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Registration for this event is OPEN. To register for Litloot, call the Youth Services Desk at 847-965-4220
Head to the Library for some outdoor family fun. The pages of a book are arranged on numbered signs around the building. Take a stroll and enjoy the story at your own pace.
May: Boys Don't Fry by Kimberly Lee
Stories and songs for our littlest listeners. Please bring a tummy time mat or blanket for the baby. Older siblings welcome.
Birth to Age 2 with a parent/caregiver
Disclaimer(s)
All participants should be accompanied by a parent or caregiver.
Practice seated poses in one of the gentlest forms of yoga available, led by certified yoga instructor Joan McGee. All experience levels welcome. Wear comfortable clothes.
Disclaimer(s)
The Library strongly recommends that you consult with your physician before beginning any exercise program. By participating in this program, you agree that you do so at your own risk, are voluntarily participating in these activities, assume all risk of injury to yourself, and agree to release and discharge Morton Grove Public Library and the class instructor from any and all claims or causes of action, known or unknown.
Stories and songs for our littlest listeners. Please bring a tummy time mat or blanket for the baby. Older siblings welcome.
Birth to Age 2 with a parent/caregiver
Disclaimer(s)
All participants should be accompanied by a parent or caregiver.
Bring the whole family to this storytime filled with stories, songs, and fun.
Birth to Age 5 with a parent/caregiver
Disclaimer(s)
All participants should be accompanied by a parent or caregiver.
Due to the room capacity, attendance at drop-in programs is limited to 50 participants.
Did you know...?
The library has an AccuCut die cutting machine that you can reserve to use in the Youth Services Department. You have access to our inventory of over 150 different shapes, letters, and numbers. Easily cut out fun shapes for your classroom or your next party!
Guidelines for Use:
- Available to all Morton Grove Library users for use in the Youth Services Department during business hours
- Must be 13 years of age or older to use
- Paper is not provided by the Morton Grove Public Library
Please use this form to give advanced notice of the specific dies needed. For more information or for questions, call the Youth Services Desk at 847-929-4220x2.
Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month - Adults
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On Fragile Waves
NPR Books We Love 2021 | Publishers Weekly Best Books of 2021 | Booklist Best of 2021 | Booklist Editors' Choice: Adult Titles | NYT Best Science Fiction and Fantasy Books of 2021 | Washington Independent Review of Books 51 Favorite Books of 2021
“On Fragile Waves is a tremendous and almost unbearable work of witness. It is devastating and perfect.” — New York Times Book Review
The haunting story of a family of dreamers and tale-tellers looking for home in an unwelcoming world. This exquisite and unusual magic realist debut, told in intensely lyrical prose by an award winning author, traces one girl’s migration from war to peace, loss to loss, home to home.
Firuzeh and her brother Nour are children of fire, born in an Afghanistan fractured by war. When their parents, their Atay and Abay, decide to leave, they spin fairy tales of their destination, the mythical land and opportunities of Australia.
As the family journeys from Pakistan to Indonesia to Nauru, heading toward a hope of home, they must rely on fragile and temporary shelters, strangers both mercenary and kind, and friends who vanish as quickly as they’re found.
When they arrive in Australia, what seemed like a stable shore gives way to treacherous currents. Neighbors, classmates, and the government seek their own ends, indifferent to the family’s fate. For Firuzeh, her fantasy worlds provide some relief, but as her family and home splinter, she must surface from these imaginings and find a new way. -
The Dating Plan
A Marie Claire Book Club Pick!
Even with a step-by-step plan, these fake fiancés might accidentally fall for each other in this hilarious, heartfelt romantic comedy from the author of The Marriage Game.
Daisy Patel is a software engineer who understands lists and logic better than bosses and boyfriends. With her life all planned out, and no interest in love, the one thing she can't give her family is the marriage they expect. Left with few options, she asks her childhood crush to be her decoy fiancé.
Liam Murphy is a venture capitalist with something to prove. When he learns that his inheritance is contingent on being married, he realizes his best friend's little sister has the perfect solution to his problem. A marriage of convenience will get Daisy's matchmaking relatives off her back and fulfill the terms of his late grandfather's will. If only he hadn’t broken her tender teenage heart nine years ago…
Sparks fly when Daisy and Liam go on a series of dates to legitimize their fake relationship. Too late, they realize that very little is convenient about their arrangement. History and chemistry aren't about to follow the rules of this engagement. -
Clark and Division
A New York Times Best Mystery Novel of 2021
Set in 1944 Chicago, Edgar Award-winner Naomi Hirahara’s eye-opening and poignant new mystery, the story of a young woman searching for the truth about her revered older sister's death, brings to focus the struggles of one Japanese American family released from mass incarceration at Manzanar during World War II.
Chicago, 1944: Twenty-year-old Aki Ito and her parents have just been released from Manzanar, where they have been detained by the US government since the aftermath of Pearl Harbor, together with thousands of other Japanese Americans. The life in California the Itos were forced to leave behind is gone; instead, they are being resettled two thousand miles away in Chicago, where Aki’s older sister, Rose, was sent months earlier and moved to the new Japanese American neighborhood near Clark and Division streets. But on the eve of the Ito family’s reunion, Rose is killed by a subway train.
