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Mami King: How Ma Mon Luk Found Love, Riches, and the Perfect Bowl of Soup Jacqueline

Chio-Lauri, illus. by Kristin Sorra. Millbrook, $19.99 (32p) ISBN 978-1-7284-9235-3

A resourceful young man employs his cooking skills to make his fortune and assist others in this lively biography of entrepreneur Ma Mon Luk (1896–1961). In 1918, Ma leaves Canton, China, for the Philippines, after his courtship of Ng Shih is rebuffed by her wealthy parents. Aboard the boat, he witnesses how “the rich and the poor, like oil and water, didn’t mix.” After looking for work in Manila’s Chinatown, Ma becomes a street vendor, selling mee soup, a dish that he misses from home. Snipping noodles to different lengths with shears depending on how much the customer pays, he ensures that “everyone, rich or poor, could buy Ma’s noodles.” He soon earns enough for a noodle stall, then a restaurant, and gives away food to those in need, growing business “as word of his good deeds and good food spread” and creating a place where rich and poor, “unlike oil and water, mixed.” Sorra’s digital illustrations shift from cool blues and grays to yellows, golds, and oranges. Includes a pronunciation guide, creators’ notes, a recipe, and more. Ages 7–11. (Apr.)

Reviewed on 03/15/2024 | Details & Permalink

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If Lin Can: How Jeremy Lin Inspired Asian Americans to Shoot for the Stars

Richard Ho, illus. by Hu`ynh Kim Liên and Phùng Nguyên Quang. Charlesbridge, $18.99 (40p) ISBN 978-1-6235-4372-3

At once affirmation and biography, Ho’s simple yet captivating overview of the life of NBA basketball star Jeremy Lin (b. 1988) begins with a series of call-and-response questions: “Have you ever been told that you can’t?” As the pages turn, three East Asian–cued children represent an aspiring athlete, actor, and leader facing moments of discrimination, bullying, and self-doubt. Lin is introduced as “someone who looks like you,” a line that hints at the importance of representation to self-image, before the book segues into a cursory overview of Lin’s life. Stylized digital illustrations from Hu`ynh and Phùng build to a triumphant moment in Lin’s career before the second-person text asks, “Have you ever cheered for someone who shattered stereotypes, burst through barriers, and made you feel proud of who you are?” Background characters are portrayed with various skin tones. A biography, author’s note, and bibliography conclude. Ages 7–10. (Apr.)

Reviewed on 03/15/2024 | Details & Permalink

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My Lost Freedom: A Japanese American World War II Story

George Takei, illus. by Michelle Lee. Crown, $19.99 (48p) ISBN 978-0-5935-6635-0

Embracing a child’s wide-eyed perspective of historical events, activist and actor Takei details his family’s incarceration in Japanese prison camps during WWII. Takei is four years old during the 1941 Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor, after which “the lives of all Japanese Americans were suddenly and drastically changed.” Following President Roosevelt’s declaration of war on Japan, a February 1942 presidential order forces the Takeis, along with all other Japanese Americans on the West Coast, from their Los Angeles home. Pages detail the family’s time at Arkansas’s swampy Camp Rohwer (“a strange and magical place” where the author caught tadpoles in a drainage ditch) and Northern California’s Tule Lake, a maximum-security prison with “huge, rumbling tank patrols.” Lee’s crisp mixed-media illustrations echo the text’s childlike tone (when the family is held at a racetrack, Takei “thought it would be fun to sleep where the horsies slept”) in portraying individual, familial, and communal experiences throughout a “hard, terrible war.” A glossary and pronunciation guide, notes, and photos conclude. Ages 6–9. (Apr.)

Reviewed on 03/15/2024 | Details & Permalink

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Growing Up Under a Red Flag: A Memoir of Surviving the Chinese Cultural Revolution

Ying Chang Compestine, illus. by Xinmei Liu. Rocky Pond, $19.99 (40p) ISBN 978-0-5935-3398-7

Compestine’s childhood informs this tense account of 10 years under Mao Zedong’s oppressive rule. Born in Wuhan, China, the book’s narrator is three years old in 1966, when Mao declares a Cultural Revolution to regain power over the government. Her parents were doctors, her father a surgeon trained by an American who left Wuhan when the Communists began to rule China. Though she learns English and reads with her father, who “loved my curiosity and strong spirit,” such activities must be conducted in secret, and the Cultural Revolution soon encompasses electrical outages, food rationing and scarcity, mandated uniforms, and the removal of individuals who don’t conform. Her father is targeted following the receipt of a letter from the U.S., and the Red Guard storms their home, arresting him as an American spy. Debut illustrator Liu gives the ink and digitally colored artwork the feel of vintage Chinese art and design, strengthening an already gripping historical narrative. Ages 6–9. (May)

Reviewed on 03/15/2024 | Details & Permalink

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Aloha Everything

Kaylin Melia George, illus. by Mae Waite. Red Comet, $19.99 (40p) ISBN 978-1-6365-5112-8

Lush illustrations by Waite and rhythmic quatrains from Melia George paint the story of a Hawaiian girl who learns about her cultural heritage through via hula. A baby, born “where the ocean spray’s kiss meets the sky’s close embrace” grows into a child. To teach her the history of her people, adults “breathed life to the tales/ with each step and each song,/ generations of lore/ that the hula kept strong.” A repeating refrain—“What did hula teach her?”—forms a through line that introduces spreads about the islands’ formation, the girl’s voyaging ancestors, and “great tales of old,/ kept as records preserved/ to be lovingly told.” Combining intricate images of the natural world, people portrayed with various skin tones, and lore, acrylic and gouache paintings linger in the eye in this gossamer work that concludes with a question: “What did hula teach you?” A pronunciation guide and glossary conclude. Ages 5–8. (Apr.)

