Mushishi Collector's Edition Volume 1

 

Rating: 4 for Studio Ghibli level creativity and atmospheric wonder

My Thoughts:

This collection of stories/manga is so novel to the kinds of stories that I know that it is difficult to really explain what this is about. Although I did not know this before hand, I found that this is a collector's item piece because of the limited publication exposure the original series  has gotten outside of Japan. 

Basically, these are short stories as the main character, Ginko, a mushishi, or mushi expert, travels around the countryside to track down unusual, strange happenings and behaviors. Most times these happenings, even in the way that people change are tracked down to the influence of mushi, these small nature spirits with sprite like beings who can be harmless, but also vicious and naughty at the same time. 

The artwork is beautiful in the best manga style and although I got this as a ebook from NetGalley, this is one that I am going to order as a hardcover just to hold on to it. 

I describe this as Studio Ghibli level creativity mainly because there is a good balance of mystery, innocence and spookiness. Also the mushi remind me of those living dust bunnies in My Neighbor Totoro. 

From the Publisher:

Though invisible to most, tiny creatures known as mushi lurk beneath the surface of everyday reality. They exert a strange and occasionally terrifying influence on people's lives, and only experts known as mushishi carry the knowledge of how to deal with them. A mushishi named Ginko wanders the Japanese countryside, following rumors of various unusual occurences: a young man who dreams the future; a child with horns growing from his forehead; a boy with the power to write creatures into being; and more...

Publication Information:

Author/artist: Yuki Urushibara

Publisher: Kodansha (November 4, 2025)

Print length: 464 pages

A Vampire in the Bathhouse - Manga

 

Rating: 3 

My Thoughts:

Luka is a depressed pretty boy vampire who comes into the human realm to try out the healing powers of an onsen, the Full Moon Baths, now run by oldest son Sakura. Sakura cannot be bothered by Luka's lure because he has a brother and a bath house to take care. Luka makes Sakura his pact partner by sucking a bit of his blood, but in return, Luka must help to manage the bathhouse, which he does with relish. Luka brings in lots of customers with his allure, until another demon vampire comes to try and take the bathhouse and Sakura back with him. 

It is a YA, but only in the creepy sexual innuendo way that Japanese manga are YA. They seem to have a different tolerance for even hinting at interspecies forced sex. 

Like the original manga, these characters are both gender fluid and more European looking than Asian. It is a whole story and the younger brother and the little demon are precious, however, this may be a story that just ends here. I am not sure if this is an actual series, although there can be more adventures ahead.

From the Publisher:

Luka Edelmondt Finsternis is your picture-perfect vampire--he’s good looking, he’s regal... He’s also usually incredibly hungover and exhausted, and wants nothing more than a change of pace from his routine! When he takes a peek into the human world, he finds just the cure he’s looking for--a relaxing Japanese bathhouse that will surely cure him of his hangover and rejuvenate him from head to toe. To blow his fatigue out of the water, Luka pays a visit to Full Moon Baths where he meets the bathhouse’s eldest son, Sakura. But between the bathhouse being short staffed and taking care of his little brother, Sakura has enough to worry about without a bougie vampire being added to the mix!

Publication Information:

Author/Illustrator: Niko Izuki

Publisher: Kodansha Comics (April 29, 2025)

Paperback: 208 pages

We Are Not Free

 

My Thoughts:

When I taught American literature in the high school classroom, I was pretty proud of the resources I was able to gather for the book Farewell to Manzanar by Jeanne Wakatsuki Houston. This was an account of the author's time at Manzanar as a young teen, but I was even more interested in the stories of her older siblings in high school. There is a famous picture of a young girl sitting on one of these brown suitcases that are on the cover. This kind of primary documents provided by my social studies counterpart helped me to get my hands on the actual yearbook from Manzanar. However, since this is a personal accounting, as the years went on, the book just did not grab my students. The characters seemed too old fashioned. 

Much later in 2019, Star Trek actor, activist and survivor wrote They Called Us Enemy, a graphic novel accounting of he and his family's internment at one of the Japanese centers.  I really liked that it was a graphic novel. It could sit on the bookshelf with John Lewis' March series on the civil rights movement. The problem, though, was that Takei writes from his child perspective since he was even younger than Wakatsuki Houston. 

