Obayda’s family lives Afghanistan, and when her father loses his leg from a terrorist attack they have to move from the big city to a small village. To bring luck to the family, Obayda’s aunt suggests adopting the underground practice of bacha posh, dressing a girl as a boy. So with a chop of her hair, …
Phinney Books’ Audiobook of the Week I am learning: a comedian reading their own audiobook is a good way to go. (Eddie Izzard next?) But W. Kamau Bell is not your average comedian, and his Awkward Thoughts is not your average comedian’s book. There’s not a punch line in every paragraph; sometimes there isn’t one on …
It happens at least once a week. A well-meaning adult will come to the store looking for a gift for a kid– sometimes with the kid in tow, sometimes not. The adult will be wandering lost, clueless, picking up and dismissing book after book after book. If they’ve come in with a kid, the kid …
University of Oregon professor Michael Copperman recalls his experiences serving with Teach For America in the Mississippi Delta. Copperman’s descriptive prose walks the reader through two years teaching the fourth grade in one of the poorest and most educationally disadvantaged regions in the United States. His language allows the harsh realities of educational inequality, institutional …
An Indies Introduce Q&A With Lisa Ko By Jessica Stauffer on Tuesday, May 02, 2017 on bookweb.org from the American Booksellers Association Lisa Ko is the author of The Leavers (Algonquin), a Winter/Spring 2017 Indies Introduce adult debut and a May 2017 Indie Next List pick. The Leavers, a story of immigration and adoption, is “a …
The Hour of Daydreams is a gorgeous read that should be relished as one would a piece of dark chocolate cake. Rich with tantalizing characters and delicious prose, this is a novel that readers, both young and old alike, won’t be able to help but savor. —Leslye Walton, winner of a 2015 PNBA Book Award and author of The …
When Michael Copperman left Stanford University for the Mississippi Delta in 2002, he imagined he would lift underprivileged children from the narrow horizons of rural poverty. Well-meaning but naïve, the Asian American from the West Coast soon lost his bearings in a world divided between black and white. He had no idea how to manage a classroom or help …
On Sunday, June 26 in Orlando Florida at the American Library Association annual conference and exhibition, Seattle author Laurie Ann Thompson and illustrator Sean Qualls were honored with the Schneider Family Book Award for their picture book, Emmanuel’s Dream. The Schneider Family Book Awards honor an author and/or illustrator for a book that embodies an artistic …
Originally published in Shelf Awareness Pro, March 29, 2016 Sherman Alexie is a poet, short story writer, novelist, filmmaker, performer, and winner of the National Book Award for Young People’s Literature for The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian. A Spokane/Coeur d’Alene Indian, Alexie grew up in Wellpinit, Wash., on the Spokane Indian Reservation and now lives …
On Wednesday, March 16, after reading A Long Walk to Water by Linda Sue Park, the 7th graders at Naches Valley Middle School were introduced to a man who lived the book. Abraham Abei, originally from Sudan (later South Sudan) was one of the “Lost Boys” from the Dinka tribe who traveled with Salva Dut. For years he lived without …
