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Booklists
Lists of books, many of which received at least one starred review (indicating a work of unusual merit) from the following review sources: Booklist , Publisher's Weekly (PW), Kirkus and Library Journal (LJ). Additional titles of interest may be included on the lists. Titles are generally listed alphabetically by author.
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Booklists and Suggested Reading
Multicultural
Adult Books for Teens Booklist
Page Modified: April 5, 2008
Multicultural Fiction and Nonfiction for ages 12+
Not all books on this list are suitable for all readers, parental guidance should be used.
A list of books, many of which received at least one starred review (indicating a work of unusual merit) from the folloAugust 4, 2007list (BL), Publisher's Weekly (PW), Kirkus, and Library Journal (LJ). Additional titles of interest may be included on this list. Titles are listed alphabetically by author.
Annotations are from Advance, the Ingram Book Magazine, unless noted.Fiction
- Crescent
Author: Abu-Jaber, Diana
Publisher: Norton $ 24.95 ISBN: 039305747x Date: 2003
Booklist
Praised by critics for her first novel, Arabian Jazz, Diana Abu-Jaber now weaves with spellbinding magic a multidimensional love story set in the Arab-American community of Los Angeles.
Updated 3.31.03 - War By Candlelight: Stories
Author: Alarcon, Daniel
Publisher: HarperCollins $ 23.95 ISBN: 0060594780 Date: 2005KirkusBooklist
In this exquisite collection, Alarcon takes the reader from Third World urban centers to the fault lines that divide nations and people, personalizing the shifting realities of our own contemporary world.
Updated 3.10.05 - Ten Little Indians:
Stories
Author: Alexie, Sherman
Publisher: Grove $ 24 ISBN: 0802117449 Date: 2003KirkusPW
Alexie is one of the most acclaimed and popular writers today. Now, with Ten Little Indians, he offers 11 poignant and emotionally resonant new stories about Native Americans who, like all Americans, find themselves at personal and cultural crossroads.
Updated 5.6.03 - Midnight at the Dragon Cafe
Author: Bates, Judy Fong
Publisher: Counterpoint $ 14 (paper) ISBN: 1582431892 Date: 2005BooklistKirkus
Judy Fong Bates's fresh and engaging first novel is the story of Su-Jen Chou, a Chinese girl growing up the only daughter of an unhappy and isolated immigrant family in a small Ontario town in the 1950s.
Suggested Reading: Debuts
Updated 2.15.05 - 72 Hour Hold
Author: Campbell, Bebe Moore
Publisher: Knopf $ 24.95 ISBN: 1400040744 Date: 2005KirkusLJPW
In this novel of family and redemption, Campbell draws on the powerful emotions of her own experience and African-American roots in this story of a mother who struggles to save her 18-year-old daughter from the devastating consequences of mental illness by forcing her to deal with her bipolar disorder.
Suggested Reading: African American Stars | All Stars
Updated 5.23.05 - The Meaning
of Consuelo
Author: Cofer, Judith Ortiz
Publisher: FSG $ 20 ISBN: 0374205094 Date: 2003Booklist
This affecting novel is a lively celebration of Puerto Rico as well as an archetypal story of loss, the loss each of us experiences on our journey from the island of childhood to the uncharted territory of adulthood. - Publisher Marketing.
Suggested Reading: Latino/Latina Stars
Updated 10.8.03 - The Point of Return
Author: Deb, Siddhartha
Publisher: Ecco $ 24.95 ISBN: 0060501510 Date: 2003Booklist
Set in the remote, northeastern hills of India in the 1970s, The Point of Return revolves around the father-son relationship of a willful, curious boy, Babu, and Doctor Dam, an enigmatic product of British colonial rule and Nehruvian nationalism.
Suggested Reading: Stars of India
Updated 3.31.03 - The Kite Runner
Author: Hosseini, Khaled
Publisher: Riverhead $ 23.95 ISBN: 1573222453 Date: 2003Library JournalKirkusPW
An epic tale of fathers and sons, of friendship and betrayal, takes readers from Afghanistan in the final days of the monarchy to the atrocities of the present. As emotionally gripping as it is tender, The Kite Runner is an unusual and powerful debut.
