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Foreign Culture

The Island of the Sea Women

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The Island of Sea Women by Lisa See
Format: Book
Who it’s for: Adults

This book is a One Maryland One Book selection for 2020.

This historical fiction novel is set on the island of Jeju in Korea. Over many decades, beginning with the Japanese occupation during the 1930 – 1940’s and during World War II and the Korean War.
During this turbulent time in history, two young girls Young-sook and Mi-ja, both from different backgrounds bond. Their close friendship begins over their love of the sea and working in their villages’ all-female diving collective. The haenyeo woman are trained from a young age to expand their lungs and go diving on the ocean floor to harvest food. Their livelihood and traditions are intertwined. Their diving skills are handed down for generations.
Mi-ja, a city born orphan living nearby with a neglectful aunt and uncle is caught stealing food in the fields of Jeju by Young-sook and her mother. Her mother as head of the collective, decides to take Mi-ja on and teaches her alongside Young-sook to dive. The girls become lifelong friends enduring many life altering events that impact their lives growing up.
The political unrest and unspeakable tragedies inflicted upon the villagers are part of the horrors of war. The impact on their island from famine, to extreme punishment, and demands of the opposing government regimes are inflicted upon the villagers who struggle to comply.

Young-sook and Mi-ja endure impossible choices that tear their friendship apart causing disappointment, anger and judgement that take generations to understand and forgive.

Find it in the catalog

 

 

New Year’s Celebrations for Kids

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The New Year, a time to reflect on what has passed and to celebrate new beginnings, is just around the corner! How do you celebrate? These vibrant and lively stories offer a doorway inside two young girls’ celebration of family culture and tradition.  

 

Shante Keys and the New Year’s Peas by Gail Piernas-Davenport
Format: Book
Who it’s For: Kids

We set out with Shante on her quest to find the missing ingredient for her family’s New Year tradition.  Told in rhyme, this mission unfolds on the streets of Shante’s neighborhood but ultimately becomes a journey through the cultures and traditions of her neighbors too. By the end of the story,  it’s clear she can experience the beauty of the wide world just by looking at what makes the people she sees everyday unique.  What I love about this story are the underlying messages of diversity, community, teamwork and sharing! Also, included at the back of the book are a fun recipe to try at home and a resource for the cultures of other countries, their traditions and celebrations.

Find it in the catalog.

 

Freedom Soup by Tami Charles
Format: Book, DVD, Digital Audiobook, Digital Movie
Who it’s For: Kids

In this story, we meet Belle and her Ti Gran as we are dropped into their gloriously delicious adventure in cooking set against a backdrop of their Haitian history.  The dynamic and bright pictures dance off the page taking us with them. You can almost feel and taste the freedom Ti Gran talks about while she cooks.  Luckily for us, the recipe for Freedom Soup is in the back of the book!   And as an extra tidbit, the author offers up a little information about the real Ti Gran as well!

Find it in the catalog and on Hoopla as an audiobook or streaming video.

From Twinkle, With Love

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Recommended Book
From Twinkle, With Love by  Sandhya Menon
Publication Date: May 22, 2018
Format: Book or ebook
Who it’s for: Teens

“In this delightful romantic comedy from the New York Times bestselling author of When Dimple Met Rishi, told through the letters Twinkle writes to her favorite female filmmakers, From Twinkle, with Love navigates big truths about friendship, family, and the unexpected places love can find you.

Aspiring filmmaker and wallflower Twinkle Mehra has stories she wants to tell and universes she wants to explore, if only the world would listen. So when fellow film geek Sahil Roy approaches her to direct a movie for the upcoming Summer Festival, Twinkle is all over it. The chance to publicly showcase her voice as a director? Dream come true. The fact that it gets her closer to her longtime crush, Neil Roy-a.k.a. Sahil’s twin brother? Dream come true x 2.

When mystery man N begins emailing her, Twinkle is sure it’s Neil, finally ready to begin their happily-ever-after. The only slightly inconvenient problem is that, in the course of movie-making, she’s fallen madly in love with the irresistibly adorkable Sahil.

Twinkle soon realizes that resistance is futile: The romance she’s got is not the one she’s scripted. But will it be enough?” – Publisher’s blurb

This took a bit for me to get into. It was soooooooo High School. The crush, the BFF drama, the awkwardness, the ‘Woe is me’ angst, etc. So very HS, so stereotypical; it made me cringe, laugh, and smh. I would have stopped reading it by like chapter two, if not for Books for the Beast (a YA reader’s advisory conference in Maryland) and the fact her first book got so much praise. I powered through.

It was very amusing with a couple of lil life lessons to boot. If this was a Disney Channel movie, I could have made it through without cringing so much or smh at the mistakes they made. I still would have lol at the awkward moments. Despite all those things it was a great read.

