It's been awhile since I carried a book around all day because I couldn't put it down, reading even in two-minute snatches while waiting at those loooonnnng red lights! So I'm not at all surprised that Margi Preus's debut novel (she already has numerous children's picture books...
I have to admit that the unnecessary chopsticky font and the strangely-eerie illustrations set me off temporarily, but the old adage 'never trust a book by its cover' proved true in this case: this real-life story is well worth your attention. Mei Ling lives in Los...
At the end of a six-year stint in Beijing as the China correspondent for NPR, Rob Gifford sent his wife and children ahead to London to start their new lives. Gifford, who first arrived in China as a language student in his early 20s, embarks on...
Tragically, death and destruction are very much a part of human reality ...
From the age of 16 when she took a biology class at a community college (making up for a failed high school freshman year because "she never showed up"), award-winning science writer Rebecca Skloot has seemingly spent the majority of her life preparing to write...
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 ...
Sometimes my inability to process dialects actually has an upside ...
First off, Samrat Upadhyay is one of my favorite short story-tellers. His debut Arresting God in Kathmandu remains one of the most memorable collections I've ever read, and a quote from the review I...
Given the somber subject matter of this title, I realize this probably verges on sacrilegious, but no disrespect is intended in any way ...
Hurray (itself a word of Mongol origin) for cultural anthropologist and Macalester College professor Jack Weatherford who reclaims Genghis Khan from a much maligned history that defines him as "the quintessential barbarian," leading an...
Yes, President Obama's first picture book is, of course, a gorgeous gift to his two young daughters. But it's also quite a legacy for every child anywhere as it reminds us that...
Let's start with the last pages first: Kathleen Krull notes in her "Author's Note" that "[i]nformation about Kubla Khan is sketchy." Her illustrator Robert Byrd adds that "[p]ictoral references dealing with the...
Having grown up Catholic (I'm still in recovery), nothing works better than leftover Catholic guilt to get me to do something I'm whinge-ing about. The supreme irony about my former Catholicism is...
Whether a soldier or a civilian, no one ever escapes the consequences of war. While those on the fighting front face the greatest risks, those left behind have excruciating challenges, as well. Two-time Newbery...
In the book’s opening pages, the “Authors’ Note,” explains the title – ‘tears in the darkness’ is a literal translation of the Japanese kanji for anrui, “the kind of pain and sorrow...
When the local San Francisco public school denied Mamie Tape admission solely based on her Chinese heritage, her parents sued the city's Board of Education in what became the landmark 1885 case, Tape vs. Hurley. Mamie was seven years old, the American-born child of middle-class Chinese...
I admit that when one of my favorite friends told me she voluntarily gave up enjoying the blooming delights on a family trip through Death Valley in order to finish The Help, I picked up the book for a second time, determined to find out...
Who knew blood and gore could fly off a printed page? The opening three-volume compendium of this international bestseller showcases some of the most graphic (pardon the pun) violence in pen and ink … don’t read this alone at night. Those unblinking corpses hacked to...
Here's a solid piece of history ...
The versatile Jane Yolen – apparently she hates the word "prolific" according to a recent interview – debuts her 300th title bearing her good name over the half century she's been writing! No, that's not a typo. Yes, truly 300 books! No wonder she's been called...