Aki, who worshipped her sister, is stunned. Officials are ruling Rose’s death a suicide. Aki cannot believe her perfect, polished, and optimistic sister would end her life. Her instinct tells her there is much more to the story, and she knows she is the only person who could ever learn the truth.
Inspired by historical events, Clark and Division infuses an atmospheric and heartbreakingly real crime with rich period details and delicately wrought personal stories Naomi Hirahara has gleaned from thirty years of research and archival work in Japanese American history.
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Counterfeit
INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER - A REESE'S BOOK CLUB PICK
"A con artist story, a pop-feminist caper, a fashionable romp . . . Counterfeit is an entertaining, luxurious read--but beneath its glitz and flash, it is also a shrewd deconstruction of the American dream and the myth of the model minority. . . . Chen is up to something innovative and subversive here." -- Camille Perri, NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW
Recommended by New York Times Book Review - Washington Post - People - Entertainment Weekly - USA Today - Time - Cosmopolitan - Today show - Harper's Bazaar - Vogue - Good Housekeeping - Parade - New York Post - Town & Country - GMA.com - Buzzfeed - Goodreads - Oprah Daily - Popsugar - Bustle - theSkimm - The Millions - and more!
For fans of Hustlers and How to Get Filthy Rich in Rising Asia, the story of two Asian American women who band together to grow a counterfeit handbag scheme into a global enterprise--an incisive and glittering blend of fashion, crime, and friendship from the author of Bury What We Cannot Take and Soy Sauce for Beginners.
Money can't buy happiness... but it can buy a decent fake.
Ava Wong has always played it safe. As a strait-laced, rule-abiding Chinese American lawyer with a successful surgeon as a husband, a young son, and a beautiful home--she's built the perfect life. But beneath this façade, Ava's world is crumbling: her marriage is falling apart, her expensive law degree hasn't been used in years, and her toddler's tantrums are pushing her to the breaking point.
Enter Winnie Fang, Ava's enigmatic college roommate from Mainland China, who abruptly dropped out under mysterious circumstances. Now, twenty years later, Winnie is looking to reconnect with her old friend. But the shy, awkward girl Ava once knew has been replaced with a confident woman of the world, dripping in luxury goods, including a coveted Birkin in classic orange. The secret to her success? Winnie has developed an ingenious counterfeit scheme that involves importing near-exact replicas of luxury handbags and now she needs someone with a U.S. passport to help manage her business--someone who'd never be suspected of wrongdoing, someone like Ava. But when their spectacular success is threatened and Winnie vanishes once again, Ava is left to face the consequences.
Swift, surprising, and sharply comic, Counterfeit is a stylish and feminist caper with a strong point of view and an axe to grind. Peering behind the curtain of the upscale designer storefronts and the Chinese factories where luxury goods are produced, Kirstin Chen interrogates the myth of the model minority through two unforgettable women determined to demand more from life.
"If you appreciate a good caper, you'll want to pick up Kirstin Chen's novel . . . Fast-paced and fun, with smart commentary on the cultural differences between Asia and America." -- TIME
"Propulsive and captivating . . . A provocative story of fashion, friendship, and fakes (in more ways than one)." -- VOGUE
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Arsenic and Adobo
A RUSA Award-winning novel!
The first book in a new culinary cozy series full of sharp humor and delectable dishes—one that might just be killer....
When Lila Macapagal moves back home to recover from a horrible breakup, her life seems to be following all the typical rom-com tropes. She's tasked with saving her Tita Rosie's failing restaurant, and she has to deal with a group of matchmaking aunties who shower her with love and judgment. But when a notoriously nasty food critic (who happens to be her ex-boyfriend) drops dead moments after a confrontation with Lila, her life quickly swerves from a Nora Ephron romp to an Agatha Christie case.
With the cops treating her like she's the one and only suspect, and the shady landlord looking to finally kick the Macapagal family out and resell the storefront, Lila's left with no choice but to conduct her own investigation. Armed with the nosy auntie network, her barista best bud, and her trusted Dachshund, Longanisa, Lila takes on this tasty, twisted case and soon finds her own neck on the chopping block… -
The Cartographers
“Arresting, heartbreaking, and meditative.”—ALA Booklist (starred review)
“Hand this to anyone trying their best wobbling through the precarious and precious parts of life.”—Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books (starred review)
“An intriguing dynamic and a twist on the typical romance arc.”—Kirkus Reviews
Struggling to balance the expectations of her immigrant mother with her own deep ambivalence about her place in the world, seventeen-year-old Ocean Sun takes her savings and goes off the grid. A haunting and romantic novel about family, friendship, philosophy, fitting in, and love from Amy Zhang, the acclaimed author of Falling into Place and This Is Where the World Ends.
Ocean Sun has always felt an enormous pressure to succeed. After struggling with depression during her senior year of high school, Ocean moves to New York City, where she has been accepted at a prestigious university. But Ocean feels so emotionally raw and unmoored (and uncertain about what is real and what is not) that she decides to defer and live off her savings until she can get herself together. She also decides not to tell her mother (whom she loves very much but doesn’t want to disappoint) that she is deferring—at least until she absolutely must.