Traci Chee finally came out with a high school version of the Japanese American experience. This is much needed and long awaited. I really liked the voices of the different characters. The teens felt both time bound because of their circumstances, but also very contemporary. I liked this story so much that I also borrowed the audiobook from the public library. The audiobook is even better than reading it alone! With a full cast of readers, the story comes alive. The pain is more painful, the humor, more funny, and the fear more palpable. This one deserved to be the National Book Award winner. 

For the classroom teachers, I don't believe in using this as a class novel where each section has an assessment and the reading is as slow as the slowest reader, however, take advantage of the teacher's guide below. Use it to tweak for your own intentions and then definitely check out the online site for the Heart Mountain Interpretive Center or the Japanese American National Museum.

We Are Not Free teacher's guide prepared by Heart Mountain Interpretive Center

From the Publisher:

From New York Times best-selling and acclaimed author Traci Chee comes We Are Not Free, the collective account of a tight-knit group of young Nisei, second-generation Japanese American citizens, whose lives are irrevocably changed by the mass U.S. incarcerations of World War II.

Fourteen teens who have grown up together in Japantown, San Francisco.

Fourteen teens who form a community and a family, as interconnected as they are conflicted.

Fourteen teens whose lives are turned upside down when over 100,000 people of Japanese ancestry are removed from their homes and forced into desolate incarceration camps.

In a world that seems determined to hate them, these young Nisei must rally together as racism and injustice threaten to pull them apart.

Publication Information:

Author: Traci Chee

Publisher: Clarion Books (March 1, 2022)

Paperback: 400 pages

ISBN 13: 978-0358668107

Grade level: 6-9

Displacement - Graphic Novel

 

From the Publisher:

A teenager is pulled back in time to witness her grandmother's experiences in World War II-era Japanese internment camps in Displacement, a historical graphic novel from Kiku Hughes.

Kiku is on vacation in San Francisco when suddenly she finds herself displaced to the 1940s Japanese-American internment camp that her late grandmother, Ernestina, was forcibly relocated to during World War II.

These displacements keep occurring until Kiku finds herself "stuck" back in time. Living alongside her young grandmother and other Japanese-American citizens in internment camps, Kiku gets the education she never received in history class. She witnesses the lives of Japanese-Americans who were denied their civil liberties and suffered greatly, but managed to cultivate community and commit acts of resistance in order to survive.

Kiku Hughes weaves a riveting, bittersweet tale that highlights the intergenerational impact and power of memory.

My Thoughts:

Graphic novels are attractive gateways to longer texts, and with this historical fiction, it is a gateway to primary research and reading oral history projects. Since I grew up with my grandparents, I am a good listener of stories. But at their funerals, I realized that my stories are not always the same as the stories that they told their children, or my parents and uncles and aunts. Some stories my maternal grandmother told me while the two of us ate breakfast in the morning were stories that my mother did not know. I don't think it is the story that changes, but the shift in perspective and the time to reflect that changes. Their stories offered up a way to travel back through my grandparent's stories. That is what this book is about. It is not a time travel book, but a memory travel book.

For those of us that have gaps in our history, the premise of these "displacements" as a way to learn about our own history is so appealing. I would love to see my grandmother as she was sent to Japan to learn to be a seamstress. I would love to see my grandfather, who at 8th grade became the man of the house, as he struggled to make a living for his mother and four siblings on an 8th grade education and a love for mechanical manuals. 

This book gives those of us with our own gaps of history a way to heal through someone else's story. It is a mirror, a window, and a sliding glass door.

Suggestions for Curriculum & Classroom Use

Thematic currents:

• Internment camps
• Effects of war
• Racism
• Large scale ethnic policies
• Family history

Activty:

Genre Studies: There are many historical fiction or memoir accounts of World War II written in different genres. Add this graphic novel, Displaced, to others. This is just a very small sample, but it can be used for an i-search project or work with your 8th grade social studies or US history high school colleague to do a social justice project based on this research and current events:

• Graphic novels on internment: 
•  They Called Us Enemy by George Takei, about his own experience in the internment camps from a perspective of a young child
• Citizen 13660 by Miné Okubo - one of the earliest, published in 1946 just as the camps were being closed, Ms. Okubo was documenting and drawing her experiences as they happened. This is a documentary of the evacuation and relocation told in real time.

