New Crayons: What's New On Our Shelves

Remember when you were a kid and getting new crayons was a big deal? Getting new books holds the same kind of magic for some of us big kids. Every week on Sunday, I post what's new in our box. I think crayons is a pretty cool metaphor for multicultural lit. Every week we receive a book is a good week.


Color Online staff and I have had a good week. Check out our treasures:

Ah Yuan-
The Serpent's Children
Mountain Light
Dragon's Gate by Laurence Yep
A Million Shades of Grey by Cynthia Kadohata
[ excited about]The Laurence Yep books because I love his Golden Mountain Chronicles series (they're my childhood books of love, I literally read every single book in that series) and I've been meaning to collect start collecting the series for quite some time. For A Million Shades of Grey, I adore Kadohata's stories to pieces, and Book Chick City saw me commenting on my excitement over this book, which is her latest title, and sent it to me.

Terri-
The Beautiful Things That Heaven Bears by Dinaw Mengestu
is the 2007 debut novel of Dinaw Mengestu. The novel examines the life of an Ethiopian immigrant living in 1970's Washington D.C. after fleeing his homeland because of a personal tragedy related to the onset of the Ethiopian Revolution. This has been on my radar for a while because I find stories of the immigrant experience fascinating and an important part of the fabric of our country.

Vasilly-
Two Old Women: An Alaska Legend of Betrayal, Courage, and Survival by Velma Wallis
Sweet, Hereafter by Angela Johnson
The Soloist by Steven Lopez
I'm pretty excited to read all three especially the Angela Johnson. I just found out it's the last book in the Heaven trilogy so now I need to pick up her earlier books. The Soloist is my city's Big Read so I can't wait for all the events in March. I also can't wait to see the movie based on the book with Jamie Foxx and Robert Downey Jr.

Me-
A Wish After Midnight by Zetta Elliott. Signed copy. New cover. You can win a copy in our giveaway.
Elliott does an excellent job of recreating 1863 Brooklyn and the tumult of the time, including the roiling anger against those who could buy their way out of military service that led to the deadly Draft Riots in July, the back-to-Africa movement that galvanized both white abolitionists and free blacks alike, and the overarching danger of being black and female that exceeds anything Genna had known in the 21st century. And although there is plenty of history embedded in the novel, A Wish After Midnight is written with a lyrical grace that many authors of what passes for adult literature would envy as it examines universal themes of finding lost love, belief in one’s dreams and the power of friendship. ~Paula Woods at Defenders Online.

Ari- check out her full post at Reading in Color.

What did you get at the bookstore, on trade or at the library?

Happy Reading.