In early 1940s wartime Berlin, an official letter arrives for Otto and Anna Quangel with the unbearable news that their only son is dead. Anna immediately rejects "'those common lies ...
From the genius creator of It's a Book (still my personal battle cry!) comes another delightful low-tech celebration of things that don't require electricity! "He was born a really long time ago," the tale begins, "before computers or cell phones or television." Imagine that sort...
Yu Hua is a grand master of subversion. Just as his title – China In Ten Words – promises, Yu “compress[es] the endless chatter of China today into ten simple words ...
Earlier this year at that sprawling, unnavigable, kvetchfest known as AWP – the annual conference of the Association of Writers & Writing Programs – I got to introduce and moderate the very best panel of the long weekend (the title alone was the most memorable: "I Am Not...
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...
What formative experiences make a great children’s book illustrator? In the case of Allen Say and Ed Young, both Caldecott medalists, the journey begins with unusual childhoods in wartime Asia. Connecting the dots from those beginnings to what would become long and successful careers, Drawing...
Almost 10 years after Julie Otsuka made her spectacular literary debut with When the Emperor Was Divine, I remain even more convinced that Emperor is the best book I've ever read about the Japanese American imprisonment during World War II. Truth be told, Emperor ranks so high on...
Before I let myself even open Michael Ondaatje's newest title, The Cat's Table, which hit shelves earlier this month, I was determined to read his previous novels that I had somehow missed. The realization that I have now earned access to Table is rather bittersweet as...
Luis Alberto Urrea's 2005 Pulitzer Prize finalist for General Nonfiction reads like a heart-thumping thriller, complete with big cars and big guns, desperate men and boys, waiting women, and an enormous body count. That the story is true instantly turns it into a modern tragedy of epic...
Cleopatra: "Serpent of the Nile" by Mary Fisk Pack, illustrated by Peter Malone Agrippina: "Atrocious and Ferocious" by Shirin Yim Bridges, illustrated by Peter Malone Mary Tudor: "Bloody Mary" by Gretchen Maurer, illustrated by Peter Malone Catherine de' Medici: "The Black Queen" by Janie Havemeyer, illustrated by Peter Malone Marie...
Here's another intriguing premise from Ana Maria Machado – one of Brazil’s preeminent writers for children, and winner of the highly prestigious 2000 Hans Christian Andersen Award for Writing ...
If the writing is a bit stilted and uneven in this middle grade novel, Ana Maria Machado – one of Brazil's preeminent writers for children – has a plausible excuse. Her fictional writer/narrator here is a schoolboy named Mariano who is "only writing – or trying to write –...
The slim, startling volume begins with an aged, family photograph which essentially contains the contents of the pages that follow ...
The story of the brave Tessier children, begun in last year's Resistance, continues here with the focus on the middle child, teenager Paul and his courageous tenacity. The year is 1943, and the German occupation of France is an everyday nightmare. "[T]o ensure their continued control,...
Here I go again starting with a book backwards … in the ending “Translator’s Note,” Paul Starkey writes, “Readers of Maryam’s Maze who are already familiar with the author’s short stories will quickly feel themselves at home in this more extended work, which again reveals...
*STARRED REVIEW In an introductory galley letter, National Book Award winner Ha Jin (Waiting, 1999) announces his intent to reclaim American missionary Minnie Vautrin’s heroism during the 1937 Nanjing massacre: “She suffered and ruined herself helping others, but she became a legend. At least her story has...
Within minutes of finishing Nicole Krauss' The History of Love, I felt so bereft without Alma Singer and Leo Gorsky, that I immediately clicked my iPod to The Great House. [Thank goodness the hubby keeps my gadgets well-stocked!] How pleased I was to discover that, of the sizable...
Manga addict that I’ve become in my old age, I tend to start books-with-pictures from the back cover. This, I’ve learned, often yields insightful rewards. [And no, I am not one of those skippers with novels, ahem!] Going backwards worked well here: author Joan Schoettler, who...
Here's how I finally came to read The History of Love ...
In spite of the fierce, wrenching content of her books, Tahmima Anam in real life is a gentle, warm, incredibly youthful presence. We met in livetime a few years ago in Washington, DC, as her debut novel, A Golden Age, was winning major international awards,...
