May 2025 - Anastasia Suen

The Music Inside Us: Yo-Yo Ma and His Gifts to the World
by James Howe (Author) and Jack Wong (Illustrator)
@ Amazon* | Bookshop*

Booktalk: At a young age, Yo-Yo Ma discovered a remarkable gift for the cello, playing Bach from memory by age four. His technique was far beyond his years, but even as he grew and became a world-class musician—studying at Juilliard, performing at Carnegie Hall at a young age, even playing on television before the president of the United States—he wanted to use his gift for something deeper, something bigger.

As he asked question after question, trying to understand his place in the world, he discovered something that every culture has in common: music.

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Dreams to Ashes: The 1871 Los Angeles Chinatown Massacre
by Livia Blackburne (Author) and Nicole Xu (Illustrator)
@ Amazon | Bookshop

Booktalk: In the mid-1800s, a wave of Chinese immigrants traveled to the West Coast of the United States. They were following rumors of Gold Mountain, a land rich with treasure for all who came. When gold proved elusive, they began to seek their fortunes in other ways-as doctors and launderers, as cooks and musicians.

A number of Chinese immigrants settled in Los Angeles, California. It was a rough, occasionally lawless city, and newspapers routinely published anti-Chinese articles, fueling sparks of hatred. On the night of October 24, 1871, the city exploded in violence. In the ensuing massacre, eighteen Chinese men were killed, their dreams turned to ashes.

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Nonfiction Monday

It’s Nonfiction Monday!