In New York, Ocean moves into an apartment with Georgie and Tashya, two strangers who soon become friends, and gets a job tutoring. She also meets a boy—Constantine Brave (a name that makes her laugh)—late one night on the subway. Constant is a fellow student and a graffiti artist, and Constant and Ocean soon start corresponding via Google Docs—they discuss physics, philosophy, art, literature, and love. But everything falls apart when Ocean goes home for Thanksgiving, Constant reveals his true character, Georgie and Tashya break up, and the police get involved.
Ocean, Constant, Georgie, and Tashya are all cartographers—mapping out their futures, their dreams, and their paths toward adulthood in this stunning and heartbreaking novel about finding the strength to control your own destiny. For fans of Nina LaCour’s We Are Okay and Daniel Nayeri’s Everything Sad Is Untrue.
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Sour Heart
A sly debut story collection that conjures the experience of adolescence through the eyes of Chinese American girls growing up in New York City—for readers of Zadie Smith and Helen Oyeyemi.
Winner of the Los Angeles Times Book Prize • Winner of the PEN/Robert W. Bingham Prize for Debut Fiction • Finalist for the New York Public Library’s Young Lions Fiction Award
NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY The New Yorker • NPR • O: The Oprah Magazine • The Guardian • Esquire • New York • BuzzFeed
A fresh new voice emerges with the arrival of Sour Heart, establishing Jenny Zhang as a frank and subversive interpreter of the immigrant experience in America. Her stories cut across generations and continents, moving from the fraught halls of a public school in Flushing, Queens, to the tumultuous streets of Shanghai, China, during the Cultural Revolution of the 1960s. In the absence of grown-ups, latchkey kids experiment on each other until one day the experiments turn violent; an overbearing mother abandons her artistic aspirations to come to America but relives her glory days through karaoke; and a shy loner struggles to master English so she can speak to God.
Narrated by the daughters of Chinese immigrants who fled imperiled lives as artists back home only to struggle to stay afloat—dumpster diving for food and scamming Atlantic City casino buses to make a buck—these seven stories showcase Zhang’s compassion, moral courage, and a perverse sense of humor reminiscent of Portnoy’s Complaint. A darkly funny and intimate rendering of girlhood, Sour Heart examines what it means to belong to a family, to find your home, leave it, reject it, and return again.
Praise for Sour Heart
“[Jenny Zhang’s] coming-of-age tales are coarse and funny, sweet and sour, told in language that’s rough-hewn yet pulsating with energy.”—USA Today
“One of the knockout fiction debuts of the year.”—New York
“Compelling writing about what it means to be a teenager . . . It’s brilliant, it’s dark, but it’s also humorous and filled with love.”—Isaac Fitzgerald, Today
“[A] combustible collection . . . in a class of its own.”—Booklist (starred review)
“Gorgeous and grotesque . . . [a] tremendous debut.”—Slate -
The Bad Muslim Discount
Following two families from Pakistan and Iraq in the 1990s to San Francisco in 2016, The Bad Muslim Discount is an inclusive, comic novel about Muslim immigrants finding their way in modern America.
“Masood’s novel presents a stereoscopic, three-dimensional view of contemporary Muslim America: the way historical conflict in the Middle East lingers in individual lives, the way gossip travels in a close-knit immigrant community.” —The New York Times Book Review
It is 1995, and Anvar Faris is a restless, rebellious, and sharp-tongued boy doing his best to grow up in Karachi, Pakistan. As fundamentalism takes root within the social order and the zealots next door attempt to make Islam great again, his family decides, not quite unanimously, to start life over in California. Ironically, Anvar's deeply devout mother and his model-Muslim brother adjust easily to life in America, while his fun-loving father can't find anyone he relates to. For his part, Anvar fully commits to being a bad Muslim.
At the same time, thousands of miles away, Safwa, a young girl living in war-torn Baghdad with her grief-stricken, conservative father will find a very different and far more dangerous path to America. When Anvar and Safwa's worlds collide as two remarkable, strong-willed adults, their contradictory, intertwined fates will rock their community, and families, to their core.
The Bad Muslim Discount is an irreverent, poignant, and often hysterically funny debut novel by an amazing new voice. With deep insight, warmth, and an irreverent sense of humor, Syed M. Masood examines universal questions of identity, faith (or lack thereof), and belonging through the lens of Muslim Americans. -
Interior Chinatown
SOON TO BE A HULU ORIGINAL SERIES • NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • NATIONAL BOOK AWARD WINNER • “A shattering and darkly comic send-up of racial stereotyping in Hollywood” (Vanity Fair) and a deeply personal novel about race, pop culture, immigration, assimilation, and escaping the roles we are forced to play.Willis Wu doesn’t perceive himself as the protagonist in his own life: he’s merely Generic Asian Man. Sometimes he gets to be Background Oriental Making a Weird Face or even Disgraced Son, but always he is relegated to a prop. Yet every day, he leaves his tiny room in a Chinatown SRO and enters the Golden Palace restaurant, where Black and White, a procedural cop show, is in perpetual production. He’s a bit player here, too, but he dreams of being Kung Fu Guy—the most respected role that anyone who looks like him can attain. Or is it?