The Indian culture that was in the book was completely natural and did not feel forced. It was just a part of Twinkle’s life, her story. The gay friends felt forced, like an afterthought. I liked the text messages and emails. They made it feel epistolary. The supposed diary entries where Twinkle is writing to directors never really felt like letters. They did not really feel like a diary entries, either. Only at the beginning of the diary entry and when she closed the “letter” did it ever feel like she was writing a letter to somebody.  It felt more like just a first POV novel.

I was considering reading her debut novel but when I was talking about From Twinkle, With Love with a coworker, she said this plot sounds almost identical to When Dimple Met Rishi. Now if they made movies from her novels on Disney Channel, I would watch them all and enjoy. If I was in middle/high school and liked romance novels, I would read all her novels as well. Def geared for upper middle school and High School girls.

Read a High School Rom-Com starring a cute Indian Girl!

 

Drawn Together

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Drawn Together by Minh Lé
Publication Date: June 5, 2018
Format: Book
Who’s It For: Kids

Who says art is optional?!! This wonderful story grabbed my heart on the first read. Drawn Together is an awesome book about the power of art, and its ability to bring all kinds of people together.

A boy is dropped off, much against his will, to visit with his non-English-speaking grandpa. Without words the distance between them couldn’t be wider! What will they do all day, when neither can understand or communicate with the other? They try television (nope), sharing a lunch (umm, no). Eventually the boy gives up and goes to get his sketchpad and markers to pass the time. Suddenly Grandpa reappears- with HIS sketchpad and brushes! As they begin to draw together, pictures without words let them see each other as they are for the first time, and they create adventures and worlds to express themselves that build a bridge to love and understanding.

Find it in the catalog 

 

Girls on the Line

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Girls on the Line by Jennie Liu
Publication Date: November 1, 2018
Format: Book
Who it’s for: Teens

Violating Family Planning regulations by having a child out of wedlock sounds like something from a dystopian novel. In China, it is the reality for millions.

Luli has aged out of the orphanage at 16 and is forced into the world of adulthood. She connects with her friend Yun who aged out of the system the year before. Yun helps Luli to get a job at the factory where she works and promises to show her the ropes. Yun is energetic and precarious, spending her money on eating out with her friends, going to clubs, and spending time with her older boyfriend. Luli is shy, saves her money, and hopes to one day have a family. Luli soon hears the rumors about Yun’s boyfriend. He sells off young girls and women to men in the countryside, he is a bride trafficker. Yun refuses to believe these rumors and finds herself in a position that seems inescapable. She is pregnant with Yun’s child and doesn’t have the money to abide by the Family Planning regulations; get an abortion, or pay the fines for having a child outside of marriage. Luli wants to help her friend, but can she?

Yun and Luli live in a culture where superstition and appearances are vital to success in life. These beliefs impact personal relationships and employment prospects. Add to that the government’s Family Planning regulations, and life can be incredibly difficult for women in this culture. The harrowing experiences of these two young women leads them on a journey of self-discovery, selflessness, sorrow, and friendship that is worth reading about.

Find it in the catalog

 

 

A Gentleman in Moscow

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A Gentleman in Moscow
By Amor Towles
Who it’s for: Adults

Count Alexander Rostov appears before a Bolshevik tribunal in 1922 Moscow and is sentenced to house arrest. He will live out the rest of his days at the luxurious Hotel Metropol. If he sets foot outside the hotel, he will be shot on sight. Moved from his luxurious suite to a former storage room at the top of the hotel, the Count notes: “If a man does not master his circumstances then he is bound to be mastered by them.” And so Rostov sets about mastering his circumstances. The hotel is home to restaurants, a cocktail bar, and a barbershop, but also to a multitude of empty rooms, secret passages, and more that the Count explores with Nina, a nine year old girl living in the hotel temporarily.

Over the next 32 years, we follow the Count through his life at the hotel, including a love affair, a family life of sorts, and a new career. He maintains his aristocratic flair, but is not too proud to learn from those with whom he spends time. The novel also provides a view of the changes occurring in Russia in these years. An old friend of the Count weaves in and out of the story to describe the changing political environment, and the narrator describes physical changes happening outside the walls of the Metropol. The chilling events and atmosphere of Stalinist Russia are not the main focus of the novel, but they lurk in the background and certainly impact the Count and his friends (some more harshly than others).

Philosophical, witty, and lyrical, A Gentleman in Moscow is highly recommended. This isn’t a quick, action heavy read, but one full of memorable quotations and moments meant to be savored. Recommended for fans of Anthony Doerr, Kristin Hannah, and Muriel Barbery.

Find it in the catalog