Author: terryhong

This latest volume of Ikigami will be forever associated with the great snowpocalypse of 2010! I pre-ordered it last October, knew it would take awhile (official pub date is actually today), and finally got an email from Amazon last week saying it was being shipped. ‘Lo and behold … then I got this alert a couple of days ago: “Delivery of your package has been delayed due to extreme weather conditions or an unforeseen natural event. UPS will deliver the package as soon as possible. We apologize for this unavoidable delay and appreciate your patience.”

US Post Office, UPS, Fed Ex! All shut down by the snowpocalypse. Who woulda thunk it? Snowpocalypse indeed! It’s even urbandictionary.com’s word of the day today! And any moment now, yet another storm is expected to hit DC [is it summer yet?].

Thankfully, my latest Ikigami fix arrived yesterday and, of course, I had to read it immediately. If you want to start from the beginning, you can click here for the previous volumes.

Poor federal employee Fujimoto sees everyone else has a private life outside the office, including Dr. Kubo who counsels ikigami victims and their families. But when you’re the actual person making the ikigami (death-notice) delivery, it’s hard to think beyond the death-and-destruction sentence you’ve just handed another human being. Fujimoto still questions the validity of the National Welfare Act – ”for people to understand how precious life is, they must first confront death” – and continues to discuss his concerns with Ishii, his older (not necessarily wiser) office supervisor.

In this volume’s first half, Fujimoto meets a dedicated teacher who has just been dismissed for crimes he has not committed, whose reaction to his impending death is to seek revenge not on the young student who orchestrated his dismissal, but the adults whose neglect caused the young man’s evil act. In the second half, a young mother is determined in the last 24 hours of her life to save her daughter from getting the vaccination that will determine her fate … and from a life of irresponsible neglect by her careless husband who never grew up.

Out for drinks with Ishii and Dr. Kubo (who proves to be quite the lightweight), Fujimoto realizes with great frustration that even though the receipt of an ikigami makes “anything [seem] possible in those last 24 hours” for the victim, the actual results “may be nothing more than unfulfilled possibilities.” But for Fujimoto, when Dr. Kubo confesses that she broke up with her mysterious boyfriend as they share a cab home, Fujimoto’s face registers his own hopeful possibilities. More reason to stay tuned …

Readers: Young Adult, Adult

Published: 2010 (United States)
Ikigami 4 © Motoro Mase
Original Japanese edition published by Shogakukan Inc.

The story could not be any sweeter. A big brother greets his little sister on the morning of her first birthday, and lovingly explains the happy events of the special day ahead.

Following Korean tradition, the first birthday is an especially auspicious day, filled with loving extended family, surrounded by well-wishing friends, eating lots of fabulous treats … and deciding your future through a centuries-old prophecy game. The birthday child chooses a single object from a selection of symbolic objects, which can vary from family to family. In Sara Mee’s family, she’s presented with a toy bow-and-arrow set, a paintbrush, little bag of gold coins, a book, a spoon, some yarn, and an ink bottle … which means, depending on her innocent choice, she could become a soldier, artist, successful in business, scholar, cook, live a long life, or become a writer.

You’ll have to read for yourself to see what Sara Mee chooses, of course … I can’t give that secret away …

As delightful as the picture book is (and certainly I’ll be sending copies out as gifts, especially to my Korean American friends with new kids), the one thing that mars the happy title is a problematic Romanization of Korean words. Avraham seems to use the outdated McCune-Reischauer system which turns the word dol (first birthday) erroneously into tol (and so on with other Korean words) throughout the book.

For a native Korean speaker, such mispronunciation proves jarring. The revised Romanization system for Korean (which is at least a decade old in wide usage) is far more accurate, developed by the National Academy of the Korean Language and officially released by Korea’s Ministry of Culture and Tourism – in other words, created by native-speaking Koreans as opposed to two non-Korean, non-native-speaking Americans back in the 1930s, no disrespect intended towards the erudite pair.

Avraham, an adoptive mother of a Korean daughter, gives “special thanks to Dr. Byung-Joon Lim, Professor and Chairman of the Korean language department at the Defense Language Institute in Monterey, California, for reading the manuscript and making corrections to the Korean.” So Avraham can’t be faulted for seeking out a local expert … but it’s strange that a Korean language professor in the 21st century chooses to use an outdated, phonetically inaccurate system.

Readers: Children

Published: 2010

By the time I got to college, the Michael Dorris/Louise Erdrich union was already legendary. Dorris was the founder of Dartmouth’s Native American Studies department – might I add, how ironic that took 200+ years after the school was created in 1769 “for the education and instruction of Youth of the Indian Tribes in this Land” – in 1972, the same year Dartmouth finally allowed women, including Erdrich. Dorris remained an adjunct professor until his 1997 death. By the time I graduated, Erdrich’s debut novel, Love Medicine, was already a lit class standard.

Through the years, Erdrich’s name always popped up on my own bookshelves. So, too, did her personal stories in passing conversations, as she kept in touch with a few of the same people with whom I kept in touch. The media never quite left her alone, either, especially as her writing career quickly overshadowed the originally more established Dorris. Their relationship proved volatile, and ultimately destructive. They were in the midst of a messy divorce, with Dorris fighting accusations of the worst abuse when he finally took his own life. I always felt a bit of a voyeur reading Erdrich’s later titles, distracted somewhat by thinking I might know too much about their writer.