After stumbling into the spotlight, Willis finds himself launched into a wider world than he’s ever known, discovering not only the secret history of Chinatown, but the buried legacy of his own family. Infinitely inventive and deeply personal, exploring the themes of pop culture, assimilation, and immigration—Interior Chinatown is Charles Yu’s most moving, daring, and masterful novel yet. -
The Buddha in the Attic
NATIONAL BESTSELLER • PEN/FAULKER AWARD WINNER • The acclaimed author of The Swimmers and When the Emperor Was Divine tells the story of a group of young women brought from Japan to San Francisco as “picture brides” a century ago in this "understated masterpiece ... that unfolds with great emotional power" (San Francisco Chronicle).
In eight unforgettable sections, The Buddha in the Attic traces the extraordinary lives of these women, from their arduous journeys by boat, to their arrival in San Francisco and their tremulous first nights as new wives; from their experiences raising children who would later reject their culture and language, to the deracinating arrival of war.
Julie Otsuka has written a spellbinding novel about identity and loyalty, and what it means to be an American in uncertain times. -
Goodbye, Vitamin
Winner of the California Book Award for First Fiction
Los Angeles Times Book Prize Finalist for First Fiction
"A quietly brilliant disquisition . . . told in prose that is so startling in its spare beauty that I found myself thinking about Khong's turns of phrase for days after I finished reading."—Doree Shafrir, The New York Times Book Review
Her life at a crossroads, a young woman goes home again in this funny and inescapably moving debut from a wonderfully original new literary voice.
Freshly disengaged from her fiancé and feeling that life has not turned out quite the way she planned, thirty-year-old Ruth quits her job, leaves town and arrives at her parents’ home to find that situation more complicated than she'd realized. Her father, a prominent history professor, is losing his memory and is only erratically lucid. Ruth’s mother, meanwhile, is lucidly erratic. But as Ruth's father’s condition intensifies, the comedy in her situation takes hold, gently transforming her all her grief.
Told in captivating glimpses and drawn from a deep well of insight, humor, and unexpected tenderness, Goodbye, Vitamin pilots through the loss, love, and absurdity of finding one’s footing in this life. -
A Place for Us
AN INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • NATIONAL BOOK AWARD “5 UNDER 35” NOMINEE • NEW YORK’S “ONE BOOK, ONE NEW YORK” PICK
Named One of the Best Books of the Year: Washington Post • NPR • People • Refinery29 • Parade • BuzzFeed
“Mirza writes with a mercy that encompasses all things.”—Ron Charles, Washington Post
Hailed as “a book for our times” (Christiane Amanpour), A Place for Us is a deeply moving and resonant story of love, identity, and belonging.As an Indian wedding gathers a family back together, parents Rafiq and Layla must reckon with the choices their children have made. There is Hadia: their headstrong, eldest daughter, whose marriage is a match of love and not tradition. Huda, the middle child, determined to follow in her sister’s footsteps. And lastly, their estranged son, Amar, who returns to the family fold for the first time in three years to take his place as brother of the bride. What secrets and betrayals have caused this close-knit family to fracture? Can Amar find his way back to the people who know and love him best?
A Place for Us takes us back to the beginning of this family’s life: from the bonds that bring them together, to the differences that pull them apart. All the joy and struggle of family life is here, from Rafiq and Layla’s own arrival in America from India, to the years in which their children—each in their own way—tread between two cultures, seeking to find their place in the world, as well as a path home.
A Place for Us is a book for our times: an astonishingly tender-hearted novel of identity and belonging, and a resonant portrait of what it means to be an American family today. It announces Fatima Farheen Mirza as a major new literary talent. -
On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous
A New York Times bestseller • Nominated for the National Book Award for Fiction • Ocean Vuong’s debut novel is a shattering portrait of a family, a first love, and the redemptive power of storytelling
“A lyrical work of self-discovery that’s shockingly intimate and insistently universal…Not so much briefly gorgeous as permanently stunning.” —Ron Charles, The Washington Post
“This is one of the best novels I’ve ever read...Ocean Vuong is a master. This book a masterpiece.”—Tommy Orange, author of There There and Wandering StarsOn Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous is a letter from a son to a mother who cannot read. Written when the speaker, Little Dog, is in his late twenties, the letter unearths a family’s history that began before he was born — a history whose epicenter is rooted in Vietnam — and serves as a doorway into parts of his life his mother has never known, all of it leading to an unforgettable revelation. At once a witness to the fraught yet undeniable love between a single mother and her son, it is also a brutally honest exploration of race, class, and masculinity. Asking questions central to our American moment, immersed as we are in addiction, violence, and trauma, but undergirded by compassion and tenderness, On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous is as much about the power of telling one’s own story as it is about the obliterating silence of not being heard.
With stunning urgency and grace, Ocean Vuong writes of people caught between disparate worlds, and asks how we heal and rescue one another without forsaking who we are. The question of how to survive, and how to make of it a kind of joy, powers the most important debut novel of many years.
