Asian American & Pacific Islander Heritage Month: Young Readers

May is Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month and this week—May 3 to May 9 —is also Children’s Book Week with the motto “Every Child a Reader.” Therefore, we are celebrating the following glorious stories, for children and adults to share, that honor the rich cultural history of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders: 

THE MAGIC FISH by Trung Le Nguyen

NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR by the New York Public Library • Kirkus Reviews • Booklist • Publishers Weekly

This beautifully illustrated YA graphic novel follows a young boy as he tries to navigate life through fairytales. Tiến still enjoys reading his favorite stories with his parents from the books he borrows from the local library. It’s hard enough trying to communicate with your parents as a kid, but for Tiến, he doesn’t even have the right words because his parents are struggling with their English. Is there a Vietnamese word for what he’s going through? Is there a way to tell them he’s gay?

ANY DAY WITH YOU by Mae Respicio

Kaia and her family live near the beach in California, where the fun of moviemaking is all around them. This summer, Kaia and her friends are part of a creative arts camp, where they’re working on a short movie to enter in a contest. The movie is inspired by the Filipino folktales that her beloved Tatang, her great-grandfather, tells. Kaia hopes that by winning a filmmaking contest, she’ll convince her great-grandfather not to move back home to the Philippines.

PATRON SAINTS OF NOTHING by Randy Ribay

A powerful coming-of-age story about grief, guilt, and the risks a Filipino American teenager takes to uncover the truth about his cousin’s murder.

THEY CALLED US ENEMY by George Takei, Justin Eisinger, Steven Scott, Harmony Becker

A stunning graphic memoir recounting actor/author/activist George Takei’s childhood imprisoned within American concentration camps during World War II. Experience the forces that shaped an American icon—and America itself—in this gripping tale of courage, country, loyalty, and love. Available in a Spanish edition here.

THE UGLY VEGETABLES written and illustrated by Grace Lin

In this charming story about celebrating differences a Chinese-American girl wishes for a garden of bright flowers instead of one full of bumpy, ugly, vegetables. The neighbors’ gardens look so much prettier and so much more inviting to the young gardener than the garden of “black-purple-green vines, fuzzy wrinkled leaves, prickly stems, and a few little yellow flowers” that she and her mother grow. Nevertheless, mother assures her that “these are better than flowers.” Come harvest time, everyone agrees as those ugly Chinese vegetables become the tastiest, most aromatic soup they have ever known. As the neighborhood comes together to share flowers and ugly vegetable soup, the young gardener learns that regardless of appearances, everything has its own beauty and purpose. THE UGLY VEGETABLES springs forth with the bright and cheerful colors of blooming flowers and lumpy vegetables. Grace Lin’s playful illustrations pour forth with abundant treasures. Complete with a guide to the Chinese pronunciation of the vegetables and the recipe for ugly vegetable soup! Try it…you’ll love it, too!

WATERCRESS by Andrea Wang; Illustrated by Jason Chin

Driving through Ohio in an old Pontiac, a young girl’s parents stop suddenly when they spot watercress growing wild in a ditch by the side of the road. Grabbing an old paper bag and some rusty scissors, the whole family wades into the muck to collect as much of the muddy, snail covered watercress as they can. At first, she’s embarrassed. Why can’t her family get food from the grocery store? But when her mother shares a story of her family’s time in China, the girl learns to appreciate the fresh food they foraged. Together, they make a new memory of watercress.

The book is illustrated by award winning author and artist Jason Chin, in an entirely new style, inspired by Chinese painting techniques. An author’s note in the back shares Andrea’s childhood experience with her parents.

LAXMI’S MOOCH by Shelly Anand, Illustrated by Nabi H. Ali

A joyful, body-positive picture book about a young Indian American girl’s journey to accept her body hair and celebrate her heritage after being teased about her mustache.

WHEN YOU TRAP A TIGER by Tae Keller

WINNER OF THE 2021 NEWBERY MEDAL

WINNER OF THE ASIAN/PACIFIC AMERICAN AWARD FOR CHILDREN’S LITERATURE

When Lily and her family move in with her sick grandmother, a magical tiger straight out of her halmoni’s Korean folktales arrives, prompting Lily to unravel a secret family history. Long, long ago, Halmoni stole something from the tigers. Now they want it back. And when one of the tigers approaches Lily with a deal—return what her grandmother stole in exchange for Halmoni’s health—Lily is tempted to agree. But deals with tigers are never what they seem! With the help of her sister and her new friend Ricky, Lily must find her voice…and the courage to face a tiger.

