Review by Alice Penfold “I had a feeling that something terrible was going to happen…” Liur is dominated by the fear of “something terrible” happening to her or her father. After her mother dies suddenly, her father disappears to America; although he originally goes there to study, he soon abandons this plan and goes travelling, … Continue reading #IntlYALitMonth Review: The Ventriloquist’s Daughter
#IntlYALitMonth Review: Sugar Town Queens
Review by Jennifer Gouck Fifteen-year-old Amandla’s mother, Annalisa, has had a vision: if Amandla wears a blue bedsheet hastily fashioned into a dress to school today, its magic will bring her father, who has been missing since before she was born, home forever. Annalisa has lots of visions. She also has a broken memory that … Continue reading #IntlYALitMonth Review: Sugar Town Queens
#IntlYALitMonth Review: Bitter
Review by Kelly-Anne McDonald "All these feelings were knotted inside her - how helpless she felt, how hopeless Lucille felt, how even talking about change felt like a joke, a cruel hope." Bitter is set in the imagined city of Lucille, which is rife with corruption and police brutality. Ordinary citizens have been oppressed for … Continue reading #IntlYALitMonth Review: Bitter
#IntlYALitMonth Review: Houses with a Story
Review by Emma K. McNamara Seiji Yoshida’s Houses with a Story, translated from Japanese to English by Jan Mitsuko Cash, showcases the floor plans of a variety of homes that one might find in literature. Each building is accompanied by a short description, annotations of the building’s contents, and who lives there and why. Fair-skinned … Continue reading #IntlYALitMonth Review: Houses with a Story
#IntlYALitMonth Review: Blue Squared
Review by Melitta von Pflug Please be advised that this review includes references to eating disorders and suicide. Silence keeps the structure of us from falling apart. That was how things worked in the unnamed protagonist’s family in this verse novel from Hong Kong by Luna Orchid, Blue Squared. For readers with experience growing up in an Asian household, … Continue reading #IntlYALitMonth Review: Blue Squared
#INTLYALITMONTH: The Gilded Ones by Namina Forna
Review by Sarah Ducharme The Gilded Ones by Namina Forna Deka is terrified. She is turning 16 and the Ritual of Purity is looming. She's worried that her community will discover what she has suspected about herself for years: she's different. She might even be "Impure," the label given to any girl whose blood runs … Continue reading #INTLYALITMONTH: The Gilded Ones by Namina Forna
#INTLYALITMONTH: The Boy Who Sees With His Fingers by Tomasz Malkowski, illustrated by Joanna Rusinek
Review by: Samantha Wasson The Boy who Sees with his Fingers by Tomasz Malkowski ‘Close your eyes, or better still, blindfold yourself with a scarf. Now go into the bathroom and wash your hands… it’s not easy, is it?’ This is how the reader is drawn into the world of Kami, our young protagonist who … Continue reading #INTLYALITMONTH: The Boy Who Sees With His Fingers by Tomasz Malkowski, illustrated by Joanna Rusinek
#INTLYALITMONTH: Grass by Keum Suk Gendry-Kim
Review by Lauren Elliott Grass by Keum Suk Gendry-Kim Grass is a powerful oral history in graphic novel style that tells the story of 15-year-old Lee Ok-Sun, who was taken prisoner and forced to become a “comfort woman” for the invading Japanese Army during World War II. Comfort Women is the term commonly used to … Continue reading #INTLYALITMONTH: Grass by Keum Suk Gendry-Kim
#IntlYALitMonth: Abigail
Abigail by Magda Szabó, translated from the Hungarian by Len Dix Who doesn't love a boarding school novel? Especially one written by an author who actually experienced life within a similar one for herself? Hungarians love this book so much, they voted it their third most-beloved novel during the Hungarian Big Read of 2005. So … Continue reading #IntlYALitMonth: Abigail
#IntlYALitMonth: The Girl and the Ghost
A novel for tweens and young teens, The Girl and the Ghost is based on a Malaysian folk tale. It’s much more than a simple retelling, as author Hanna Alkaf has fleshed out the story with richly drawn characters, creating a marvelous tale about friendship, family, jealousy, and love. As the story goes, there was … Continue reading #IntlYALitMonth: The Girl and the Ghost
Global Literature in Libraries Initiative 