Named a Best Book of the Year by:
GQ, Kirkus Reviews, Booklist, Library Journal, TIME, Esquire, The Washington Post, Apple, Good Housekeeping, The New Yorker, The New York Public Library, Elle.com, The Guardian, The A.V. Club, NPR, Lithub, Entertainment Weekly, Vogue.com, The San Francisco Chronicle, Mother Jones, Vanity Fair, The Wall Street Journal Magazine, and more! -
The Namesake
"Dazzling...An intimate, closely observed family portrait."--The New York Times
"Hugely appealing."--People Magazine
"An exquisitely detailed family saga."--Entertainment Weekly
Meet the Ganguli family, new arrivals from Calcutta, trying their best to become Americans even as they pine for home. The name they bestow on their firstborn, Gogol, betrays all the conflicts of honoring tradition in a new world--conflicts that will haunt Gogol on his own winding path through divided loyalties, comic detours, and wrenching love affairs.
In The Namesake, the Pulitzer Prize winner Jhumpa Lahiri brilliantly illuminates the immigrant experience and the tangled ties between generations.
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Pachinko (National Book Award Finalist)
A New York Times Top Ten Book of the Year and National Book Award finalist, Pachinko is an "extraordinary epic" of four generations of a poor Korean immigrant family as they fight to control their destiny in 20th-century Japan (San Francisco Chronicle).
NEW YORK TIMES NOTABLE BOOK OF 2017 * A USA TODAY TOP TEN OF 2017 * JULY PICK FOR THE PBS NEWSHOUR-NEW YORK TIMES BOOK CLUB NOW READ THIS * FINALIST FOR THE 2018DAYTON LITERARY PEACE PRIZE* WINNER OF THE MEDICI BOOK CLUB PRIZE
Roxane Gay's Favorite Book of 2017, Washington Post
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * #1 BOSTON GLOBE BESTSELLER * USA TODAY BESTSELLER * WALL STREET JOURNAL BESTSELLER * WASHINGTON POST BESTSELLER
"There could only be a few winners, and a lot of losers. And yet we played on, because we had hope that we might be the lucky ones."
In the early 1900s, teenaged Sunja, the adored daughter of a crippled fisherman, falls for a wealthy stranger at the seashore near her home in Korea. He promises her the world, but when she discovers she is pregnant--and that her lover is married--she refuses to be bought. Instead, she accepts an offer of marriage from a gentle, sickly minister passing through on his way to Japan. But her decision to abandon her home, and to reject her son's powerful father, sets off a dramatic saga that will echo down through the generations.
Richly told and profoundly moving, Pachinko is a story of love, sacrifice, ambition, and loyalty. From bustling street markets to the halls of Japan's finest universities to the pachinko parlors of the criminal underworld, Lee's complex and passionate characters--strong, stubborn women, devoted sisters and sons, fathers shaken by moral crisis--survive and thrive against the indifferent arc of history.
*Includes reading group guide*
Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month - Kids
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What I Am
The creator of Little Owl's Night explores and celebrates the complexities of what makes us who we are in this comforting and thoughtful picture book.
A young narrator describes herself: a girl, a granddaughter, Indian, and American. Soon, we see the young girl as a plethora of things: selfish and generous, mean and kind, brave and mischievous. While many of these qualities oppose each other, the context and illustrations make it abundantly clear that she speaks the truth. She is a walking contradiction, and that is precisely what makes her both a unique individual and an essential piece of the greater world around her. Divya Srinivasan shows what makes us human and proud to be who we are. -
Team Chu and the Battle of Blackwood Arena
A rollicking, action-packed adventure of laser tag and fierce sibling rivalries, Team Chu and the Battle of Blackwood Arena is the first book in a commercial middle grade fantasy series by Julie C. Dao.
Clip and Sadie Chu couldn’t be more different. Popular, athletic Clip wants to become his school’s first seventh-grade soccer captain, while brainy star student Sadie is determined to prove that she can do anything her boastful brother can.
They have just one thing in common: they love laser tag. Like, really love it.
When the Blackwood Gaming Arena comes to town, bringing virtual reality headsets and state-of-the-art courses, they couldn’t be more excited—or competitive. But then a mysterious figure appears and claims to be a part of the game, forcing the Chus and their friends to save themselves from a sinister force lurking inside the simulation. Together, they must fight their way through epic battlegrounds that will test their speed, skills, and smarts . . . but will Clip and Sadie learn that they’re far better off working together than competing for the ultimate victory?
A 2023 CBC Teacher and Librarians Favorite -
Stories of the Islands
Journey into a land of magic and powerful girls in this feminist graphic novel retelling of three Indonesian folktales.
"Brimming with spirit, this is a book all about connection and empowerment. Angkasa's gorgeous rendering and vivid storytelling will pull you right in."—Tillie Walden, author of On a Sunbeam
Once upon a time. . . a princess was cursed to live as a snail, two sisters were trapped by their father’s wrath, and a mother and daughter faced a hungry giant.
No one is coming to save them. Will they get their happily ever after?
In this collection of reimagined Indonesian fairy tales, the girls are the ones with power. The power to fight evil, to protect others, and to grow as people. Because why should girls in folktales always need saving? What if they save themselves instead?
Based on graphic novelist Clar Angkasa’s favorite childhood stories and gorgeously illustrated with a dedicated color palette for each tale, this retelling of “Keong Mas,” “Bawang Merah Bawang Putih,” and “Timun Mas” is filled with spectacular landscapes, deep emotions, and a firm belief in the power of girls’ stories.
