msjamgochian'sinfinitebooklist

I read FTW, along with my sci-fi book club, just after listening to Mr. Daisey and The Apple Factory , observing the impact of the floods on factories in my new home base of Thailand, and in general spending a good deal of time thinking about technology and its impact on the universe, so it's no surprise that I found myself cheering for the underdogs in superhero Cory Doctorow's latest YA novel. Mala, a 15 year-old kick-ass gamer in India (aka "General Robotwalla), leads a group of village kids working in an online gaming sweatshop, winning virtual treasure in MMORPGs, which is then sold by a local overlord to wealthy gamers willing to pay real world money for a quick pass to higher level game play. Matthew is in Shenzen, and has started up his own rebel group of gold-farmers, cutting out his evil boss. Leonard (who calls himself Wei-Dong), is light years away in Orange County, but spends his time fighting alongside his brothers and sisters in China. Beautiful brilliant n...

GIT is full of unforgettable scenery: a tiny Chinese girl and her mother in a NYC apartment in winter without central heating, huddled in front of the oven as cockroaches and mice scurry around the subzero room; a pack of underage sweatshop workers slammed into a squat toilet, sweating all over each other while they hide in the small space as inspectors tour the factory; a girl in a locker room ensconced in a stall to prevent her fellow students from seeing her humiliatingly homemade underwear. When Kimberly Chang arrives in NYC at the age of 12 with her mother, they are taken advantage of by mom's sister Paula, who sets them up in illegal housing and forces them to work at her factory in order to pay back their immigration expenses. Kim quickly realizes the only way out is through education and slowly proves herself to be academically gifted. Although there are many other immigrant stories out there, Kim's authentic and strong voice makes GIT a standout choice. Perfect for boo...

When author and artist Belle Yang returns home to escape an abusive stalker boyfriend, she finds more than simple refuge. Her father, who named her "forget sorrow" in honor of his family's new beginning in the United States, regales her with tales of her ancestors' troubles in Manchuria during WWII. Belle rediscovers herself as her father dishes out doses of her family history, and eventually makes her way to China to reconnect with her relatives. FS has been compared with Maus and Persepolis, and fans of those books will find much to enjoy here, but Yang's earthy black strokes and dark-yet-funny storytelling mostly resemble David B.'s Epileptic , a book often left unmentioned in graphic memoir lists. An excellent addition to any memoir study. Grade 8+

When 56 year-old Chinese-American widower Henry Lee hears that the belongings of several Japanese-American families interred during WWII have been discovered in the basement of the Panama Hotel in Seattle's International District, he decides to confront his past and goes looking for a trunk that may contain links to Keiko, his first love and best childhood friend. Told in alternating chapters between 1986 and 1942-45, this story not only describes the injustice of the Japanese internment during WWII, it also takes on father-son relationships, family ties, first love, and grief. HOTCOBAS would complement a study of social justice and makes the perfect companion book for a trip to Seattle. Don't miss all of the extras, including a teacher's guide, on Jamie Ford's website. Grade 10+

I thoroughly enjoyed Ms.Guo's 20 Fragments of a Ravenous Youth , and when I saw this book at the airport, I bought it on a whim. When facing a ten hour flight, I often oversupply myself with my Kindle PLUS several books in print (kind of defeats the purpose of the ebook, doesn't it?). Despite the title, this is not a book about UFOs, but a treatise on the hazards of modernization in rural China. On September 11, 2012, 38 year-old peasant girl Kwok Yun passes out in a rice field, only to wake up and find a bleeding snake-bitten man who needs help. She takes him to her home, provides medical assistance, and he disappears while she is sleeping. She tells her story to the chief of her small village, who promptly informs Kwok Yun that she has seen a UFO and possibly had contact with an alien. When Chief Chang seizes the opportunity to bring fame and fortune to her ailing village of Silver Hill, the results are darkly comical and disastrous for the locals. Told in a series of intervi...