Suggested Reading: Debuts | All Stars | Afghanistan Stars
Updated 5.12.03 - Sightseeing: Stories
Author: Lapcharoensap, Rattawut
Publisher: Grove $ 22 ISBN: 0802117880 Date: 2005KirkusPWBooklist
Set in contemporary Thailand and written with a grace and sophistication that belie the age of its young author, this masterful new collection contains generous, tender tales of family bonds, youthful romance, generational conflicts, and cultural shifts beneath the glossy surface of a warm setting.
Suggested Reading: All Stars
Updated 12.27.04 - Somebody's Daughter
Author: Lee, Marie Myung-Ok
Publisher: Beacon $ 23.95 ISBN: 0807083887 Date: 2005Booklist
Adopted by a Midwest couple, 19-year-old Sarah Thorson studies one summer in Korea and eventually embarks on a crusade to find her birth mother. Paralleling Sarah's story, Kyung-sook, a Korean woman, reflects on the child she was forced to give away.
Suggested Reading: Debuts | Asian American Stars
Updated 3.3.05 - Prospero's Daughter
Author: Nunez, Elizabeth
Publisher: One World $ 24.95 ISBN: 0345455355 Date: 2006KirkusBooklistLJ
Loosely based on Shakespeare's play The Tempest, this new novel by American Book Award- winning author Nunez tackles the issues of race, class, science, and passion- and interweaves the English, African, and Caribbean influences Nunez is known for.
Sugggested Reading: Shakespearean Stars | All Stars
Updated 2.28.06 - All Over Creation
Author: Ozeki, Ruth L.
Publisher: Viking $ 24.95 ISBN: 0670030910 Date: 2003KirkusPWBooklist
From the author of My Year of Meats comes the story of a Japanese-American prodigal daughter just trying to make sense of it all as the unceasing cycle of all creation continues around her.
Suggested Reading: All Stars | Asian American Stars
Updated 2.20.03 - Drinking
Coffee Elsewhere
Author: Packer, Z.Z.
Publisher: Riverhead $ 23.95 ISBN: 1573222348 Date: 2003KirkusPWLJ
Drinking Coffee Elsewhere is the highly anticipated debut of a remarkable writer of short stories and winner of the Whiting Writers' Award and a Rona Jaffe Foundation Writers' Award.
Suggested Reading: All Stars | Debuts | African American Stars
Updated 1.16.03 - Getting
Mother's Body
Author: Parks, Suzan-Lori
Publisher: Random $ 23.95 ISBN: 1400060222 Date: 2003BooklistPW
From this year's winner of the Pulitzer Prize for drama comes an enormously accomplished and original debut novel about a down-on-their-luck black family in 1960s Texas in search of the storied jewels buried with one of their relatives.
Suggested Reading: Debuts | African American Fiction Stars
Updated 5.19.03 - No Matter How
Much You Promise to Cook or Pay the Rent You Blew It Cauze Bill Bailey Ain't
Never Coming Home Again: A Symphonic Novel
Author: Yunque, Edgardo Vega
Publisher: FSG $ 25 ISBN: 0374223114 Date: 2003Kirkus
This sweeping drama of intimately connected families conjures up the ever-shifting cultural mosaic that is America. At its heart is Vidamia Farrell, half Puerto Rican, half Irish, who sets out in search of the father she has never known.
Suggested Reading: Latino/Latina Stars
Updated 8.25.03 - Blood Fugues
Author: Yunque, Edgardo Vega
Publisher: Rayo $ 23.95 ISBN: 0060742771 Date: 2005Booklist
A vivid, gripping tale of action and mystery, Blood Fugues explores the ways in which family ties and secrets spin their way into our present lives, shaping our desires, our fears, and our futures. - Publisher Marketing
Updated 9.23.05
Hotlists
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Fiction: Jan-June | July-Dec Crime Fiction: Jan-June | July-Dec
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Hotlists
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Fiction: Jan-June | July-Dec Crime Fiction: Jan-June | July-Dec
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