Staff Picks

Beautifully written and so interesting, this exploration of muscle (both physical and metaphorical) weaves together the clinical, the cultural, and the personal to describe our relationship with "the stuff that moves us." It will make you fall back in love with your own body in motion--and inspire you through the stories of others fully living that relationship.

 

Publisher’s description:

Cardiac, smooth, skeletal--these three different types of muscle in our bodies make our hearts beat; push food through our intestines, blood through our vessels, babies out the uterus; attach to our bones and allow for motion. Tsui also traces how muscles have defined beauty--and how they have distorted it--through the ages, and how they play an essential role in our physical and mental health.

 

Young Angie translates a lot of things for her Cantonese-speaking dad when they move to Canada. Together, they navigate new experiences and learn more about each other in this sweet, community-focused story.

 

Publisher description: A young girl helps her dad navigate life in a new country where she understands the language more than he does, in an unforgettable story about communication and community. Angie is used to helping her dad. Ever since they moved to Canada, he relies on her to translate for him from English to Chinese. Angie is happy to help: when they go to restaurants, at the grocery store, and, one day, when her dad needs help writing some signs for his work. Building off her success with her dad's signs, Angie offers her translation skills to others in their community. She's thrilled when her new business takes off, until one of her clients says he's unhappy with her work. When her dad offers to help, she can't imagine how he could. Working together, they find a surprising solution, fixing the problem in a way Angie never would have predicted. A gorgeously illustrated picture book from up-and-coming author-illustrator Jack Wong (When You Can Swim, Scholastic) that is at once a much-needed exploration of the unique pressures children of immigrants often face, a meditation on the dignity of all people regardless of their differences, and a reminder of the power of empathy.

 

Find The Words We Share in the online catalog.

Vladivostok Circus is about liminality: between adolescence and adulthood, enemies and friends, life and death. Elisa Shua Dusapin masterfully explores expansive themes and deep emotions through the seemingly mundane observations of a costume designer for a Russian bar trio. The tensions are high, the stakes are high, and the writing is quietly beautiful.

 

Publisher's description:

'Tonight is the opening night. There are birds perched everywhere, on the power lines, the guy ropes, the strings of light that festoon the tent . . . when I think of all those little bodies suspended between earth and sky, it makes me smile to remind myself that for some of them, their first flight begins with a fall.' Nathalie arrives at the circus in Vladivostok, Russia, fresh out of fashion school in Geneva. She is there to design the costumes for a trio of artists who are due to perform one of the most dangerous acts of all: the Russian Bar. As winter approaches, the season at Vladivostok is winding down, leaving the windy port city empty as the performers rush off to catch trains, boats and buses home; all except the Russian bar trio and their manager. They are scheduled to perform at a festival in Ulan Ude, just before Christmas. What ensues is an intimate and beguiling account of four people learning to work with and trust one another. This is a book about the delicate balance that must be achieved when flirting with death in such spectacular fashion, set against the backdrop of a cloudy ocean and immersing the reader into Dusapin's trademark dreamlike prose.

 

This is one of those graphic novels that changes with you as you change as a reader. I remember being the fiercely independent teen crowded by the expectations of others trying to figure out how, or whether, I wanted to fit in. I have been the side character cousin angry at everyone for pretending that trauma is normal. I am now the mother, watchful and aware that I have to step back and let my kids be themselves. Highly recommend.

 

Publisher's description:
Ash has always felt alone.
Adults ignore the climate crisis. Other kids Ash's age are more interested in pop stars and popularity contests than in fighting for change. Even Ash's family seems to be sleepwalking through life.
The only person who ever seemed to get Ash was their Grandpa Edwin. Before he died, he used to talk about building a secret cabin, deep in the California wilderness. Did he ever build it? What if it's still there, waiting for him to come back...or for Ash to find it? To Ash, that maybe-mythical cabin is starting to feel like the perfect place for a fresh start and an escape from the miserable feeling of alienation that haunts their daily life.
But making the wilds your home isn't easy. And as much as Ash wants to be alone...can they really be happy alone? Can they survive alone?
From New York Times–bestselling author and illustrator Jen Wang comes a singularly affecting story about self-discovery, self-reliance, and the choice to live when it feels like you have no place in the world.