In the advance galley of Erdrich’s latest, Shadow Tag, which debuted this month, her publisher HarperCollins’ Executive Editor describes the books as “a fierce new novel that resembles no other work of fiction by Louise Erdrich.” I have to argue that I found reminiscences of Love Medicine’s disjointed narratives, pieced together with easy-to-overlook tiny connecting details told in gorgeous prose, and how welcoming that experience was to a hungry reader.

“It is a heart-stopping story with the tension and suspense of a psychological thriller,” the editor continues, “an anatomy of a marriage that leads its characters, as well as the reader, to a stunning and utterly unexpected ending.” Indeed, once you start, surely you will not be able to put this book down.

Irene and Gil’s marriage is falling apart. Irene, a historian with an unfinished PhD, is both muse and destroyer of artist Gil who has built his entire career on capturing his wife’s essence on canvas. He is a slave to his devotion to her while she is suffocating in his destructive hold on her soul. She’s trying desperately to leave, but her resolve keeps faltering. She finds unexpected understanding and strength with a half-sister who appears, almost deus ex machina, after more than four decades of unknowing … and she is (surprisingly) named … Louise.

Trying to hold on to her sanity, Irene keeps two diaries: the Blue Notebook she has in a safe deposit box into which she seemingly records the truth, and the Red Diary that she pretends to hide in her writing studio which she uses to manipulate her prying husband who cannot stay away from the hurtful words. Their three young children, ages 5 to 14, fall victim to the intense demise of their parents’ relationship.

Genius Florian discovers pot and the ubiquitous wine bottle, and secretly searches the web to examine his parents through his father’s art, filled with often disturbing, humiliating, sometimes pornographic images of his mother. Middle child Riel records as many memories as she can recover, and is determined she can hold her family together if only she could “figure out how to get the better of [her father] … [and] take away his power.”  Stoney, the family’s baby, born during the destruction of 9/11, captures his mother, as his father does, in pictures, and in his innocence, always with a wineglass in hand. “‘He thinks it’s part of you,” Florian explains to a bewildered Irene.

The three often huddle together, comforting each other without words, especially when the fighting becomes too terribly loud. When the ending comes, as it inevitably must (that much you know), indeed how it happens arrives with a sudden slap of shock. The pieces fall into imperfect place in the book’s less-than-10-final-pages (don’t you dare skip ahead!): “you trusted me with the narrative,” the final voice reveals, just as we the readers turned page after page with that same trust, a trust that does not go unrewarded.

Readers: Adult

Published: 2010

Six out of the seven greatest robots in the world are gone, destroyed by the evil force called Pluto. Professor Tenma watches over the body of Atom, who’s now been programmed “with as many personalities as there are people on earth” – six billion, in case you’re counting. In the high-security laboratory, Tenma admits to Professor Abdullah, fellow genius scientist, that he might be creating a new monster with Atom’s reprogramming. Tit for tat, Dr. Abdullah confesses to Tenma he’s “trying to develop yet another remarkable robot.” But Abdullah is soon thereafter killed by UN Forces, but not before he leaves a message (and tiny package) to be delivered posthumously to Tenma.

For now, only super-robot Epsilon, who has the power to harness photon energy, lives. He’s also a pacifist, living in Australia surrounded by rescued orphans who love and adore him … maybe that’s where his true energy comes from. But the world is anything but safe, and Pluto must somehow be stopped. When Wassily, one of the orphans, is bought by a mysterious stranger for a “substantial donation” while Epsilon is away, Epsilon races to rescue him, and comes face-to-face with Pluto. In the struggle, Pluto’s true identity is revealed. As Epsilon begs, “Someone must stand in my place … to save earth,” Uran witnesses Atom’s awakening …

Of the seven volumes thus far (click here to see the previous six), I have to say this one proved most memorable for me. The now-happy kids, Epsilon’s love for and devotion to them, sad sad Uran trying make sense of the too-many tragedies around her … but most entertaining of all (rather like a wink-wink inside joke) were this volume’s opening pages which offer a sampling of some of the six billion personalities coursing through Atom’s circuits, including characters from Urasawa’s phenomenal 17-volume Monster and the still on-going 20th Century Boys. I admit it … I felt somehow rewarded for being such a Urasawa groupie-junkie!