DANBI LEADS THE SCHOOL PARADE by Anna Kim

An Asian/Pacific American Award for Literature Honor Book

Danbi is thrilled to start her new school in America. But a bit nervous too, for when she walks into the classroom, everything goes quiet. Everyone stares. Danbi wants to join in the dances and the games, but she doesn’t know the rules and just can’t get anything right. Luckily, she isn’t one to give up. With a spark of imagination, she makes up a new game and leads her classmates on a parade to remember! Danbi Leads the School Parade introduces readers to an irresistible new character. In this first story, she learns to navigate her two cultures and realizes that when you open your world to others, their world opens up to you.

FATIMA’S GREAT OUTDOORS by Ambreen Tariq; Illustrated by Stevie Lewis

An immigrant family embarks on their first camping trip in the Midwest in this lively picture book by Ambreen Tariq, outdoors activist and founder of @BrownPeopleCamping. This picture book debut, with cheerful illustrations by Stevie Lewis, is a rollicking family adventure, a love letter to the outdoors, and a reminder that public land belongs to all of us.

THE DOWNSTAIRS GIRL by Stacey Lee

By day, seventeen-year-old Jo Kuan works as a lady’s maid for the cruel daughter of one of the wealthiest men in Atlanta. But by night, Jo moonlights as the pseudonymous author of a newspaper advice column for the genteel Southern lady, “Dear Miss Sweetie.” When her column becomes wildly popular, she uses the power of the pen to address some of society’s ills, but she’s not prepared for the backlash that follows when her column challenges fixed ideas about race and gender. With prose that is witty, insightful, and at times heartbreaking, Stacey Lee masterfully crafts an extraordinary social drama set in the New South.

FRANKLY IN LOVE by David Yoon

An Asian Pacific American Librarians Association Honor Book

Frank Li has two names. There’s Frank Li, his American name. Then there’s Sung-Min Li, his Korean name. No one uses his Korean name, not even his parents. Frank barely speaks any Korean. He was born and raised in Southern California. Even so, his parents still expect him to end up with a nice Korean girl—which is a problem, since Frank is finally dating the girl of his dreams: Brit Means. Brit, who is funny and nerdy just like him. Brit, who makes him laugh like no one else. Brit…who is white. Desperate to be with Brit without his parents finding out, Frank turns to family friend Joy Song, who is in a similar bind. Together, they come up with a plan to help each other and keep their parents off their backs. Frank thinks he’s found the solution to all his problems, but when life throws him a curveball, he’s left wondering whether he ever really knew anything about love—or himself—at all.

For more on these and related titles (for kids and adults) visit the collection Asian American & Pacific Islander Heritage Month

Friday Reads: Asian American Rom Coms

In the mood for some light-hearted, yet big-hearted escape this weekend? We are playing matchmaker! Look no further than these super popular new and bestselling Asian American romantic comedies for adult and young adult readers: 

DIAL A FOR AUNTIES by Jesse Q. Sutanto

A hilariously quirky novel that is equal parts murder mystery, rom-com, and a celebration of mothers and daughters as well as a deep dive into Chinese-Indonesian culture set in Southern California, by debut author Jesse Q Sutanto.

CRAZY RICH ASIANS by Kevin Kwan

The basis for the hit movie!

When New Yorker Rachel Chu agrees to spend the summer in Singapore with her boyfriend, Nicholas Young, she envisions a humble family home and quality time with the man she hopes to marry. But Nick has failed to give his girlfriend a few key details. One, that his childhood home looks like a palace; two, that he grew up riding in more private planes than cars; and three, that he just happens to be the country’s most eligible bachelor. On Nick’s arm, Rachel may as well have a target on her back the second she steps off the plane, and soon, her relaxed vacation turns into an obstacle course of old money, new money, nosy relatives, and scheming social climbers. 

