ADULT: Girl in Translation
by Jean Kwok
Cover
design © 2010 by Lisa Fyfe; cover photograph © plainpicture/ballyscanlon; book
design by Nicole LaRoche. Published by Riverhead Books, an imprint of The
Penguin Group (USA). Used with permission.
Jean
Kwok immigrated from Hong Kong to Brooklyn when she was five, and
worked in a Chinatown clothing factory for much of her childhood. She
won early admission to Harvard, where she worked as many as four jobs
at a time, and graduated with honors in English and American
literature, before going on to earn an MFA in fiction at Columbia.
Her debut novel Girl in Translation became a New York Times
bestseller. It has been published in 17 countries. It was featured in
The New York Times, USA Today, Entertainment Weekly, Vogue and O, The
Oprah Magazine, among others. The novel was a Blue Ribbon Pick for
numerous book clubs, including Book of the Month, Doubleday and
Literary Guild. Jean lives in the Netherlands with her husband
and two sons. A Dutch television documentary with English subtitles was
filmed about Jean and her work. It may be viewed at
http://jeankwok.com.video_jean.shtml.
MIDDLE READER: American Born Chinese
by Gene Luen
Yang
Copyright © 2006 by Gene Yang. Reprinted by
arrangement with Henry Holt and Company, LLC.; used with permission.
Gene Luen Yang began drawing comic books in the fifth grade. In
1997, he received the Xeric Grant for Gordon Yamamoto and the King of the
Geeks, his first comics work as an adult. He has since written and drawn a
number of titles.
His 2006 book American Born Chinese was the first
graphic novel to be nominated for a National Book Award and the first to win
the American Library Association's Michael L. Printz Award. It also won an
Eisner Award for Best Graphic Album - New. A short story from The Eternal Smile, his 2009
collaboration with Derek Kirk Kim, won an Eisner Award as well. His books Prime
Baby and Level Up (with illustrator Thien Pham) were also nominated for Eisner
Awards. Gene currently writes the graphic novel continuation of the popular
Nickelodeon cartoon series Avatar: The Last Airbender. In addition to cartooning, Yang teaches computer science
at a Catholic high school in California. Beginning this year, he will also
teach at Hamline University in Minnesota as part of their MFA in Writing for
Children and Young Adults.
PICTURE/EASY: Tico and the Golden Wings
by Leo Lionni
Tico and the Golden Wings cover art by Leo Lionni; published by Dragonfly, an
imprint of Random House. Used with permission.
Leo Lionni, an internationally known
designer, illustrator, and graphic artist, was born in Holland and lived in
Italy until he came to the United States in 1939. He was the recipient of the
1984 American Institute of Graphic Arts Gold Medal and was honored posthumously
in 2007 with the Society of Illustrators’ Lifetime Achievement Award. His
picture books are distinguished by their enduring moral themes, graphic
simplicity and brilliant use of collage, and include four Caldecott Honor
Books: Inch by Inch, Frederick,
Swimmy, and Alexander and the
Wind-Up Mouse. Hailed as “a master of the simple fable” by
the Chicago Tribune, he died in
1999 at the age of 89.
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