Readers: Young Adult, Adult

Published: 2010 (United States)
PLUTO © Naoki Urasawa/Studio Nuts, Takashi Nagasaki, and Tezuka Productions
Original Japanese edition published by Shogakukan Inc.
Based on Astro Boy by Osamu Tezuka

Pictures tell a thousand words … although really, no words could adequately capture the love between generations, especially between grandparents and their grandchildren. Just look at this cover …

This heartwarming title begins with all the different ways to say “Grandfather” and “Grandmother” throughout the world, with an assortment of caring pictures to illustrate that special multi-generational bond. Then the Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Archbishop Desmond Tutu steps in with wise words of loving wisdom: “Grandchildren are a wonderful gift. They allow us to see the world, once again, through the eyes of a child. … Their joyful innocent awakes the child in us and gives us hope for the future.” He also offers gentle reminders: “As grandparents we also bear important responsibilities. … If we do our job well, our grandchildren will grow to have open minds and open hearts. … The love and support we give our grandchildren helps safeguard their future – and makes the world a better place.” Oh, if only if were that easy …

A co-production of the Global Fund for Children, the three authors honor grandparents throughout the world, offering a book-end spread of “Five Things to Do with Your Grandparents” to strengthen bonds. Also included is a map of the world, with the represented countries colored in … images originating from Africa, Eastern Europe, Central Asia, Middle East, and Southeast Asia are disappointingly sparse. A bit more diversity would certainly have found greater appreciation.

That said, with all the racially-divided hardships and historical challenges Americans have faced (and continue to face), only in America (at least amidst these images) can you find a picture of a Caucasian grandmother holding her clearly mixed African American granddaughter. As the parents of young hapa children, that certainly spoke to me as a welcoming sign of making the world a better place …  truly the future is with our children.

Readers: Children (and their grandparents!)

Published: 2010

When the “big one” (for me) hit on October 17, 1989 at 5:04 p.m., I was alone in our house, which sat on Blueberry Hill near the base of the Santa Cruz Mountains. I was barely a few miles from the epicenter of the 7.1 Loma Prieta earthquake. I don’t know how I got out of the house, but I did tumble into our street. I was reading (and never stopped clutching) Maxine Hong Kingston’s Tripmaster Monkey which will forever be my “earthquake book.“ By December, we had not only left California, we had left the country, settling in for the first of our two London adventures.

Reading Chitra Divakaruni’s latest was a visceral, haunting experience. A violent earthquake in an unnamed U.S. city looms large, its aftereffects and aftershocks almost a character itself. Amazingly enough, the book which debuts today, was written long before the too-recent tragic earthquake disaster in Haiti. As Divakaruni wrote her novel, Queen of Dreams, in response to 9/11, she imagined One Amazing Thing after surviving Hurricane Rita: “I saw people around me responding in many different ways,” she writes in a Q&A sent with the book from the publisher. “The pressure brought out the worst in some and the best in others. Some were toting guns, snarling at people; others were sharing their meager supplies of water and snacks. That’s when I knew I’d have to write about this phenomenon.”

Trapped in the basement visa office of the Indian consulate, nine men and women gather their strength, both physically and mentally, in order to survive the devastating earthquake that wipes out all contact with the outside world. Two characters emerge as the group’s leaders: Cameron, an African American Vietnam veteran still fighting demons, is the most qualified to deal with the group’s physical safely, while Uma, an Indian American graduate literature student inspired by the heavy copy of The Canterbury Tales she carries in her backpack, turns to storytelling to distract the group’s growing anxiety. “‘We can take our stress out on one another,’” she admonishes after a desperate violent incident, ‘… or we can focus our minds on something compelling … we can each tell an important story from our lives.’” Uma assures her desperate audience, “‘I don’t believe anyone can go through life without encountering at least one amazing thing.’”

And so the stories unfold … Grandmother Jiang’s first love in the Chinese quarter of Calcutta, Mr. Pritchett’s beloved kitten that shuts down his little-boy heart, Malathi’s gleefully brave revenge on an abusive wealthy woman, Tariq’s first-hand experience of post-9/11 injustice against his innocent family, Lily’s discovery of her prodigious musical talent, Mangalam’s emotional destruction, Mrs. Pritchett’s longing to escape her overprivileged life … and finally Cameron’s desperate search for a lost child and Uma’s own need to understand true, lasting love.

As the waters rise, the gas leaks, and disappointments prove almost crippling, nine strangers who once expected to change their lives in faraway India, share a life-altering experience right here at home …

One tiny quibble … someone please let me know if I’ve read this incorrectly on page 5, about Uma’s parents: “They had come to the United Sates some twenty years back as young professionals, when Uma was a child.” And then further down on the same page describing Uma’s parents reverse immigration back to India: “Together, heartlessly, they had rented out their house (the house where Uma was born!) and returned to their hometown of Kolkata.” So Uma is an Indian-born immigrant, or she’s an American-born native? Seems to somehow be both, no?

Tidbit: Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni is our very first confirmed guest for SALTAF 2010 [South Asian Literary and Theater Arts Festival]. This year, the fabulous event happens on Saturday, November 13. Mark your calendars now. No excuses! We’ll be expecting you!

Readers: Adult

Published: 2010

Today begins Black History Month … a month devoted every year to the African American experience. In case you’re wondering, historian Carter G. Woodson, considered the “Father of Black History,” pioneered the concept of “Negro History Week” in 1926, which fell in the second week of February to celebrate the birthdays of two pivotal figures in African American history, Abraham Lincoln (12th) and Frederick Douglass (14th). Fifty years later, in 1976, that week became a whole month in the U.S., renamed Black History Month. In 1995, our northern neighbors also followed suit and officially recognized February as Black History Month. And, across the Pond, our British brethren have officially designated October for Black History Month commemorations.