THE KISS QUOTIENT by Helen Hoang

Stella Lane thinks math is the only thing that unites the universe. She comes up with algorithms to predict customer purchases—a job that has given her more money than she knows what to do with, and much less experience in the dating department than the average thirty-year-old. It doesn’t help that Stella has Asperger’s and French kissing reminds her of a shark getting its teeth cleaned by pilot fish. Her conclusion: she needs lots of practice—with a professional. Which is why she hires escort Michael Phan. The Vietnamese and Swedish stunner can’t afford to turn down Stella’s offer, and agrees to help her check off all the boxes on her lesson plan—from foreplay to more-than-missionary position…

LAST TANG STANDING by Lauren Ho

At thirty-three, Andrea Tang is living the dream: She has a successful career as a lawyer, a posh condo, and a clutch of fun-loving friends who are always in the know about Singapore’s hottest clubs. And if she’s about to become the lone unmarried member of her generation in the Tang clan—a disappointment her meddling Chinese-Malaysian family won’t let her forget—well, she doesn’t need a man to complete her. Yet when a chance encounter with charming, wealthy entrepreneur Eric Deng offers her a glimpse of an exciting, limitless future, Andrea decides to give Mr. Right-for-her-family a chance.

 THE DATING PLAN by Sara Desai

Daisy Patel is a software engineer in San Francisco who understands lists and logic better than bosses and boyfriends. Ever the obedient daughter, she always follows the rules, but the one thing she can’t give her family is the marriage they expect. With few options left to her, and desperate to escape a parade of unwanted suitors, she asks her childhood crush to be her decoy fiancé. Without rules, these fake fiancés might accidentally fall for each other in this romantic comedy by the author of The Marriage Game.

FOR YOUNG ADULTS

FRANKLY IN LOVE by David Yoon

An Asian Pacific American Librarians Association Honor Book

Two friends. One fake dating scheme. What could possibly go wrong?

Frank Li has two names. There’s Frank Li, his American name. Then there’s Sung-Min Li, his Korean name. No one uses his Korean name, not even his parents. Frank barely speaks any Korean. He was born and raised in Southern California. Even so, his parents still expect him to end up with a nice Korean girl—which is a problem, since Frank is finally dating the girl of his dreams: Brit Means. Brit, who is funny and nerdy just like him. Brit, who makes him laugh like no one else. Brit…who is white. In his moving debut novel, David Yoon takes on the question of who am I? —with a result that is humorous, heartfelt, and ultimately unforgettable.

FROM LITTLE TOKYO, WITH LOVE by Sarah Kuhn

Celebrated author Sarah Kuhn reinvents the modern fairy tale in this intensely personal yet hilarious novel of a girl whose search for a storybook ending takes her to unexpected places in both her beloved LA neighborhood and her own guarded heart.

A TASTE FOR LOVE by Jennifer Yen

 To her friends, high school senior Liza Yang is nearly perfect. But to her mom, Liza is anything but. Compared to her older sister Jeannie, Liza is stubborn, rebellious, and worst of all, determined to push back against all of Mrs. Yang’s traditional values, especially when it comes to dating. For fans of Jenny Han, Jane Austen, and The Great British Baking Show, A Taste for Love, is a delicious rom com about first love, familial expectations, and making the perfect bao.

For more on these and related titles (for kids and adults) visit the collection Asian American Rom Coms

National Poetry Month Celebrates 25 Years!

Happy National Poetry Month – the largest literary celebration in the world! 2021 marks 25 years since the Academy of American Poets launched National Poetry Month in April, 1996. The choice of April was inspired by the first line of T.S. Eliot’s “The Wasteland”: “April is the cruellest month…”

Ushering in a new appreciation for the power of poetry is Amanda Gorman and her inaugural poem THE HILL WE CLIMB. Clearly, there’s no wasteland when it comes to poetry at Penguin Random House. Whether your proclivities are for free, blank or rhyming verse, lyrical poetry, prose poems, sonnets, elegies, odes… We’ve got it all! Here are just some of the astounding poets, a range of brilliant voices, we’ve published in the past year:

THE HILL WE CLIMB: AN INAUGURAL POEM FOR THE COUNTRY by Amanda Gorman; Foreword by Oprah Winfrey

Amanda Gorman’s powerful and historic poem “The Hill We Climb,” read at President Joe Biden’s inauguration, is now available as a collectible gift edition.

INDEX OF WOMEN by Amy Gerstler

From a “maestra of invention” (The New York Times) who is at once supremely witty, ferociously smart, and emotionally raw, a new collection of poems about womanhood.  Women’s voices, from childhood to old age, dominate this new collection of rants, dramatic monologues, confessions and laments. A young girl muses on virginity. An aging opera singer rages against the fact that she must quit drinking. A woman in a supermarket addresses a head of lettuce. The tooth fairy finally speaks out. Both comic and prayer-like, these poems wrestle with mortality, animality, love, gender, and what it is to be human.

