Happy Lunar New Year! On January 25, 2020 we will officially enter the Year of the Rat. In the Chinese zodiac system, the years are measured in lunar cycles. Each year corresponds with one of twelve animal symbols in a repeating 12-year cycle. To celebrate the Year of the Rat, here are some books written or illustrated by authors or artists who were born in previous Years of the Rat.
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An aviator whose plane is forced down in the Sahara Desert encounters a little prince from a small planet who relates his adventures in seeking the secret of what is important in life. |
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Working : people talk about what they do all day and how they feel about what they do by Studs Terkel (Studs Terkel b 1912) Men and women representing a variety of occupations, describe the daily routine of their jobs and express their grievances, aims, and dreams. |
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A definitive Pulitzer Prize-winning recreation of the powderkeg that was Europe during the crucial first thirty days of World War I traces the actions of statesmen and patriots alike in Berlin, London, St. Petersburg, and Paris. |
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(Garth Williams b 1912) The adventures of a country cricket who unintentionally arrives in New York and is befriended by Tucker Mouse and Harry Cat. |
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A U.S. release of an epic Chinese classic is set in the years between the Song Empire and the rise of Genghis Khan and traces the story of a murdered patriot’s son who fulfills his destiny in a divided China. Illustrations. |
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When a pregnant Tish's boyfriend Fonny, a sculptor, is wrongfully jailed for the rape of a Puerto Rican woman, their families unite to prove the charge false. |
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A young academic couple's attempt to trace the relationship between two turbulent, romantic, and superstitious Victorian poets reveals uncanny parallels with their own lives and culminates in the exhumation of a poet's corpse. |
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Joining his billionaire father at a secret compound where terminally ill people are placed in stasis in the hopes of future-world cures, Jeff explores questions about humanity's right to control death and his father's resolve to secure his own longevity. |
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A son struggles to come to terms with the horrific story of his parents and their experiences during the Holocaust and in postwar America, in an omnibus edition of Spiegelman's two-part, Pulitzer Prize-winning best-seller. |
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Good omens : the nice and accurate prophecies of Agnes Nutter, witch by Neil Gaiman & Terry Pratchett (Terry Pratchett b 1948, Neil Gaiman b 1960) The world is going to end next Saturday, just before dinner, but it turns out there are a few problems--the Antichrist has been misplaced, the Four Horseman of the Apocalypse ride motorcycles, and the representatives from heaven and hell decide that they like the human race, in a new edition of the classic novel, featuring a new afterword from the authors. |
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A dragon's guide to the care and feeding of humans by Laurence Yep & Joanne Ryder (Laurence Yep b 1948) A first entry in a whimsical series, co-written by the Newbery Honor-winning author of Dragonwings, shares the observations of crusty dragon Miss Drake, who works diligently to train her young human while navigating community challenges. |
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A long-awaited third installment in the series featuring the beloved haphazard British heroine introduces readers to an engaging new phase of Bridget's life in contemporary London, where she faces the challenges of maintaining her sex appeal, engages in drunken texting and despairs of fitting into skinny jeans. |
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(Hồ Anh Thái b 1960) Behind the Red Mist gives us for the first time in English a wide range of stories from the most important writer of the post-war generation in Vietnam. The characters range from a party official who turns into a goat while watching porno movies, to an Indian who carries his mother's bones in his knapsack, to a war widow trying desperately to piece together her life through the fragments of debris she collects from her back yard. |
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(China Miéville b 1972) A contemporary fantasy set in present-day London finds people flocking to a British Museum exhibit of a giant squid that is stolen by magical criminals, a crime that propels young curator Billy into a supernatural underworld. By the Arthur C. Clarke- and Locus-winning author of Perdido Street Station. |
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A tale set in America and China follows the experiences of three people who in their youths were involved in a mysterious accident that resulted in a friend's fatal poisoning and who years later are haunted by the possibility that one of them actually committed a murder. By the award-winning author of The Vagrants. |
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An aspiring young engineer builds helpful inventions and wonders what to give her best friend for her birthday before deciding to build her an amazing doghouse, a project that requires the help of rival neighbors. By the author of Sisters Red. |
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(Helen Oyeyemi b 1984) The award-winning author of Boy, Snow, Bird draws on the classic fairy-tale element of gingerbread in the story of a British family whose surprising legacy and secret past are tied to a favorite recipe. |