So … back to books … if you read ONE book this month, let it be Black Like Me. Ironically, it’s written by a white man, I realize … but truly, this half-century old, eye-opening, gut-wrenching treatise on the African American experience still has the power to shock and inspire you.

In late October 1959, Texas journalist John Howard Griffin – a self-described “specialist in race issues [who] really knew nothing of the Negro’s real problems” – decided to become “a Negro in the Deep South.” With the help of a reluctant dermatologist, he literally transformed himself into a dark-skinned person and ‘passed’ as a black man through the deep American South.

He kept a detailed diary of his experiences, and his story became nightmarish classic legend, splashed all over the newspapers, magazines, and television by the end of his experiment. Black Like Me quickly became an international bestseller and has never been out of print since its 1961 debut. His epilogue, added in 1975, gives a chilling account of the dangerous hostility he and his family survived after his experiences became public.

While I have read excerpts at various points during my education, I had never read the book in entirety until recently. I couldn’t put it down. I can’t recommend it adamantly, absolutely enough.

“The Negro. The South. These are details. The real story is the universal one of men who destroy the souls and bodies of other men (and in the process destroy themselves) for reasons neither really understands,” Griffin writes in his preface. “It is the story of the persecuted, the defrauded, the feared and detested.” You do not want to believe Griffin’s experiences – solely because of the transformation of his skin color. Your mind can’t fathom how human beings can treat other human beings with that level of disregard, disrespect, and just downright evil.

Most disturbing of all, you can’t believe how familiar Griffin’s experiences still are today. As our too-wise young daughter said two years ago after learning about the Ku Klux Klan, lynchings, and segregation during a difficult school year, ” … but Mommy, things still haven’t changed enough … James Byrd’s murder was during my lifetime.” Out of the mouth of tween-aged babes …

Read. Learn. Rage. Then do your best – small, medium, major ways, anything you can do – and change the world for the better.

Readers: Young Adult, Adult

Published: 1961, 1996 (35th anniversary edition with Griffin’s epilogue and an afterword by Robert Bonazzi)

The fictionalized account of the literary adventures of revered Japanese writer Natsume Sōseki (1867-1916) continues in the next installment of the multi-volume Times of Botchan. Sōseki leaves a literary discussion group-of-sorts debating the merits of contemporary poetry with new ideas for his novel-in-progress, Botchan. He literally brushes up with political history, bumping into a would-be Korean assassin ready to take action against Japanese leaders for their colonization of his peninsular nation. Turbulent times are coming  …

Growing western presence at home and nationalist imperialism abroad mark the beginning of unsettling 20th century for Japan. Sōseki’s classrooms become arenas of debate. His colleagues’ lives are moving in different directions, some even leaving Tokyo (especially to escape a broken heart). Meanwhile, Sōseki’s contemporary Shimazaki Tōson publishes an important new novel, The Broken Commandment, which quickly proves to be a critical success. All the while, Sōseki is shrewdly collecting experiences and characters that will shape his Botchan, while he debates if he might quit his teaching positions to finally become a full-time writer.

At volume’s end, you’ll find two informative essays by the series’ writer, Sekikawa. The first, “The 38th year of the Meiji Period and the making of ‘I am a Cat,’” gives a historically-sensitive version of Sōseki’s 38th year of Meiji, or 1905 in our western calendar: “The circumstances under which Sōseki was living until he decided, in November of the 38th year of the Meiji Period, to write ‘Botchan’ are as follows.” Didn’t need Sōseki’s grandson to set the record straight as in volume 1, ahem!

The second essay, “How did we come up with ‘The times of Botchan’?,” is pretty self-explanatory. Sekikawa takes a moment to explain the concept of gensaku – ”An original story by another author, which may or may not be intended for manga, and which is used by the artist” – but notes how “rare [it is] to find good manga  based on ‘gensaku.’” Sekikawa and Taniguchi are an exception, of course.

Once again, Sekikawa emphasizes the historical importance of the series: “The Meiji Period was a stormy period. In a way, people back then were probably a lot busier than people nowadays. Modern Japanese outlook was formed at the end of the Meiji Period and remains very deeply rooted in our times, in spite of the strong shocks that have been endured.”

So a little enriching history plus good entertainment … perfect for a Saturday afternoon, right?

Readers: Young Adult, Adult

Published: 2006 (United Kingdom, United States)

Not quite a year ago, my highly revered, most beloved advisor (of my second unfinished almost-ABD-PhD) passed away. As well as being one of the most important (and groundbreaking) Japanese scholars working in English, he was – and remains – the definitive western authority on Natsume Sōseki (1867-1916). A household name in Japan if for no other reason than because he appeared on the 1000-yen note for two decades (until 2004), Sōseki is considered the most important novelist of Japan’s Meiji era (1868-1912) as well as a pivotal figure in Japanese modern literature.

I just can’t picture my august advisor in his hallowed office reading manga ever, especially in his later years (OMG! – have to sit a moment with that thought!). He was born too early to have been a manga-reader in his youth growing up in Japan (he was hapa-Japanese/Scottish). But perhaps he’s making up for lost time, and chuckling from above, head together with Sōseki himself, laughing over the imaginative antics of Sōseki’s manga self in the multi-volume The Times of Botchan.