GOD I FEEL MODERN TONIGHT: POEMS FROM A GAL ABOUT TOWN by Catherine Cohen

In these short, captivating lyrics, Catherine Cohen, the one-woman stand-up chanteuse who electrified the downtown NYC comedy scene in her white go-go boots, details her life on the prowl with her beaded bag; she ponders guys who call you “dude” after sex, true love during the pandemic, and English-major dreams. “I wish I were smart instead of on my phone,” Cat Cohen confides. A Dorothy Parker for our time, a Starbucks philosopher with no primary-care doctor, she’s a welcome new breed of everywoman—a larger-than-life best friend, who will say all the outrageous things we think but never say out loud ourselves.

FINNA: POEMS by Nate Marshall

Sharp, lyrical poems celebrating the Black vernacular—its influence on pop culture, its necessity for familial survival, its rite in storytelling and in creating the safety found only within its intimacy. Finna explores the erasure of peoples in the American narrative; asks how gendered language can provoke violence; and finally, how the Black vernacular, expands our notions of possibility, giving us a new language of hope:

AN INCOMPLETE LIST OF NAMES: POEMS by Michael Torres, Raquel Salas Rivera

An astonishing debut collection looking back on a community of Mexican American boys as they grapple with assimilation versus the impulse to create a world of their own. When Torres returns to his hometown to find the layers of spray-painted evidence he and his boyhood friends left behind to prove their existence have been washed away by well-meaning municipal workers, he wonders how to collect a list of names that could match the eloquent truths those bubbled letters once secured.

LEAN AGAINST THIS LATE HOUR by Garous Abdolmalekian, Idra Novey, Ahmad Nadalizade…

The first selection of poems by renowned Iranian poet Garous Abdolmalekian to appear in English, this collection is a mesmerizing, disorienting descent into the trauma of loss and its aftermath. In spare lines, Abdolmalekian conjures surreal, cinematic images that pan wide as deftly as they narrow into intimate focus. Time is a thread come unspooled: pain arrives before the wound, and the dead wait for sunrise.

OWED by Joshua Bennett

Bennett’s new collection, Owed, is a book with celebration at its center. Its primary concern is how we might mend the relationship between ourselves and the people, spaces, and objects we have been taught to think of as insignificant, as fundamentally unworthy of study, reflection, attention, or care. Spanning the spectrum of genre and form—from elegy and ode to origin myth—these poems elaborate an aesthetics of repair.

LITTLE BIG BULLY by Heid E. Erdrich

Little Big Bully begins with a question asked of a collective and troubled we – how did we come to this? In answer, this book offers personal myth, American and Native American contexts, and allegories driven by women’s resistance to narcissists, stalkers, and harassers. These poems are immediate, personal, political, cultural, even futuristic object lessons. Here, survivors shout back at useless cautionary tales with their own courage and visions of future worlds made well.

THE NIGHTFIELDS by Joanna Klink

A new collection from a poet whose books “are an amazing experience: harrowing, ravishing, essential, unstoppable” (Louise Glück)

ASYLUM: A PERSONAL, HISTORICAL, NATURAL INQUIRY IN 103 LYRIC SECTIONS by Jill Bialosky

Taken together, these piercing pieces—about the poet’s nascent calling as a writer; her sister’s suicide and its still unfolding aftermath; the horror unleashed by World War II; the life cycle of the monarch butterfly; and the woods where she seeks asylum—form a moving story, powerfully braiding despair, survival, and hope.

BLACK GIRL, CALL HOME by Jasmine Mans

This coming-of-age collection from spoken word poet Jasmine Mans presents unforgettable poetry about race, feminism, and queer identity. With echoes of Gwendolyn Brooks and Sonia Sanchez, each poem explores what it means to be a daughter of Newark, and America—and the painful, joyous path to adulthood as a young, queer Black woman.

COLLECTED POEMS by Sonia Sanchez

A literary event! Spanning four decades, here is a representative collection of the life work of the much-honored poet and a founder of the Black Arts movement. As Maya Angelou so aptly put it: “Sonia Sanchez is a lion in literature’s forest. When she writes she roars, and when she sleeps other creatures walk gingerly.”

For more on these and other acclaimed poetry titles visit: National Poetry Month

Want a poem to arrive each day in your inbox for the month of April? Sign up for 

Knopf’s Poem-a-Day and be amazed! And visit The Academy of American Poets

 for more National Poetry Month activities, initiatives, and resources.

Let’s read.. and talk

This week Penguin Random House launched a new site, The Conversation, with its mission to “raise our collective consciousness about race and bias.” It got us thinking about the power of conversation to enhance empathy, especially now when we are all trying to connect in new and deeper ways. Thus, we’ve gathered conversational books by and about a broad spectrum of people and topics. 