Reviewed on 03/15/2024 | Details & Permalink

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We Who Produce Pearls: An Anthem for Asian America

Joanna Ho, illus. by Amanda Phingbodhipakkiya. Orchard, $19.99 (48p) ISBN 978-1-3388-4665-2

Bold, pop art–style graphics and lyrical phrasing distinguish this powerful picture book “inspired by specific figures, events, and movements in Asia and across the Asian diaspora,” per an end note. Throughout, “we” statements (“We who dream... seek... cultivate”) hint at a rich history described more granularly in dynamic lines and thorough back matter (“We who persist,” for example, reflects on themes of empire and colonization). In reiterative, thoughtful text, Ho builds to the meaningful idea that “we... hold injustice in our mouths... and spit it out.” Phingbodhipakkiya’s crisp, bright-hued digital images possess a rich intensity, showing dozens of portraits depicted with various skin tones amid stylized bursts of flora, landscapes, and natural elements. In-depth back matter, including guided questions, starting points, and creators’ notes, concludes. Ages 4–8. (Apr.)

Reviewed on 03/15/2024 | Details & Permalink

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Love Grows Here

Chloe Ito Ward, illus. by Violet Kim. Albert Whitman, $18.99 (32p) ISBN 978-0-8075-3124-2

A Japanese American girl responds to prejudice in this sensitive debut drawn from Ward’s childhood. Akio is with her grandmother at the market, shopping for “mouthwatering makizushi, salty but sweet;/ fresh fuji apples, crisp and clean,” when she stumbles into a man who mutters, “Go back to your own country.” Confused, Akio asks Oba¯, “I was born here. Where would I go back to?” As the two drink a cup of tea at the ramen shop, Oba¯’s friend tells Akio about when “my old home, Japan, began to fight with my new home, America.” And upon encountering an implied incidence of anti-Asian hate, Akio works to respond through acts of kindness. Present events are rendered in primary colors, while the past appears in a sepia palette. Background characters are portrayed with various skin tones. A Japanese glossary and author’s note conclude. Ages 4–8. (Apr.)

Reviewed on 03/15/2024 | Details & Permalink

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Tala Learns to Siva

Kealani Netane, illus. by Dung Ho. Orchard, $18.99 (32p) ISBN 978-1-3388-5931-7

Netane’s debut celebrates individual perseverance and connection to Samoan culture as a girl, Tala, learns to siva from her heart. Against an ocean backdrop, Tala watches in awe as Aunty Sina performs the taualuga, her hands dancing like rolling waves. When Aunty shows her the moves, Tala’s “legs wobbled... wrists stiffened,” and she cries in frustration. Acknowledging her own early struggles with the dance, Aunty advises, “Dance from your heart. The motions will come.” Incorporating movements into her everyday activities, Tala makes progress but realizes that something’s still missing: a glowing face, honoring both Samoa and the child’s ancestors. Employing a tropical palette and repeating stylized motifs, Ho’s digital illustrations embody Tala’s enthusiasm as the child practices for her stuffed animals, and eventually, her family, carrying tradition forward for future generations. A glossary and author’s note conclude. Ages 4–8. (May)

Reviewed on 03/15/2024 | Details & Permalink

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Simone

Viet Thanh Nguyen, illus. by Minnie Phan. Minerva, $18.99 (48p) ISBN 978-1-6626-5119-9

Rooted, per a contextualizing end note, in the 2020 California wildfires, this evocative split narrative juxtaposes intergenerational experiences of evacuation. Awakened from a deep sleep by Má as bright fire rages outside, young Simone grabs a go bag and a favorite toy. The family’s route takes them past firefighters in yellow as well as orange-clad prisoners from the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, all heading “right into the fire.” In the car, Má recalls her own childhood evacuation from a flooded Viet Nam: “I was only a little girl back then.... All I could bring was my crayons.” Inside a school gym turned shelter, Simone devises a drawing project for all the children that speaks to their individual and collective backgrounds. Artfully weaving flashbacks and recent events, Phan’s inventive illustrations intersperse b&w images with spot color that gradually introduces a full rainbow spectrum of experience. Supporting characters are portrayed with various skin tones. Ages 4–8. (May)

Reviewed on 03/15/2024 | Details & Permalink

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Kailani’s Gift

Dorina Lazo Gilmore-Young, illus. by Lynnor Bontigao. WaterBrook, $12.99 (40p) ISBN 978-0-5935-7779-0

A girl overcomes doubt to learn a traditional dance for her grandparents’ anniversary party in this sweet tale centering Filipino culture. Kailani, the youngest of five siblings, portrayed by Bontigao as smiling, pink-cheeked characters, doesn’t want to be left out of the tinikling dance they are rehearsing for the celebration. Kailani’s attempts to join result in sibling teasing, but Daddy says all she needs is a good teacher: “Me.” Kailani struggles until Daddy compares tinikling to jump rope, and practices constantly until she’s ready for her part in the siblings’ collaboration. Moments between Kailani and her father model a joyous bond in this low-stakes family tale rendered in Gilmore-Young’s friendly prose. An author’s note and glossary conclude. Ages 3–7. (Apr.)

Reviewed on 03/15/2024 | Details & Permalink

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