FINISHED:

Lord, Bette Bao. (1984). In the year of the boar and Jackie Robinson. New York: HarperCollins.

[Really liked this one - didn't LOVE it. It just felt a bit light to me - kind of a bunch of short little events in a year of this girl from China's life, her first year in the U.S. Yes, it's a book intended for upper elementary kids, but I still feel that it could've been filled out a bit more. Her story (based, as I understand) on real events) is an interesting one, given the historical context and such, and I wanted Shirley Temple Wong to feel more real and fleshed out. One of the reasons I got this one is because I'm in love with Marc Simont, and his illustrations here are winners, giving insightful visuals to the people and events. I'm making it sound like I hated it, but I did find it enjoyable - especially the instances where Shirley misinterpreted certain "American-isms" and came up with her own versions of English language phrases and cues.]

STARTED:
Konigsburg, E.L. (1976). My father's daughter. New York: Aladdin Paperbacks/Simon & Schuster.

[Let it be said now that this is the March 2008 paperback reprint of the book originally titled Father's Arcane Daughter. Wanted to read something short and I'm always up for a Konigsburg that I haven't read yet.]

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