A Rise: A Feminist Book Project Honoree
A Junior Library Guild Gold Standard Selection
An Evanston Public Library Great Books for Kids pick! -
The World Is Not a Rectangle
A Washington Post Best Children’s Book of 2017
Parents’ Choice Recommended
Get to know Zaha Hadid in this nonfiction picture book about the famed architect’s life and her triumph over adversity from celebrated author-illustrator Jeanette Winter.
Zaha Hadid grew up in Baghdad, Iraq, and dreamed of designing her own cities. After studying architecture in London, she opened her own studio and started designing buildings. But as a Muslim woman, Hadid faced many obstacles. Determined to succeed, she worked hard for many years, and achieved her goals—and now you can see the buildings Hadid has designed all over the world. -
Sherlock Sam and the Missing Heirloom in Katong
An exciting new update of the classic Sherlock Holmes detective stories in which Sherlock is a 10-year-old kid living in Singapore and Watson is his trusty robot companion!
Introducing the Sherlock Sam series by A.J. Low--a fresh, cross-cultural twist on the classic Sherlock Holmes stories, tailored for middle-grade readers. Set in iconic Singapore locations, the series follows the mystery-solving exploits of smart, observant, food-loving 10-year-old Samuel Tan Cher Lock (a.k.a. Sherlock Sam), Watson, his reluctant robot sidekick, and the rest of the Supper Club (a "Scooby Doo gang," of sorts) as they prove that mysteries are best solved through teamwork.
In Sherlock Sam and the Missing Heirloom in Katong, Auntie Kim Lian's precious Peranakan cookbook disappears, and Sherlock Sam cannot eat her delicious ayam buah keluak anymore! Will Sherlock Sam be able to use his super detective powers to find this lost treasure?Praise:
"A promising adventure series with Super Sleuth Sherlock Sam! His insatiable appetite to sample Singapore's popular foods and never-give-up attitude to solving mysteries will keep readers glued till the last page."
--Adeline Foo, author of the bestselling series The Diary of Amos Lee"A thrilling kid's detective romp in the grand tradition of Famous Five, with a lovable robot and delicious Peranakan food!"
--Otto Fong, author of Sir Fong's Adventures In Science"Sherlock Sam and Watson are set to become one of Singapore's favourite detective duos! Sam's preoccupation with food struck a familiar chord with the Singaporean in me and Watson's deadpan one-liners had me laughing out loud. What afun-filled, food-filled adventure story! This is a delicious read that will certainly warm your heart like a good serving of ayam buah keluak!"
--Emily Lim, award-winning author of Tibby, the Tiger Bunny and Prince Bear & Pauper Bear"Watson is a delightful creation. He follows a rich line of great robot companions from Star War's R2D2 to Star Trek's Data; no detective should leave home without one!"
--Sonny Liew, Eisner-nominated author of Malinky Robot"A genius kid detective would be good. A genius kid detective with a wise-acre robot sidekick is even better. Add a wicked sense of humor and you've one of the sharpest, funniest books you'll read all year."
--Hal Johnson, author of Immortal Lycanthropes"This book will definitely draw you in with its twists and turns that will leave you guessing with each turn of the page who the culprits are. There are also many funny lines from Watson that will cause you to burst out in laughter."
--Seow Kai Lun, ?Singapore's Child"A clever, entertaining and funny children's novel...a promising start to a new book series [with] bold and whimsical illustrations by drewscape"
--Tina Gan, Red Dot Diva"This debut local novel is rich (in local references) and satisfying (as a mystery story)."
--Stephani Yeo, Young Parents"BOTH boys were clamouring to read the book first, so I was left with no choice but to read the book TOGETHER with the both of them...I found it to be utterly captivating enough to make me want to complete the book in one sitting...the localized dialogue is hilariously tongue-in-cheek and the book's subtle appeal to a child's instinct for the mysterious proved to be just what kept both Ash and Ayd deeply intrigued."
--Kelvin Ang, Cheekiemonkies"A.J. Low have created an intriguing tale which would keep young readers eager to find out what happens next, while subtly documenting old-school landmarks such as Chin Mee Chin Confectionery and Katong Antique House. Looks set to be a betseller."
--Clara Chow, My Paper"I like this book because it leaves you with questions in your mind which make you want to keep reading."
--Greta Roberts, 9, in Expat Living Singapore -
A Pocketful of Stars
Safiya and her mother have never seen eye to eye.
Her mother doesn't understand Safiya's love of gaming, and shy Safiya doesn't think she has anything in common with her vibrant, sometimes volatile mother. But when her mother falls into a coma, Safiya's whole world shifts. She finds herself dreaming about an unfamiliar setting and a rebellious girl who's distinctly familiar.
Gradually she realizes that she's experiencing her mother's memories of her childhood in Kuwait. As Safiya unlocks these memories the way she would unlock levels in a game, she finds a path to accepting loss and embracing who she is--someone not so different from her mother after all.
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Stories for South Asian Supergirls
Through the inspirational stories of 50 famous and under-celebrated women from Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, Nepal and Sri Lanka, South Asian girls will have a chance to dream about lives for themselves that radically differ from the limited narratives and stereotypes written for them by their culture, wider society and the mainstream media.