THE TALK: CONVERSATIONS ABOUT RACE, LOVE & TRUTH by Wade Hudson, Cheryl Willis Hudson

Thirty diverse, award-winning authors and illustrators invite you into their homes to witness the conversations they have with their children about race in America today in this powerful call-to-action that invites all families to be anti-racists and advocates for change.

The Talk is a stirring anthology and must-have resource published in partnership with Just Us Books, a Black-owned children’s publishing company that’s been in operation for over thirty years.

INCLUSIVE CONVERSATIONS: FOSTERING EQUITY, EMPATHY, AND BELONGING ACROSS DIFFERENCES by Mary-Frances Winters

Effective dialogue across different dimensions of diversity, such as race, gender, age, religion, or sexual orientation, fosters a sense of belonging and inclusion, which in turn leads to greater productivity, performance, and innovation. Recognizing our collective responsibility to earnestly address our differences and increase understanding and empathy will not only enhance organizational goals but will also lead to a healthier, kinder, and more compassionate world.

TONI MORRISON: THE LAST INTERVIEW AND OTHER CONVERSATIONS Introduction by Nikki Giovanni

In this wide-ranging collection of thought-provoking interviews — including her first and last — Toni Morrison (whom President Barrack Obama called a “national treasure”) details not only her writing life, but also her other careers as a teacher, and as a publisher, as well as the gripping story of her family. In fact, Morrison reveals here that her Nobel Prize-winning novels, such as Beloved and Song of Solomon, were born out of her family’s stories — such as those of her great-grandmother, born a slave, or her father, escaping the lynch mobs of the South.

COMPASSIONATE CONVERSATIONS: HOW TO SPEAK AND LISTEN FROM THE HEART by Diane Musho Hamilton, Gabriel Menegale

The definitive guide to learning effective skills for engaging in open and honest conversations about divisive issues from three professional mediators. Addressing the long history of injury and pain for marginalized groups, each chapter contains practices and reflection questions to help readers feel more prepared to talk through polarizing issues, ultimately encouraging us to take risks, to understand and recognize our deep commonalities, to be willing to make mistakes, and to become more intimate with expressing our truths, as well as listening to those of others.

FRIDA KAHLO: THE LAST INTERVIEW AND OTHER CONVERSATIONS by Frida Kahlo, Hayden Herrera

Frida Kahlo is now an icon. In the decades since her death, Kahlo has been celebrated as a proto-feminist, a misunderstood genius, and a leftist hero, but during her lifetime most knew her as…Diego Rivera’s wife. Featuring conversations with American scholar and Marxist, Bertram D. Wolfe, and art critic Raquel Tibol, this collection shows an artist undervalued, but also a woman in control of her image. From her timid beginnings after her first solo show, to a woman who confidently states that she is her only influence, the many faces of Kahlo presented here clearly show us the woman behind the “Fridamania” we know today.

GOOD TALK: A MEMOIR IN CONVERSATIONS by Mira Jacob

A bold, wry, and intimate graphic memoir about American identity, interracial family, and the realities that divide us, from the acclaimed author of The Sleepwalker’s Guide to Dancing.

Like many six-year-olds, Mira Jacob’s half-Jewish, half-Indian son, Z, has questions about everything. At first they are innocuous enough, but as tensions from the 2016 election spread from the country into his own family, they become much, much more complicated. Trying to answer him honestly, Mira has to think back to where she’s gotten her own answers—her most formative conversations about race, color, sexuality, and of course, love.

REVOLUTIONARY FEMINISMS: CONVERSATIONS ON COLLECTIVE ACTION AND RADICAL THOUGHT by Brenna Bhandar, Rafeef Ziadah

A unique book, tracing forty years of anti-racist feminist thought

The interviews include Avtar Brah, Gail Lewis and Vron Ware on Diaspora, Migration and Empire. Himani Bannerji, Gary Kinsman, Leanne Betasamosake Simpson, and Silvia Federici on Colonialism, Capitalism, and Resistance. Ruth Wilson Gilmore, Avery F. Gordon and Angela Y. Davis on Abolition Feminism.

