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Tesoro by Natsume Ono, translated by Joe Yamazaki
More and more, I’ve noticed book cover flaps yielding important tidbits (which makes me a bit concerned about such covers going astray, especially for picture books handled by so many little hands!)....
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The Art of Hearing Heartbeats by Jan-Philipp Sendker, translated by Kevin...
I think I will forever remember this book, perhaps not so much for the story, but for a single word: a blind young man sitting in the dark with hands running across the pages answers when asked what...
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The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
After two books on the horrors of North Korea, two memoirs about the Palestinian occupation, another about a Lost Boy of Sudan, still another highlighting Hindu/Muslim massacres in Kashmir – all one...
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between shades of gray by Ruta Sepetys
First of all, please do not confuse this spectacular title with that OTHER Shades of Grey. Not that any comparison is even merited, but gray – notice spelling difference – hit shelves more than a year...
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People of the Book by Geraldine Brooks
Remember that gorgeous film, Red Violin, which tells the story (backwards) of the creation and fantastical 300-plus-year-history of the eponymous instrument? People of the Book uses a similar structure...
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Victory: Resistance Book 3 by Carla Jablonski, illustrated by Leland Purvis,...
Since today marks the 68th anniversary of the Liberation of Paris (August 25, 1944) during World War II, I thought that must be a sign to add the final installment of the Resistance trilogy here. The...
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Message to Adolf (Part 1) by Osamu Tezuka, translated by Kumar Sivasubramanian
Considered the “godfather of manga,” Osamu Tezuka is internationally renowned for his iconic Astro Boy. Introduced in Japan in 1951 as Tetsuwan Atom (Mighty Atom), Tezuka’s signature creation remains...
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The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova
In case you didn’t recognize the dripping blood over the undead peeking through on the cover, I’ll warn you immediately that this is a long novel (656 pages in hardcover; 26+ hours stuck in the ears,...
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The Bookseller of Kabul by Åsne Seierstad, translated by Ingrid Christophersen
Okay, here we go again (see Kabul Beauty School below). We have a (fascinating, allegedly true) story, and then the (disturbing) story about the (now accuracy-challenged) story. Just after the fall of...
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Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein
Having somehow stumbled randomly on Elizabeth Wein‘s very recent “meta-review” on reviewing (complete with crossed-out phrases about “tasteless morons“), I’ll try to not break her seven “observations”...
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The Sky of Afghanistan by Ana A. de Eulate, illustrated by Sonja Wimmer,...
“I look at the sky, I close my eyes, / and my imagination begins to soar …,” so begins this beautiful, but bittersweet picture book – bittersweet because for now, the little girl can only imagine,...
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Stories 1 • 2 • 3 • 4 by Eugène Ionesco, illustrated and translated by...
How strange to admit that Dave Eggers taught me Eugène Ionesco – Mr. Theatre of the Absurd himself – wrote kiddie stories in addition to his dozens of plays (Rhinoceros, The Chairs, The Bald Soprano,...
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I Have the Right to Be a Child by Alain Serres, illustrated by Aurélia...
“I am a child / with eyes, hands, / a voice, a heart, and rights,” opens this vibrant, translated import that provides a crucial reminder that even the smallest beings in the world have basic needs...
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The Word Collector by Sonja Wimmer, translated by Jon Brokenbrow
Admiring Ana A. de Eulate’s The Sky of Afghanistan earlier this fall led me to Sonja Wimmer‘s spectacular art. Allow me a moment of WOW. I admit that finding only Wimmer’s name on the cover of this...
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Odette’s Secrets by Maryann Macdonald
I’m compelled to start backwards with a number: 84. As children’s writer (more than 25 times over) Maryann Macdonald explains in her ending “Author’s Note,” 84% of French children survived the horrors...
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Thermae Romae 1 by Mari Yamazaki, translated by Stephen Paul
Rome, 128 AD. Even back then architects had a hard time finding work. Poor, poor Lucius – in spite of his fancy Athens training, his designs are considered “half-baked,” and he finds himself...
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Hello in There! A Big Sister’s Book of Waiting by Jo Witek, illustrated by...
For anyone with a child who will soon become an older sibling, this book is IT. And if that lucky elder happens to be a sister-in-waiting, this couldn’t be more perfect. “You’re in there and I’m out...
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Thermae Romae II by Mari Yamazaki, translated by Stephen Paul
To get to know our time-traveling bather, start with Volume I. When in Thermae Romae, you need to do as this Roman does and find out how he journeys back and forth between far-spanning centuries and...
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Anatomy of a Disappearance by Hisham Matar
Hisham Matar’s second novel (following his much-lauded, substantially-awarded debut, In the Country of Men) reads like a fast-moving dream, events jarringly, jaggedly forced together, and yet somehow...
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Templar by Jordan Mechner, illustrated by LeUyen Pham & Alex Puvilland, color...
Ready for some swashbuckling adventure … with quite a history lesson thrown in? ” [I]t’s all absolutely true,” author Jordan Mechner promises in his entertaining “Preface,” before he adds, “Well, some...
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