Bringing together illustrious entertainers (Meera Syal, Jameela Jamil, Mindy Kaling), pioneering business leaders (Indra Nooyi, Anjali Sud, Ruchi Sanghvi) and a host of other, equally remarkable yet less well known, figures (including the British Muslim spy, Noor Inayat Khan, and fearless activist, Jayaben Desai), Stories for South Asian Supergirls seeks to redress the imbalance for young girls of colour by empowering them to break new ground for themselves and to inspire others in the process.
Illustrated with striking portraits by ten international South Asian female artists, this is a book for all ages - the perfect gift that will be treasured by parents as much as their children will enjoy reading them. -
Continental Drifter
“A fantastic story about the awkward feelings of being from neither here nor there."
—Dan Santat, National Book Award winner and author of A First Time for Everything
With a Thai mother and an American father, Kathy lives in two different worlds. She spends most of the year in Bangkok, where she’s secretly counting the days till summer vacation. That’s when her family travels for twenty-four hours straight to finally arrive in a tiny seaside town in Maine.
Kathy loves Maine’s idyllic beauty and all the exotic delicacies she can’t get back home, like clam chowder and blueberry pie. But no matter how hard she tries, she struggles to fit in. She doesn’t look like the other kids in this
rural New England town. Kathy just wants to find a place where she truly belongs, but she’s not sure if it’s in America, Thailand . . . or anywhere. -
I Am Kavi
Caught between two worlds—a poverty-stricken village and a fancy big-city school—a young Sri Lankan girl must decide who she really is and where she really belongs.
1998, Colombo. The Sri Lankan Civil War is raging, but everyday life must go on. At Kavi’s school, her friends talk about the weekly Top 40, the Backstreet Boys, Shahrukh Khan, Leo & Kate… and who died—or didn’t—in the latest bombing. But Kavi is afraid of something even scarier than war. She fears that if her friends discover her secret—that she is not who she is pretending to be—they’ll stop talking to her.
I want to be friends with these / happy, / fearless, / girls / who look like they / belong.
So I could also be / happy, / fearless, / and maybe even / belong.
Kavi’s scholarship to her elite new school was supposed to be everything she ever wanted, but as she tries to find some semblance of normalcy in a country on fire, nothing is going according to plan. In an effort to fit in with her wealthy, glittering, and self-assured new classmates, Kavi begins telling lies, trading her old life—where she’s a poor girl whose mother has chosen a new husband over her daughter—for a new one, where she’s rich, loved, and wanted. But how long can you pretend to be someone else?
This dazzling novel-in-verse comes from an astonishing new talent who lived through the civil war herself. Perfect for fans of Jamine Warga, Supriya Kelkar, and Rajani LaRocca, I Am Kavi centers a powerful South Asian voice, and stars an unforgettable heroine each and every one of us can relate to.
"KAVI'S COURAGE AND VOICE ARE NOT TO BE MISSED."—Reem Faruqi, award-winning author of Call Me Adnan, Unsettled, and Golden Girl
"TRIUMPHANT."—Dan Gemeinhart, #1 NYT bestselling author of The Midnight Children
"I LOVED IT!"—Nizrana Farook, award-winning author of The Girl Who Stole an Elephant
A Junior Library Guild Gold Standard Selection
An Indies Introduce Selection
An Indies Next Pick
A School Library Journal Middle Grade Magic Selection
A Children's Book Council Hot off the Presses Selection -
My Grandfather's Song
A stunning picture book about a family's connection to their land, their home, and each other--from the creators of My First Day.
Long ago, Grandfather came to a new land. Fish swam in the water, birds chirped in the sky, monkeys played in the trees. And in this wilderness, with his own two hands, Grandfather built a house.
It wasn't easy. But the land gave him what he needed. And it became his home. Decades later, his grandson will have all he needs: a head full of memories, two capable hands, and the heart to appreciate family, nature, and home. This picture book creates a warm symphony of conservation and the sacred bond between grandparent and child, perfect for baby showers, birthdays, and family celebrations. -
Lost & Found
"This bright and bubbly early reader graphic novel, based on debut creator Yu's own immigration story, validates the sometimes overwhelming nature of learning an unfamiliar language as a child in a new country." --Publishers Weekly
Being the new kid in school is scary enough. But imagine what it would be like if you were the new kid in a new school, in a new country. That's exactly the situation Mei Yu finds herself in when her family moves from China to Canada. As she navigates her new school, she discovers a unique way to learn English and makes a new friend along the way in this heartwarming story based on the author's own experiences.
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Kicked Out
In this stand-alone companion novel to the acclaimed Boy, Everywhere, A. M. Dassu returns to extend the story of Sami's best friend Ali, who organizes a charity soccer match for their friend Aadam while his whole life is privately unraveling.
After their friend Mark's mum wins the lottery and gets a giant house with an indoor pool, Ali and Sami have been having the time of their lives hanging at Mark's house. Even their friend Aadam gets a job there, which means he can make more money for his legal battle for UK residency. But when some money goes missing, Aadam is accused of stealing it--and all three boys are unceremoniously kicked out of Mark's house in suspicion.
On top of that, Ali's dad, who abandoned the family when Ali was little, is suddenly turning up everywhere in town, and a half-brother Ali never knew has shown up at Ali's school. Ali feels miserable and resentful about it, making it hard to be a good friend.