Find Ash's Cabin in our online catalog

Magical realism meets radical trans liberation meets rock 'em sock 'em New York, a big city tumultuous ride to freedom and self actualization. A fun, heart-breaking romp through Kai Cheng Thom's take on what it takes to be trans in America.

 

Publisher's description:

Fierce Femmes and Notorious Liars: A Dangerous Trans Girl's Confabulous Memoir is a coming-of-age story about a young Asian trans girl, pathological liar, and kung-fu expert who runs away from her parents' abusive home in a rainy city called Gloom. Striking off on her own, she finds her true family in a group of larger-than-life trans femmes who make their home in a mysterious pleasure district known only as the Street of Miracles. Under the wings of this fierce and fabulous flock, she blossoms into the woman she has always dreamed of being, with a little help from the unscrupulous Doctor Crocodile. When one of their number is brutally murdered, our protagonist joins her sisters in forming a vigilante gang to fight back against the transphobes, violent johns, and cops that stalk the Street of Miracles. But when things go terribly wrong, she must find the truth within herself in order to stop the violence and discover what it really means to grow up and find your family.

 

 

Publisher description:

A boy and his grandfather cross a language and cultural barrier using their shared love of art, storytelling, and fantasy.

Find Drawn Together in our online catalog

Thuy finds solace in pretending to be various animals after a teasing incident at school. Her mothers join in to help also, making snowy footprints of mythical creatures--and a new imaginary creature that is an expression of Thuy's strength, confidence, and kindness. I love this supportive family!

 

Publisher description:

Upset after being bullied, Thuy, a Vietnamese American, pretends she is different creatures, including an especially strong, wonderful being made up of her two mothers and herself. Includes note about the phoenix and the Sarabha.

 

Eka loves visiting her Grandfather in Tokyo because she can slip out and sing, dance, and march with her spirit friends (yōkai) in a glorious night parade. She can't do this in New York where her family now lives, so she cherishes her participation in the wild procession and longs for her next visit.

 

Publisher's description:
The night parade is about to begin . . . The ground thunders in Tokyo. A gust of wind blows. The pitter patter of paws and claws draws closer. The air is thick with swirling, swooping demons. It's Eka's favorite evening of the year, the one night she refuses to miss. But it's become harder to travel to Japan now that she's living across the world in New York. Unsure of when she can return next to see her yokai friends, Eka tries to forget that this could be her last parade for some time. Instead, she'll march, sing, dance, hoot, and screech until sunrise. Because on this night, there's no time to waste--the night parade awaits.

Find Tokyo night parade in our catalog

Danny Rajaratnam has information about a murder that took place in Sydney, but he is afraid to share it with authorities for fear of deportation. Author Arvind Adiga's story of how Danny ended up in this complicated situation has a great humor. I highly recommend the audiobook because certain phrases and words can be heard in their native tongue.

 

Publisher description:

A young illegal immigrant who must decide whether to report crucial information about a murder—and thereby risk deportation. Danny—formerly Dhananjaya Rajaratnam—is an illegal immigrant in Sydney, Australia, denied refugee status after he fled from Sri Lanka. Working as a cleaner, living out of a grocery storeroom, for three years he’s been trying to create a new identity for himself. And now, with his beloved vegan girlfriend, Sonja, with his hidden accent and highlights in his hair, he is as close as he has ever come to living a normal life. But then one morning, Danny learns a female client of his has been murdered. The deed was done with a knife, at a creek he’d been to with her before; and a jacket was left at the scene, which he believes belongs to another of his clients—a doctor with whom Danny knows the woman was having an affair. Suddenly Danny is confronted with a choice: Come forward with his knowledge about the crime and risk being deported? Or say nothing, and let justice go undone? Over the course of this day, evaluating the weight of his past, his dreams for the future, and the unpredictable, often absurd reality of living invisibly and undocumented, he must wrestle with his conscience and decide if a person without rights still has responsibilities.