BREAKING THE SILENCE HABIT: A PRACTICAL GUIDE TO UNCOMFORTABLE CONVERSATIONS IN THE #METOO WORKPLACE by Sarah Beaulieu, Len Schlesinger

In the wake of the #MeToo movement, employees and leaders are struggling with how to respond to the pervasiveness of sexual harassment. Most approaches simply emphasize knowing and complying with existing laws. But people need more than lists of dos and don’ts—they need to learn how to navigate this uncertain, emotionally charged terrain. Sarah Beaulieu provides a new skills-based approach to addressing sexual harassment prevention and response in the workplace, including using underdeveloped skills like empathy, situational awareness, boundary setting, and intervention.

WHEN MY TIME COMES: CONVERSATIONS ABOUT WHETHER THOSE WHO ARE DYING SHOULD HAVE THE RIGHT TO DETERMINE WHEN LIFE SHOULD END by Diane Rehm; Foreword by John Grisham

From Diane Rehm, renowned radio host—one of the most trusted voices in the nation—and best-selling author: a book of candor and compassion, addressing the urgent, hotly contested cause of the Right-to-Die movement, of which she is one of our most inspiring champions.  With a highly personal foreword by John Grisham, When My Time Comes is a response to many misconceptions and misrepresentations of end-of-life care; it is a call to action—and to conscience—and it is an attempt to heal and soothe our hearts, reminding us that death, too, is an integral part of life.

UNCENSORED: MY LIFE AND UNCOMFORTABLE CONVERSATIONS AT THE INTERSECTION OF BLACK AND WHITE AMERICA by Zachary R. Wood

Drawing upon his own powerful personal story, Zachary R. Wood shares his perspective on free speech, race, and dissenting opinions—in a world that sorely needs to learn to listen. As the former president of the student group “Uncomfortable Learning” at his alma mater, Williams College, Zachary Wood knows from experience about intellectual controversy. In Uncensored, he reveals for the first time how he grew up poor and black in Washington, DC, where the only way to survive was by resisting the urge to write people off because of their backgrounds and perspectives.

THE DIALOGUES: CONVERSATIONS ABOUT THE NATURE OF THE UNIVERSE by Clifford V. Johnson; Foreword by Frank Wilczek

In The Dialogues, physicist Clifford Johnson invites us to eavesdrop on a series of nine conversations, in graphic-novel form—written and drawn by Johnson—about “the nature of the universe.” The conversations take place all over the world, in museums, on trains, in restaurants, in what may or may not be Freud’s favorite coffeehouse. The conversationalists are men, women, children, experts, and amateur science buffs. The topics of their conversations range from the science of cooking to the multiverse and string theory. Click here for the spanish edition

For more on these titles visit the collection conversations

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Honor World Gratitude Day!

Today, September 21st, is World Gratitude Day. World Gratitude Day is “a day the whole world can pause to appreciate all they are thankful for. There is no doubt 2020 has been a whirlwind – a global pandemic, economic uncertainty, and urgency around racial injustice. But there are signs that gratitude can serve as a powerful antidote and anchor for our collective well-being. Dr. Robert A. Emmons, professor of psychology at University of California, Davis, defines gratitude as “a celebration of the good – and a recognition that this good is sourced outside the self.” (Forbes)

A little history from WorkHuman:

What is World Gratitude Day?

It was in 1965, at a Thanksgiving Day dinner in the meditation room of the United Nations building, that the idea of World Gratitude Day first came into being. Spiritual and meditation leader Sri Chinmoy suggested there be a day of thanks the whole world could celebrate together. Those present at the meeting pledged that each year on Sept. 21 they would hold a celebration of gratitude in their country.

In 1977, during a special ceremony that honored Sri, a resolution passed that would officially recognize World Gratitude Day. Since then, this annual observance has grown to become a dynamic, worldwide movement.

Interested in more books on gratitude, visit the collection here 

Thank you for your attention!

Happy Birthday H.G. Wells! 

H.G. Wells was born in Bromley, Kent, September 21, 1866. After an education repeatedly interrupted by his family’s financial problems, he eventually found work as a teacher at a succession of schools, where he began to write his first stories. Wells became a prolific writer with a diverse output, of which the famous works are his science fiction novels. These are some of the earliest and most influential examples of the genre, and include classics such as The Time Machine and The War of the Worlds. Most of his books very well-received, and had a huge influence on many younger writers, including George Orwell and Isaac Asimov. Wells also wrote many popular non-fiction books, and used his writing to support the wide range of political and social causes in which he had an interest, although these became increasingly eccentric towards the end of his life.
Twice-married, Wells had many affairs, including a ten-year liaison with Rebecca West that produced a son. He died in London in 1946.

Click here for a collection of H.G. Wells titles