•  Picture books:
• The Bracelet by Yoshiko Uchida, illustrated by Joanna Yardley
• Baseball Saved Us by Ken Mochizuki, illustrated by Dom Lee 

• YA books: 
• Farewell to Manzanar, by Jeanne Wakatsuki Houston (older memoir from a nisei who was in high school in the camp)
• We Are Not Free, by Traci Chee, a contemporary historical fiction, if that makes sense (in multiple voices) 

Oral History Project: Use  any of these books as mentor texts to doing an oral history project around students's own family histories. Use their research to create their own oral history project, or a podcast with transcript (similar to StoryCorps.org) This allows you as the teacher to also have your students switch genres and add writing, oracy and art. 

Publication Information:

 Author: Kiku Hughes

Publisher: First Second; Illustrated edition (August 18, 2020)

Paperback: 288 pages

ISBN-13: 978-1250193537

Grade level: 7-9

Tokyo Dreaming

 

My Thoughts:

I was not approved for this book on NetGalley, but I wanted to follow up on Akio and Izumi from the first book, Tokyo Ever After, so I am not averse to buying my own books. After all, I gave my Tokyo Ever After book I bought to one of my English teacher alum and I will do the same for this one. I did get the first book via NetGalley and liked it so much that I bought the hardcover. I have also book talked Ms. Jean's first book to students at Nanakuli Intermediate, so I know which teacher I am giving this to. 

This is a continuation of Izzy's time with her father as well as a continuation of the love story of her parents and her relationship with Akio. However, it is less com and more rom. There are twists and complications as all book 2s must have. Izzy has a lot of decisions to make and finds herself in a new fake relationship for a good cause until it becomes a love triangle. In addition, she has to decide what she wants to do - college, no college, expectations from the royal palace, to conform or not conform? What will our Izumi do?

What I liked about this second book is that the character, Izumi, is showing more maturity. Her Japanese is getting better and her relationship with the Shining Twins is quite hilarious. I wanted to know more about the Empress, but this was still a devour read good for high school. The other book could be read by middle grades, but there is a brief sex scene in this one. 

From the Publisher:

When Japanese-American Izumi Tanaka learned her father was the Crown Prince of Japan, she became a princess overnight. Now, she’s overcome conniving cousins, salacious press, and an imperial scandal to finally find a place she belongs. She has a perfect bodyguard turned boyfriend. Her stinky dog, Tamagotchi, is living with her in Tokyo. Her parents have even rekindled their college romance and are engaged. A royal wedding is on the horizon! Izumi’s life is a Tokyo dream come true. Only. . .

Her parents’ engagement hits a brick wall. The Imperial Household Council refuses to approve the marriage citing concerns about Izumi and her mother’s lack of pedigree. And on top of it all, her bodyguard turned boyfriend makes a shocking decision about their relationship. At the threat of everything falling apart, Izumi vows to do whatever it takes to help win over the council. Which means upping her newly acquired princess game.

But at what cost? Izumi will do anything to help her parents achieve their happily ever after, but what if playing the perfect princess means sacrificing her own? Will she find a way to forge her own path and follow her heart?

Publication Information:

Author: Emiko Jean

Publisher: Flatiron Books (May 31, 2022)

Hardcover Length: 336 pages

The Yakuza's Bias, Vol. 1 (Manga)

 

My Thoughts:

Similar to The Way of the Househusband, The Yakuza's Bias by Teki Yatsuda is another comic manga about a yakuza enforcer, Ken Kanashiro, the number 2 man in the Washio Clan. When the Clan President's only daughter, Megumi, offers to take him to a K-Pop concert, he does not understand why he should go so she makes him watch a blueray documentary about the group, MNW. Ken is enamored of one group member, Jun, because of his work ethic and loyalty to the group. Perhaps these are many of the same traits that helped Ken move up in the Washio Clan. Suffice it to say, at the first concert, Ken is hooked.  When Ken holds out a fan to Jun with the words "Be My Aniki" (be my big brother) and Jun takes it, Ken is a changed gangster. 

Besides aniki, the Japanese word for big brother, there are some K-Pop terms that I had to look up. 