The series begins with a 38-year-old Sōseki as he contemplates writing another novel. He has recently returned from studying in England and is now a literature professor at Tokyo Imperial University (today’s University of Tokyo, or “Todai” – Japan’s premier university). Having found a welcoming audience with his serialized story, I Am a Cat, Sōseki embarks on what will become his novel, Botchan, whose protagonist is not unlike his own self.

Sōseki is surrounded by a group of sake-loving friends, who both entertain and challenge him, as they discuss the many changes that are happening to a once closed Japanese society. Sōseki recalls some of his past experiences, vividly remembering the miseries he faced living among foreigners especially in London. Little by little, he explores potential plots, creating his characters after careful observations of the quickly changing world around him.

Funny enough, Sōseki’s own grandson, Natsume Fusanosuke, is a noted contemporary manga critic. He insists in the book’s epilogue that his grandfather was no drinker, which means “the rowdiness that Sōseki exhibits at the beginning of the story must be fictitious. Just as the encounters between the historical characters that are narrated in this work must be figments of the imagination.” But the grandson is also quick to add, “it is not my intention to disapprove of any of these inventions just because I am proud to be Sōseki’s grandson. I like the character who appears in the story and his imaginary personality, and I very much enjoyed reading it.”

I’m thinking my beloved advisor, too, is enjoying it muchly from above. That’s my story, and I’m sticking to it!

Readers: Young Adult, Adult

Published: 2005 (United Kingdom, United States)

You know how sometimes when you’re not quite asleep, you think you’re maybe dreaming, but then you’re convinced you’re really awake even when you’re not? You know … that state of in-between when you’re not quite sure of reality and you start making things up that you can’t really explain? Confused yet? … Welcome to the world of Sakabashira’s The Box Man …

A hooded, dark-sunglassed man on a scooter, whizzes by on a deserted road, joined by a sort-of cat-maybe-fox-like creature who seems to be sporting a turtle shell. Strapped on to the back of the scooter is an unmarked box, which makes a perfect seat for the four-legged hitchhiker. Off they go into the night, encountering any number of strange creatures and disturbing sights.

Mini-Godzilla causes the pair to crash, but the box remains intact and they quickly find another scooter in a convenient auto junk yard. They enter a labyrinthine city of dark alleys and tangled wires, get accosted by cops (the only recognizable figures – what’s up with that?), walk through an endless corridor of rooms filled with strange goings-on (don’t ask), scooter through the most bizarre of bazaars, and finally end on a deserted beach … where the hooded man reveals himself just before he delivers his … uhm … father who with his new “crab-like lower body … has become far too decadent.”

Got all that? Make sense? Nope? I think that’s the point … could definitely be wrong – am totally open to suggestions so please do share.

As we zig-zag through our lives trying to escape our demons (or meet them head-on), we’re never quite sure of where we are, or even where we’re going … our mish-mash global-village overstimulated lives are nothing short of surreal, that’s for certain. What else can we do but enjoy the crazy ride as much as we can? Let The Box Man be your guide …

Readers: Adult

Published: 2009 (United States)

“I hope my new family is the best family the world,” Carlota wishes on her last night in the orphanage. Unable to sleep, she imagines what her new life might be like … living with pastry chefs in a fancy shop, sailing the seven seas with pirates, playing with tigers in a circus, or drinking milkshakes along the Milky Way …

Morning comes all too quickly and her new family is actually here! Her new mother isn’t a pastry chef but she brings her special snacks, her new father isn’t a pirate but he still loves digging for buried treasure, her new grandmother has two cats (not tigers), and her new brother has decorated her room with glow-in-the-dark stars she can count every night to sleep. Her ‘maybe’s and ‘what-if’s are all finally answered … and she knows indeed that she has the very best family in all the world.

Spanish television writer López,creates a touching, universal story of how families are made, not necessarily born. Together with Wensell’s whimsical drawings, Best Family proves to be a loving, gentle reminder of how perfect all sorts of families can be.

Readers: Children

Published: 2010 (United States)

What does a manga artist do when he lands in jail as severe punishment for a minor offense? For Kazuichi Hanawa, an established artist known for his fantasy volumes set in the Middle Ages, reality shockingly became a tiny cell for three years in the mid-1990s. His crime was a firearms violation, the result of a growing interest in collecting model guns. His reaction was to create a stark account of his incarcerated experience.

In a three-way interview at the book’s beginning, manga reviewer Yukihiro Abe remarks to Hanawa, “The way this book has turned out it looks like he went to do some research for three years.” Hanawa’s reaction is agreeably analytical: “For a long time I’d been interested in knowing what the world behind bars was like … And since I was there, I was able to experience life in the big cage for myself.”

With the exception of a few short panels that vividly (and not without humor) capture his suffering over nicotine withdrawal, the majority of Doing Time remains surprisingly detached. Hanawa matter-of-factly notes the abundance of tasty food, grumbles at the uncomfortable design of the cell’s toilet, smiles over a moment of natural sunlight … but for a man who has suddenly lost his basic freedom, he remains mostly muted. He records his daily routine with memorable detail, always marked by regular meals and necessary bathroom breaks. He shrewdly captures the expressions and habits of some of his inmates, sharing the conversations that keep them all sane (enough) to get through their monotonous days.

