• Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
  • Adults
  • Children
  • Youth/Young Adults
  • Library Services
    • Get a Library Card
    • Our Borrowing Policies
    • Collections at the Library
    • Museum Passes
    • Technology Services
    • Meeting Rooms
    • Volunteering
    • Donating to the Library
  • Online Services
    • cloudLibrary
    • Kanopy
    • Flipster
    • Comics Plus
    • Digital Maine Library
    • Portland Public Library Online
  • Events
    • All Library Programs
    • Adults
    • Children
    • Teens and Tweens
    • Art Gallery
  • About
    • History & Mission
    • Library Policies
    • Library Staff
    • Board of Trustees
    • Map & Directions
    • Strategic Plan – FY 2017 to 2021
    • Staff Blog
  • My Account

Merrill Memorial Library

Catalog Search

You are here: Home / Staff Picks / Jill (a.k.a. Mrs. O’C.) recommends two books that anyone could enjoy

Jill (a.k.a. Mrs. O’C.) recommends two books that anyone could enjoy

posted on - December 3, 2021

There are some great new books that offer a window into Asian American history and folklore. For a young adult/adult audience, Malinda Lo’s Last Night at the Telegraph Club is a historical novel whose protagonist is a Chinese American teen, Lily Hu, whose family is caught up in the Communist scare of the McCarthy era in the 1950s in San Francisco’s Chinatown. In her senior year, Lily is drawn to another student, one with whom she can talk about her dreams of building rockets and her affinity for math. That other student is a girl and together the two explore the nightlife of 1950s San Francisco, specifically the Telegraph Club known for its male impersonators and lesbian clientele. As the two explore their burgeoning sexuality, they face opposition from family, censure from friends, and even possible criminal charges. There are not many books that take a peek inside this time in American history through this lens. It is the intersection between giddy first love, queer identity, Chinese American culture, and American history. Lo’s writing is luminescent and Lily is a startlingly brave character who fights to find her voice and stay true to herself despite great odds.

The Legend of Auntie Po by Shing Yin Khor is a graphic novel for readers in middle school though it is enlightening and illuminating for older readers too. Written and illustrated in gorgeous watercolors by Khor, the book is set in a Sierra Nevada logging camp in 1885 just after the passing of the Chinese Exclusion Act. It follows Chinese immigrants Mei and her father as they navigate the difficult and often violent racial tensions in the United States while working in the camp’s kitchen. Mei just wants to bake pies, be friends with the camp owners’ daughter, Bee, and tell stories to the camp children, but the politics of the time won’t let this be her reality. Drawing on the folktale of Paul Bunyan and his blue ox, Mei creates her own logging god Po Pan Yin (Auntie Po) and her blue ox to navigate the difficulties of life, but even this giant cannot turn the tide of prejudice and fear. A heartwarming coming of age story that shows how stories are used to cope and to reclaim identity. It also offers a glimpse into a not-often told slice of early American history that reminds us of the importance of owning your story.

The Legend of Auntie Po was shortlisted for the National Book Award and Last Night at the Telegraph Club won the National Book Award for Young Adult Literature.

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Primary Sidebar

Recent Posts

  • Finally, New Music from Peter Gabriel

  • Film Review of “Molly’s Game”

  • The First, and Sometimes the Last…

  • One Simple Way to Assess Media Bias from Ben

  • Ancestry.com At the Library

Footer

Library Hours

Open for browsing and curbside pickup

Monday 10am – 5pm
Tuesday 10am – 7pm
Wednesday 10am – 7pm
Thursday 10am – 5pm
Friday 10am – 5pm
Saturday* 10am – 3pm
Sunday closed

*Closed on Saturdays in July & August and Holiday Weekends.

  • Facebook
  • Instagram

Contact Info

Merrill Memorial Library
215 Main Street
Yarmouth, Maine 04096

Phone: (207) 846-4763
FAX: (207) 846-2422
email: mmlinfo@yarmouthlibrary.org

Town of Yarmouth Website
Yarmouth Community Services
Maine State Library

View New Adult Books

View New Juvenile and Young Adult Books

View New Audiovisual Materials

Subscribe To Our Email Newsletter

Copyright © 2023 · Merrill Memorial Library · site by iKnow