• stan - passionate k-pop fan
• bias - having a favorite singer or band member of an idol group, used in the context of K-Pop stars

What makes it most funny is like Househusband, Ken puts the same kind of passion and scary drive into his role as "stan" that he does as a Yakuza enforcer. This is going to be another great manga series. 

From the Publisher:

Ken Kanashiro is one of the top lieutenants in the feared yakuza outfit the Washio Clan. He lives his life by the code of the Japanese underworld, where nothing is more important than loyalty, and ties between soldiers and their aniki are sacred bonds. Ken's never had time for hobbies... until the boss's only daughter Megumi drags him to a K-pop concert, and he sees the glittering, charismatic Jun for the first time. Smitten like a new recruit on his first job, Ken plunges into fandom with the solemnity and passion only a true man who walks the way of the yakuza could muster.

Publication Information:

Author: Teki Yatsuda

Publisher: Kodansha Comics (May 16, 2023)

Insomniacs After School Manga, Volume 1

 

My Thoughts:

How lovely and very Asian to find a secret, unused hangout spot in school to have  a club house, or a place to hide and sleep in peace from all the pressures of school. This is about two insomniacs who are able to create almost a dorm and club house in an unused observatory. Need to keep others away? Just plant a ghost story about a suicide and everyone will steer clear. 

This is a hilarious manga about two teens who really found the ideal spot, at least until one faculty uncovers their secret lair. To stay now, will the two teens actually be a part of the new astronomy club? What other abandoned furniture will they find to make their secret spot a home away from home?

From the Publisher:

Two sleepless teenagers find kinship as they escape to their school’s astronomy observatory.

Unable to sleep at night, Ganta Nakami is cranky in class and unpopular with his classmates. He discovers that the school observatory, once used by the now-defunct astronomy club, may be the perfect place for a nap—but he’s not alone. Fellow insomniac Isaki Magari is willing to share the observatory with Nakami, and a friendship between the two begins as they bond over the most unlikely of things.

Dark rumors about what befell the members of the astronomy club keep people away from the school observatory, and that’s what makes it the perfect sanctuary for Nakami and Magari to get some much-needed rest. Unfortunately, the school faculty can’t allow its unsanctioned use. But if there were a new astronomy club, maybe these two insomniacs could have a place to call home!

Publication Information:

Author: Makoto Ojiro

Publisher: Viz Media (March 21, 2023)

Boys Over Flowers (manga series)

 

My Thoughts:

I read the Noh Family recently about a Korean American character who finds out that she is part of a chaebol family in Korea. This seems to be the year of the K-pop, K-drama books and that one referred to several K-Drama series and one just stuck with me because of the name, Boys over Flowers.  I started investigating and Boys over Flowers is a Japanese manga series about a feisty girl who gets accepted into an elite high school. She protects someone from bullying and then becomes the object of bullying by the elite F4, a group of privileged, good looking boys.  Of course, over the course of this series, they see that this is a girl that cannot be bullied, pushed down or made small. Instead, love blooms. 

So how is this Japanese manga in a K-drama style YA book? I found out that on Netflix they are showing the Korean series Boys Over Flowers originally aired in 2009.  The series is adapted from the original manga series except it is set in Korea. It follows a familiar trope around the evil matriarch standing in the way of true love, the love interest who has no status and is seen as a “gold digger,” and the handsome, rich, spoiled male who has family obligations and an inability to really control his mother. 

K-Drama fans will enjoy this series.

From the Publisher:

Tsukushi Makino is accepted into the prestigious, Eitoku Academy. Life changes dramatically for Tsukushi when her friend falls on Tsukasa Domyoji. Tsukasa is the explosive leader of the "F4," a group of the most powerful, rich and handsome boys. Domyoji refuses to accept Makiko's apology and Tsukushi steps in to protect her friend. A red tag appears in the Tsukushi's locker the next morning which is a sign from the F4 that she is to be bullied by the school. Tskushi continues to stand up to her oppressors.

The Way of the Househusband (Manga series, vol. 1)

My Thoughts:

This manga series is so addicting. Retired yakuza heavy, feared by multiple families and given the nickname "The Immortal Dragon" is now a doting house husband. Legend has it that he is the yakuza that broke up ten rival factions in a single night - unarmed, but now when he dresses in his suit and dark glasses in the morning, he include a cutesy apron over his clothes, makes his wife kawaii bento with animal musubi and takes pictures of it.