For such a life-changing, shocking event as landing in jail, Hanawa presents a controlled study on all aspects of incarcerated life, from scheduled baths to number of allowed books “for study,” to differing side dishes, and even television viewing allowances. For us who hope to always stay on the outside, to glean such information secondhand is certainly always the better alternative!

Readers: Adult

Published: 2005 (United Kingdom, United States)

Once upon a time not so long ago, Americans were willing to risk their very lives for the privilege to cast their votes. Since the 1970s, just over half of U.S. citizens eligible to vote have turned out for Presidential elections (with the exception of the historical 2008 election with 63% voter turnout). Far fewer bother to show up for non-Presidential elections. Sad state of affairs indeed.

But back in 1965, hundreds of African American citizens of Selma, Alabama gathered together to fight for the right to have their voices officially heard. In Selma, more than half of the 30,000 residents were African American, but 99% of the registered voters were white. “The Alabama governor, George Wallace,” reports Elizabeth Partridge, “made sure [voter registration for black voters] was virtually impossible. He actively promoted use of an unfairly administered ‘literacy test.’ Rigged for failure, the test was a series of unreasonable questions about the Constitution and obscure laws.” White voters faced no such obstacles.

Inspired by the fiery young Martin Luther King, Jr., Selma’s residents, especially young African American students who were still too young to vote, decided to organize a march to fight for fair access to the voting booth. They were abused and arrested again and again – even young children – but still they would not stop. On March 7, 1965, which would be known as Bloody Sunday, Alabama State Troopers attacked a nonviolent marching crowd with tear gas and billy clubs. “‘We were going to get killed or we were going to get free,’ said one marcher.” The horrific melee was caught by news cameras and broadcast nationally: “Forty-eight million viewers watched in growing disbelief and horror as men, women, and children desperately fled for safety.”

Fueled by MLK’s leadership, the people refused to give up. They were buoyed by President Lyndon Johnson who promised much needed reform in a live televised broadcast on March 15: “‘Their cause must be our cause too. It is not just Negroes, but all of us, who must overcome the crippling legacy of bigotry and injustice. And we shall overcome.‘” Six days later, hundreds of Americans, both black and white, began a historic 54-mile march from Selma to Montgomery, protected the U.S. Army sent by President Johnson. Despite challenging conditions, the hundreds grew to thousands by the time they reached their goal, the Capitol Building in Montgomery, on March 25, where Rosa Parks and MLK were waiting to share their triumph.

Less than five months later, President Johnson signed the Voting Rights Act into law on August 6, 1965. Selma residents, especially the youth, had paved the way. “Hundreds of students had put themselves at risk to change America’s voting laws. Their idealism and bravery encouraged the adults. Together, they learned to live with fear, but did not let it stop them. With only their songs and faith for protection, they believed they could make a difference. And they did.”

Marching for Freedom is an unforgettable testament to the power of youthful change. Award-wining author Partridge has pieced together the story from books, articles, and most importantly interviews with actual participants of the historic march, and enhanced the words with stark images of horrific violence juxtaposed with determined hope. Freedom captures a moment of history that should shake us out of our inexcusable malaise, and keep driving us to the polls every time we’re called upon to participate. Imagine … if we don’t use it, we could very well lose it.

Readers: Middle Grade

Published: 2009

Take notice: this is every parent’s worst nightmare come true. Without warning, 15-year-old Megumi disappears, seemingly without a trace. Her mother has no idea why she might have left or where she might be … and the only clue she has is a very expensive designer handbag filled with pricey make-up which she finds hidden under Megumi’s bed, something the teenager could never afford on her own.

From the mountain shelter swoops down “Uncle” Shiga, Megumi’s father’s best friend. The two used to climb serious mountains together, until Tatsuko froze to death after summiting Daulaghiri (the world’s seventh highest mountain) in the Nepalese Himalayas. Shiga still berates himself for not having gone up with Tatsuko, and has since promised to look after Tatsuko’s wife and young child no matter what … and now he’s got to find Megumi before it’s too late.

With the help of a mysterious young man who the city street kids trust, and an unlikely fast-talking school friend of Megumi’s, Shiga learns Megumi’s secrets are hardly innocent. Worried and desperate, Shiga is determined to rescue Megumi … which may well be the last thing he does …

With some of the most realistic black-and-white graphics, manga veteran Taniguchi creates a fast-moving mystery that will keep you turning those pages, quickly and nervously. As warned, if you’re a parent … don’t read this alone at night. Most importantly, make sure you really, really talk to your kids as often as you can. You wouldn’t want to discover their secrets this way for sure! As disturbingly entertaining as this manga is, it does double duty as a parenting guide, too!

Readers: Adult

Published: 2008 (United Kingdom, United States)

“This manga has a positive outlook on life, and so it has been made with as much realism removed as possible.” Thus begins award-winning, prodigious Japanese manga artist Hideo Azuma’s tri-part reminiscences that capture three highly difficult periods of his life, indeed presented with so much “realism removed” as to provide plenty of giddy (and guilty) Schadenfreude entertainment.