The boys know Aadam is innocent, and if he doesn't raise thousands of pounds right away, he could get deported back to Syria amidst its civil war. At least Ali has a plan: they'll host a charity football penalty match to raise money for Aadam so he can stay in the UK.
But can Ali pull together the match--even if he feels his whole life at home is falling apart?
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The Gauntlet
A trio of friends from New York City find themselves trapped inside a mechanical board game that they must dismantle in order to save themselves and generations of other children in this action-packed debut that’s a steampunk Jumanji with a Middle Eastern flair.
Nothing can prepare you for The Gauntlet…
It didn’t look dangerous, exactly. When twelve-year-old Farah first laid eyes on the old-fashioned board game, she thought it looked…elegant.
It is made of wood, etched with exquisite images—a palace with domes and turrets, lattice-work windows that cast eerie shadows, a large spider—and at the very center of its cover, in broad letters, is written: The Gauntlet of Blood and Sand.
The Gauntlet is more than a game, though. It is the most ancient, the most dangerous kind of magic. It holds worlds inside worlds. And it takes players as prisoners. -
Mindy Kim and the Trip to Korea
Fresh Off the Boat meets Junie B. Jones in the adorable chapter book series following Mindy Kim, a young Asian American girl—in this fifth novel, Mindy goes to South Korea!
Mindy is super excited to go to South Korea to visit her grandparents! She has never taken such a big trip before, and she can’t wait to see her family again. Plus, Dad’s girlfriend, Julie, is also going to meet the family for the first time.
Mindy and Julie decide to make a traditional Korean meal for the family as a thank-you for hosting. But after a few mishaps, Mindy fears they are cooking up a big disaster in the kitchen! Can Mindy and Julie make sure their meal passes the most important taste test of them all? -
One Day
"An affirming and enchanting love letter from parent to child." -- Kirkus (starred review)
"The heartfelt title will be welcomed by new parents as the narrator voices the universal dream of wishing the best in life for their newborn." --Booklist
"It's cozy and hopeful in all the best ways."--Publishers Weekly
A 4-star Common Sense Selection recipient for Books
From New York Times bestselling Joanna Ho, author of Eyes that Kiss in the Corners and Eyes that Speak to the Stars, comes a heartfelt picture book about the depths of a mother's love. One Day is a mother's ode to her baby boy--she shares her hopes and dreams for her son as she envisions him exploring the world.
Her son will be courageous and kind, powerful and curious, and blaze his own trail. He will know that it is okay to cry, or be scared, or uncertain. Above all, he will know that he is more than enough exactly as he is.
An extraordinary gift for Mother's Day and loved ones everywhere.
One day,
your hair will tumble across your head
as you embark on adventures
Life will pull tears that
Roll like rivers over your cheeks
Let them roll, sweet boy
Softness is a sign of strength
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If Lin Can
This biography of basketball superstar Jeremy Lin is an anthem of Asian American pride that speaks to any child who feels underestimated or misunderstood. If Lin can, you can!
Have you ever been told that you CAN’T? Growing up in the Bay Area, Jeremy Lin heard that over and over again. People made fun of his size and his race and wouldn’t give him a chance. But Jeremy persevered until he became the first Taiwanese American to play in the NBA. And when his big moment came, he seized it!
Jeremy’s meteoric rise, dubbed "Linsanity," inspired the world and a whole generation of young Asian Americans. As author Richard Ho puts it, “Jeremy’s struggles were our struggles, so his triumphs were our triumphs. He made us believe that if he could succeed, so could we.” -
The Unlovable Alina Butt
Fitting in at a new school is hard enough, but when you're an awkward, big-nosed, nerdy Pakistani girl with a funny last name, it can seem impossible.
Eleven-year-old Alina Butt has changed schools four times already since her family moved to England from Pakistan. Even after all that practice, she doesn't seem to be getting any better at being the new kid. Mocked for her last name and her "weird" lunches, Alina has had enough! Taking a leap of faith to try and stand out for the "right" reasons, Alina auditions for the school play. Her hopes of landing the lead role in Cinderella are dashed when her new friend gets the part of Cinderella instead...and her bully is cast as Prince Charming!
Alina must rely on her stubborn will and wacky sense of humor to survive the endlessly embarrassing and ridiculous situations she finds herself in and discover her own unique way to shine!
The epub edition of this title is fully accessible.
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Kapaemahu
An Indigenous legend about how four extraordinary individuals of dual male and female spirit, or Mahu, brought healing arts from Tahiti to Hawaii, based on the Academy Award–contending short film.
In the 15th century, four Mahu sail from Tahiti to Hawaii and share their gifts of science and healing with the people of Waikiki. The islanders return this gift with a monument of four boulders in their honor, which the Mahu imbue with healing powers before disappearing.
As time passes, foreigners inhabit the island and the once-sacred stones are forgotten until the 1960s. Though the true story of these stones was not fully recovered, the power of the Mahu still calls out to those who pass by them at Waikiki Beach today.
With illuminating words and stunning illustrations by Hinaleimoana Wong-Kalu, Dean Hamer, Joe Wilson, and Daniel Sousa, KAPAEMAHU is a monument to an Indigenous Hawaiian legend and a classic in the making.