He attacks cleaning like running a mob organization with precision and overboard enthusiasm. Some of the funniest scenes are when he commands the robo vaccuum that it is now in charge of this turf and to "attack the corners!" while he cleans the bathrooms and floors as if he is cleaning a crime scene.

The other favorite scene is when his wife says people are intimidated by him because of the way he dresses. His wife soon finds out that it is not his clothes but the way he holds himself. No matter what ridiculous clothes he wears, he still holds himself like a gangster, so she gives up. 

I am ordering the rest of the series today. 

 

The Art of Sushi (Graphic Novel)

 

My Thoughts:

This graphic novel, similar to Feast Your Eyes on Food as well as the journalistic, anecdotal food "stories" like To Drink and To Eat: Treats & Tribulations from a French Kitchen is both a travel guide and a food biographies of Japanese masters. This book gives an insider look to the kinds of Japanese food that many of us will never enjoy, including 3 Michelin star omakase experiences.

 I enjoyed the history of sushi coming out of Edo, the older name for the region now known as Tokyo, and the birthplace of modern sushi. What was also valuable, though is that this is not just about sushi. This is about rice, taking care of the fresh ingredients and types of sake. 

Although the borders to Japan are still closed to us, I definitely started a travel folder to Japan. Ikimashō!

From the Publisher:

Fly to Japan and come discover all there is to know about sushi. After revealing the secrets of chocolate to us, Franckie Alarcon offers a gourmet panorama of this exceptional dish that has conquered the planet! But do you really know sushi? The author traveled to Japan to meet all the players involved in the making of this true work of culinary art. From the traditional starred chef to the young cook who is shaking up the rules, including all the artisans and producers involved, this book covers the most emblematic of Japanese products from A to Z. A fascinating journey of discovery that, along the way, tells a lot about Japan itself. You’ll never believe the precision and detailed obsession with quality ingredients involved.

Soul of the Sword

Description

One thousand years ago, a wish was made and a sword of rage and lightning was forged. Kamigoroshi. The Godslayer. A weapon powerful enough to seal away the formidable demon Hakaimono.

Now he has broken free.

Kitsune shapeshifter Yumeko has one task: to take her piece of the ancient and powerful Scroll of a Thousand Prayers to the Steel Feather temple in order to prevent the summoning of the Harbinger of Change, the great Kami Dragon who will grant one wish to whomever holds the scroll. But she has a new enemy now, more dangerous than any she has yet faced. The demon Hakaimono is free at last, and he has possessed the very person Yumeko trusted to protect her from the evil at her heels, Kage Tatsumi of the Shadow Clan.

Hakaimono has only one goal: to break the curse of the sword and set himself free to rain chaos and destruction over the land forevermore. To do so, he will need the scroll. And Yumeko is the only one standing in his way.

My Thoughts:

This second book from the Shadow of the Fox series suffers because it is the middle child. Like many middle of the series books, this one is given the difficult job of engaging the reader and keeping the reader invested in the series even if the job of a middle book, in the scheme of things, is to take the reader through the building action (think back to school when teachers gave out the story arc worksheet with setting, conflict, rising action, climax, falling action and resolution). 

To keep readers, most of the fantasy series take care of that by putting the main characters on a quest so that the second, or middle books just become a mini story arc in the middle of the journey (J.R.R. Tolkien mentored authors on how to do this ). Others may switch the point of view so that the there is a side story as different characters need to do something and then meet up with the protagonist at the final battle (like the Throne of Glass series). 

So what about this series? Kagawa is an experienced series writer so I know she can do it. This second book, though, fell short and I am trying to figure out why that is. She has the quest thing down (gather the scrolls, save the world from turning into hell on earth). That in itself, though, is not enough to keep the momentum going. Going back to Tolkien and the Lord of the Rings series -- the intention from the beginning was to destroy the ONE ring which is why they needed to go towards Mordor and cast the ring into the Cracks of Doom. 