Azuma’s alter-ego is a squat, one-eyed-ish, comical character who miraculously survives two extended bouts of runaway homelessness and another of incarcerated alcoholism. His debilitating “depression, anxieties, and delusions …” cause him twice (in 1989 and again in1992) to quit all his manga assignments, leave home, and set up what must have been a miserable subsistence in the woods. But Azuma presents his dumpster-diving, liquor-searching, cigarette-butt gleaning days with a light, tongue-in-cheek attitude that never sinks to gloom and doom … even when his alter-ego decides suicide might be the best option of all.

From his aimless vantage point during his second time out, Azuma notices, “Everyone’s working. Maybe I oughtta be, too,” and ends up getting a job with the gas company. His “blue-collar” stint leaves him in great physical shape after a year-plus of hard labor, but soon he’s had enough and quits that, too: “I had nothing to do [so] I went back to drawing manga.”

Five years of a different kind of hard labor creating endless manga for others leaves Azuma a delusional alcoholic mess. His shockingly patient wife (she must be a saint!) finally rescues him from himself and commits him into a psychiatric hospital. His road to redemption – paved with IVs, arm and leg restraints, cyanide (a painful inhibitor against alcohol consumption), AA meetings, and an endless parade of wacky characters – eventually leads to the promise of true release. “Maybe another two months here,” he ponders on the final page. But he’s also planning ahead: “There are a lot of other things that happened and strange people I met here, but I’ll save that for next time … ” We’ll be waiting …

Readers: Adult

Published: 2008 (United Kingdom, United States)

Don’t even open this book without a very full stomach, because you’ll be salivating almost immediately. Culinary bad-boy David Chang, creator of the impossible-to-get-in restaurants of the Momofuku chain (noodle bar, ssäm bar, ko, milk bar, and má pêche coming soon) surely knows how to feed. He’s a Korean American by way of Alexandria, Virginia, who got tired of pushing papers around after Trinity College, and headed to Japan to “teach English by day, eat noodles the rest of the time, and maybe at some point figure out what I was going to do with myself.” That notorious love of noodles sent him back to the States and the French Culinary Institute. Degree in hand, Chang went from kitchen to kitchen, from New York to Tokyo and back to New York … and finally to founding the now-legendary Momofuku.

The logo represents the “lucky peach,” a direct translation of the Japanese name. It’s also an homage to instant noodle king Momofuku Ando, the late founder of Nissin Foods (yes, those ubiquitous Cup Noodles you find everywhere and anywhere). But more than that, my own initial reaction to the name actually gets justified on page 28 (which is not fit for family-friendly audiences, ahem): “And then there’s the homonymous quality. The restaurant was, for me, a %#&$-you to so many things. Me – a Korean American – making Japanese ramen was ridiculous on its face. Me – a passable but not much better cook – opening up a restaurant while my peers, guys I worked with who were so much more talented than me, were still toiling under other regimes, paying their dues, learning. It was no accident that Momofuku sounds like mother%#&$@^.”

The rest is, indeed, culinary history …

Together with food writer Peter Meehan (who adamantly admits he “hated Momofuku Noodle Bar the first time [he] went there,” but eventually became a regular), the pair have created one toothsome cookbook with deliciously memorable potty-mouthed stories in between to keep you reading (and cooking). For the unlucky peaches who can’t score a seat, we can at least drool over the pictures and hope our own cooking skills can at least approximate some of their lucky fare … are you hungry yet??!!

Readers: Adult

Published: 2009

First reaction: WOWOWOWOWOW! What a fabulous first manga for the new year. Indeed, nothing is simple about this all-in-one-volume story … except for a little wish that the pages might have lasted a little longer …

Open the first page and forget linear time. Jim, the journalist-turned-novelist, tells Ian, “Your life is amazing … I could make a movie about you and everyone would think it was fake. You’re going to be my next novel. A year from now…” So the story of Ian’s amazing life unfolds backwards – with a few zig-zags along the way … because as the title clearly warns, this story is ‘not simple.’

Ian lands at a diner with Irene, a teenager who literally picks him off the streets as a decoy for her real boyfriend with whom she plans to run away. Over coffee (for him), hot chocolate (for her), and french fries, Ian tells Irene about how he met a kind, older woman three years ago who also picked him up off the streets, fed him, and mutually shared life stories. The two strangers agreed they would meet once more three years later …

The coincidence is much more … and Irene amazingly turns out to be the niece of the older other woman … perhaps. In a case of mistaken identity, Ian’s story unexpectedly ends … but the manga continues, going backwards from the American diner to a London jail where Ian’s beloved sister is awaiting release to the Melbourne home of Ian’s Australian family that is all too quickly falling apart. Little is as it seems, of course … nothing is truly simple in life.

Using stark black-and-white drawings that capture some of the most expressive (over-large) eyes in print, Ono follows a young life haunted by disjointed relationships and missed connections. “I’m hoping we can all be together again,” Ian finally voices out loud. Just before he sets out on his final quest, he asks Jim, ”If I have nothing but good experiences from here on … then the novel will have a happy ending too, right?” Such a fervent prayer for a never-simple ending …

Readers: Young Adult, Adult

Published: 2010 (United States)
not simple © Natsume Ono/Shogakukan
Original Japanese edition published by Shogakukan Inc.

