestral soil – a mere six miles away – will be the very thing that will make her grandmother well, so Hayaat grabs her best friend and goes off...
Tomorrow There Will Be Apricots by Jessica Soffer + Author Interview [in Bookslut]
01 Apr, by in Adult Readers, Author Interview/Profile, Fiction, Iraqi American, Jewish, Repost
It began with a story. I know, I know, that's what they all say. But Jessica Soffer's debut novel, Tomorrow There Will Be Apricots, really did begin with a short story she wrote in 2009 for a graduate school assignment. In sharp contrast to the novel's...
The Sandcastle Girls by Chris Bohjalian
17 Feb, by in Adult Readers, Armenian American, Audio, Fiction
I think at least a decade has passed since I read a Chris Bohjalian title (Midwives remains my favorite). Two shocks came with this, his latest: 1. He's got 15 books out already; and 2. He's of Armenian descent (yes, I should have connected that '-ian'...
The Year of the Snake: Tales from the Chinese Zodiac by Oliver Chin, illustrated by Jennifer Wood
21 Jan, by in Children/Picture Books, Chinese American, Fiction
Three weeks into the new year, and I'm already so behind I surely wouldn't mind a do-over. I don't think I've ever been this tardy before with the latest annual installment of Oliver Chin‘s energetic, entertaining Tales from the Chinese Zodiac series, but hopefully this is a case...
Vietnamerica: A Family’s Journey by GB Tran
12 Jan, by in Adult Readers, Graphic Title/Manga/Manwha, Memoir, Nonfiction, Southeast Asian, Southeast Asian American, Vietnamese, Vietnamese American, Young Adult Readers
Both the inside and outside covers here are exactly the same: a mostly well-ordered, three-generation family tree ...
The Plague of Doves by Louise Erdrich
12 Dec, by in Adult Readers, Audio, Fiction, Native American/First Nations/Indigenous Peoples
Only when Louise Erdrich won this year's National Book Award for The Round House, did I learn that House is the middle of a planned trilogy that begins with The Plague of Doves which, most serendipitously, was already loaded on my iPod. A bit of...
August Moon by Diana Thung
28 Nov, by in Adult Readers, Australian, Australian Asian, Fiction, Graphic Title/Manga/Manwha, Indonesian, Middle Grade Readers, Southeast Asian, Young Adult Readers
Get ready for surreal delight. When a mysterious creature with an imbedded bullet turns up, Fi and her scientist father head to the town of Calico – linked "to the rest of the country! and the world!" by a single bridge. They'll be staying with Fi's Uncle...
Little White Duck: A Childhood in China by Na Liu and Andrés Vera Martínez
21 Nov, by in Absolute Favorites, Chinese, Chinese American, Graphic Title/Manga/Manwha, Latina/o/x, Memoir, Middle Grade Readers, Nonfiction
Little White Duck is a visual feast that showcases the childhood memories of author Na Liu, and vibrantly enhanced by her artist husband Andrés Vera Martínez. Liu introduces herself with an adorably grinning "Ni Hao!," explaining that she was born in Zhifang, a suburb of...