Like the Throne of Glass series, this can prove tricky because the power of the item (the ONE ring, the wyrdkeys) is a temptation for the heroes/heroines because it could possibly give them just enough power to get what they want. However, it always comes at a price. 

The issue I had with the Soul of the Sword was in the nonsensical rationale to bring the one piece of the scroll directly into the hands of the enemy who actually had the other two pieces. I know it cannot be destroyed, but the time for the reawakening of the dragon is so close that destroying the scroll and waiting it out for the return would seem more rational than basically going towards the enemy with the scroll. 

I think the other thing that made this book go so slow is that there was no other sacrifice or other love interest that would give the impression that the heroine might abandon the quest. Without that, it felt like, as a reader, that I was just slogging through to get to the inevitable end of the book (getting to Tatsumi in order to help get Hakaimono back into the sword). 

Finally, I think the trick of the author at the end is not worthy of someone with her experience. In other words, after all that, to just say (in jist) oh now we have a common enemy so let's play nice for now to go after this new enemy and we shall fight again another day (or at the end of the next book) is not enough to keep readers invested for another year before book 3 comes out. Perhaps once this series is over the books as a whole will be more binge worthy. I can see that. At this point, though, it is just not memorable enough for me to calendar a reminder that I am supposed to be waiting for the next installment. 

An advanced digital copy provided by Net Galley and the publishers for an honest review. 

Sota's Knife

Description:

Sota Kitaoka, 20 years old, working at Ginza's famous "Tomikyu" under a strict but passionate boss, struggling and aiming to be a chef.  One day he will make food that reaches peoples' hearts...

My Thoughts:

I am so glad that I found this on Net Galley as it combines my love of manga with my love of foodie stories. Although this is a fictional account of a young wannabe cook at a famous Tokyo restaurant, Tomikyu, I feel like the stories reveal cultural and foodie culture truths that make Japan so very unique. 

I appreciate that the first story really identified the humility of Soto and his work ethic that will help him to succeed. That was a great way to identify this character and his  gambatte spirit. Other values that are highlighted in this manga:

• there is honor in even the most menial jobs
• if you want to learn something, you have to show that you are willing to put the work in beforehand to show that you are "teach worthy"
• ingredients, including water, are important
• there are no cutting corners on quality

More from this very enjoyable character please. 

An advanced copy provided by Net Galley and the publisher for an honest review.

Henshin

From the Publisher:

I KILL GIANTS co-creator KEN NIIMURA (International Manga Award winner and Eisner nominee) brings a unique vision of life in Japan to the page in HENSHIN. The lives of a kid with peculiar superpowers, a lonely girl discovering herself in the big city, and a businessman on a long night out are some of the short stories included in this collection that will make you laugh, and even maybe shed a tear. Explore Tokyo as you've never seen it before under NIIMURA's masterful and imaginative storytelling, printed here for the first time in English.

My thoughts:

I like reading English translated graphic novels/manga/comics from non-American illustrator/writers because they open up a different lens for readers. The aesthetic, both in the illustration and in the story is refreshing in its non-western lens. The line for what is beauty, humor, tragedy, horror gets moved and as a reader, makes my world expand because I must face my own boundaries and outer limits. 

Niimura is an internationally recognized craftsman in his art, so these 13 vignettes, I am making up, reflect/respond to, or shine a mirror on the Japanese aesthetic in manga. If I am correct, these stories that fictionally center around the larger metropolis of Tokyo teem with hidden layers of disconnection and disenfranchised grief from other people, from nature, from ourselves. 

One of the stories, "Watermelon summer" was shocking at the end, enough so that I had to stop reading and put it down. However, the more I thought about it and acknowledged the lens with which I was judging this story, I realized that no, there was a kind of Kurosawa-ish beauty to this story, an almost honorable, poetic, Shintoist harmony to the process in the story. I stopped focusing on the end and re-looked at the journey.

I am not sure what my middle level reader will takeaway from this, but for me, this was a haiku. Seemingly simple, but metaphorically complex.

Smoke in the Sun

This is the sequel to Flame in the Mist, a story set in feudal Japan. 

While the first book was like Mulan, this last one takes the protagonist, Mariko, into the silken inner workings of the emperor's court. As the betrothed to the bastard brother of the new emperor, Mariko must rely on her deceit and analytical mind to save the ones she loves. 