Just before the last election, legendary former Chrysler CEO Lee Iacocca, then 82, wanted so much for Americans to take full advantage of the 15th Amendment [“The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude,” in case you needed a refresher], he wrote an entire book (with a little help) to prod voters to the polls on November 4, 2008, and make a difference. Almost a full year after the new Obama Administration took office, I strapped on that iPod (which Iacocca gripes about with today’s youth tuning out, but really, it’s an old age issue for me because my diminishing eyeballs get too tired to read the small print) and listened to Iacocca himself rant, rave, and reminisce. And, yes, I thoroughly enjoyed all six-plus hours of his angry-old-man-kindly-old-grandfather schtick. The one thing I might have wished for would be a ‘one-year-after’ epilogue, but perhaps I ask for too much …

Iacocca with his potty-mouthed-tell-it-like-it-is attitude hooks you in immediately … what’s not to love about such straight talk: “Am I the only guy in this country who’s fed up with what’s happening? Where the hell is your outrage? We should be screaming bloody murder. We’ve got a gang of clueless bozos steering our ship of state right over a cliff, we’ve got corporate gangsters stealing us blind, and we can’t even clean up after a hurricane much less build a hybrid car. But instead of getting mad, everyone sits around and nods their heads when the politicians say, ‘Stay the course.’ Stay the course? You’ve got to be kidding. This is America, not the damned Titanic. I’ll give you a sound bite: Throw the bums out!“

And one year later, throw the bums, we did … so someone was definitely listening. Famous for having given the baby-boomers the Mustang while at Ford (from which he readily admits he was fired) to then giving said boomers the mini-van when they grew up and had families while at Chrysler (which he saved from virtual obscurity, only to watch broken-heartedly as it was subsumed by Daimler-Benz), Iacocca begins his treatise with all the reasons the old administration had to go. Even though you might not glean anything new as the problems were so ubiquitous, Part 1 is still worth a few good chuckles to hear it all again. From leaders (or lack thereof), Iacocca moves to “Where have all our friends gone?,” free-versing about how the U.S. has burned quite a few international bridges, not the least of which is a humorous spin on the whole ‘freedom’ fries fiasco on the Hill.

He tackles contemporary capitalism in Part 3, drawing on his personal experiences as one of the most powerful CEOs in history, sharing life lessons in leadership (and knowing when you’re not fit to run for the White House). In the fourth and final section, Iacocca is perhaps at his most honest and unguarded, using his own history – his immigrant parents’ influences, his mentors’ wisdom, his personal relationships (he takes his grandkids out to lunch regularly and really listens) – as examples of how he chose to “DO something.”

And he’s certainly done plenty, from funding patriotic endeavors like The Statue of Liberty-Ellis Island Foundation (he regrets not taking his kids there when they were younger as his parents took him and his sister in their youth), to finding a cure for diabetes through his eponymous Iacocca Foundation (his beloved first wife died of the disease), to educating future generations of leaders from all over the world at Lehigh University’s Iacocca Institute (where food is always something dependable to bond over!), to feeding hungry children all over the world with Nourish the Children. This year, Iacocca turns 85 … and surely is showing no signs of slowing down … he’ll keep doing. We just need to join in.

Readers: Adult

Published: 2007, 2008 (audio)

“Turkmenistan! It was a strange place,” begins Jesse Lonergan’s graphic travelogue based on his own experiences as a Peace Corps volunteer in the central Asian former republic of the Soviet Union. Lonergan’s alter-ego is “Joe” – as in average Joe Schmoe? – a bewildered American adjusting to the ubiquity of Turkmenbashy (Turkmen dictator Saparmurat Niyazov whose totaliarian regime ended when he died in 2006), unexpected eccentric cultural exchanges with the local, and the magical power of necessary bribes.

Joe’s best guide is local Azat, “the computer expert at the education department” – never mind that the entire department has but one computer. Azat, “the greatest dreamer [Joe] ever met” is also his best friend in Turkmenistan. Azat makes sure Joe gets his stolen passport back, tastes the best cooking (including his mother’s manty), meets a few of the local girls (at least one of whom Joe should marry), and enjoys every wedding with or without an invitation. In return, Joe puts up with Azat’s bully-of-an-older brother, listens to Azat’s nonsensical schemes to get rich, commiserates with Azat’s yearning for a girl he can’t have, and patiently tries to answer one absurd question after another.

Lonergan covers two years in a minimal hundred pages. “[A]t he end of my service I was still just a visitor,” Joe thinks, but doesn’t say to Azat. “I was just passing through … Passing through slowly but still just passing through.” In spite of Azat’s hope that their children might someday be best friends, Joe just wants to go home: “I’d always be returning to America.” But when in Turkemenistan … you’ll smile, chuckle, cringe, and roll your eyes plenty as you follow Joe and Azat through their adventures – from the mundane to the near-impossible.

Readers: Young Adult, Adult

Published: 2009