Devour worthy. This is a fast read if you have a couple hours of uninterrupted read time.

Flame in the Mist

From the publishers:

The only daughter of a prominent samurai, Mariko has always known she’d been raised for one purpose and one purpose only: to marry. Never mind her cunning, which rivals that of her twin brother, Kenshin, or her skills as an accomplished alchemist. Since Mariko was not born a boy, her fate was sealed the moment she drew her first breath.

So, at just seventeen years old, Mariko is sent to the imperial palace to meet her betrothed, a man she did not choose, for the very first time. But the journey is cut short when Mariko’s convoy is viciously attacked by the Black Clan, a dangerous group of bandits who’ve been hired to kill Mariko before she reaches the palace.

The lone survivor, Mariko narrowly escapes to the woods, where she plots her revenge. Dressed as a peasant boy, she sets out to infiltrate the Black Clan and hunt down those responsible for the target on her back. Once she’s within their ranks, though, Mariko finds for the first time she’s appreciated for her intellect and abilities. She even finds herself falling in love—a love that will force her to question everything she’s ever known about her family, her purpose, and her deepest desires.


My thoughts:
The cover did not pull me in, but once I started reading, this "Mulan" style story pulled me in to the intrigues of court. I wanted to hear more about the power of the court women but the glimpses were good.

Sachiko

Publication date: October 1, 2016

From the Publishers:

August 9, 1945, began like any other day for six-year-old Sachiko. Her country was at war, she didn't have enough to eat. At 11:01 a.m., she was playing outdoors with four other children. Moments later, those children were all dead. An atomic bomb had exploded just half a mile away.
In the days and months that followed, Sachiko lost family members, her hair fell out, she woke screaming in the night. When she was finally well enough to start school, other children bullied her. Through it all, she sought to understand what had happened, finding strength in the writings of Helen Keller, Gandhi, and Martin Luther King Jr.
Based on extensive interviews with Sachiko Yasui, Caren Stelson shares the true story of a young girl who survived the atomic bomb and chronicles her long journey to find peace. Sachiko offers readers a remarkable new perspective on the final moments of World War II—and their aftermath.

My Thoughts:

With the mix of poignant storytelling and sidebars of historical facts, this multi-genre novel will be a wonderful resource for middle level students to learn about World War II from the perspective of a Japanese atomic bomb survivor. It chronicles the moment right before the Nagasaki bomb as well as the devastating after effects that continues to be felt in Japan today. Sachiko's loss is devastating and unfathomable, and yet through it all, she continues to speak out for peace. Like the late Elie Wiesel, a survivor of the Nazi concentration camps, Sachiko has found her voice and continues to push for a peaceful world, lest we forget the atrocities of history. 

This is a well researched book and a good model for student research.

This advanced copy provided by Net Galley (dot)com and the publisher for an honest review. 

Kamen, Volume 2

Title: Kamen, volume 2

Author:  Gunya Mihara (also artist)

Publication date: November 25, 2014

Publisher: Gen Manga

Review copy supplied by Net Galley for Gen Manga

In short:  General Simba (young female) is at war with the Zoh army. Her actions are brash to her elders. Even her uncle, Lord Gailas will crush her army if he must. Out of seemingly  nowhere, the masked man appears. . .to be continued

My thoughts: Several elements must be present in an intriguing manga, mostly because the genre relies on your continued patronage of their art.  First and foremost, there must be an interesting or appealing character with a mysterious backstory that you want to learn more about. 

Second, there should be enough of a cliff hanger at the end of the manga so that you must know the rest of the story.

Although this is the 2nd volume and I did not read the first, I find that the masked man has enough mystery surrounding him where I would like to know more. As stories go, starting at this volume is not advisable, however, I did skip to the end in hopes of finding out a little about the characters. Most manga have this feature at the end. I could surmise from the reading that there was a war but it was confusing and I just kept reading without really knowing who to root for. Until I read the back, I wasn't sure who I was supposed to tag as the "good guy/girl," but based on the backstories, I think the young General Simba is the girl to watch, as well as the masked man.

Second, there is definitely a cliff hanger because I don't know what the masked man is there for and who he works for so the "to be continued" tag was disappointing because I was finally hooked.