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Books
Hello and welcome to our Books page!
Books are one of the best ways to teach children how to be anti-racist. By providing reading material that implicitly and explicitly represents minorities, whose experiences and identities have been underrepresented in mainstream media, one can counter the concepts of "othering", "conditional belonging", and "forever foreigner."
Below you will find our current spotlighted book and identified books for classroom use.
ACENet is constantly curating Asian and anti-Asian racism books that can be used in a variety of settings and for a variety of ages. If you have or know of a resource you think is applicable, feel free to share them with us at ACENetCanada@gmail.com.
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Book Spotlight
Monstress is an ongoing critically acclaimed epic fantasy comics series by Marjorie Liu, drawn by Sana Takeda, and published by Image Comics. Check out our Comics and Graphics Novel page to see other stories by Image. The mature story has even garnered 5 Eisner awards in a single year amongst many others over its lifetime (see below for a notable but not-exhaustive list awards won). In 2018, the same year she won the 5 Eisner awards in including Best Writer, she became the first woman to do so in the 30-year history of the Eisner Awards. Monstress was first published in 2015 and is currently on its 35th issue or 6th volume and continues to be nominated for awards. The story has drawn comparisons to other epic fantasy legends like George R. R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire and J. R. R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings. Monstress includes elements of comics, mangas, and novels to help build its epic world. Its first issue is triple-sized and will be sure to capture you from the onset. A reminder that this is a mature book that opens with Maikai in slavery.
"Steampunk meets Kaiju in this original fantasy epic for mature readers, as young Maika risks everything to control her psychic link with a monster of tremendous power, placing her in the center of a devastating war between human and otherworldly forces." (Image Comics - Monstress)
The series is set in a fictional matriarchal 1900s, Asia. The background to the story is a war between the Arcanics, magical creatures who sometimes can pass for humans, and the Cumaea, an order of sorceresses who consume Arcanics to fuel their power. Maikai, a teenage girl, a former slave with a mysterious past, is terrified that she's losing her mind and is becoming a monster, must struggle to survive in this war-torn world.
Talking with The Hollywood Reporter (2015), author Marjorie Liu describes her book as the following:
"The world of Monstress is one that has been torn apart by racism, slavery, by the commodification of mixed race bodies that produce a valuable substance that humans require like a drug. Even if you look human, you might not be safe. It's a familiar story to people of color in this country, and in the last four or five years I've found myself deeply immersed in the study of identity and race, especially in the Asian American context."
List of Awards and Nominations:
2016:
Entertainment Weekly's The Best Comic Books of the Year - Winner
Eisner Award Best Writer - Nominee
Eisner Award Best New Series - Nominee
2017:
Bram Stocker Graphic Novel - Nominee
British Fantasy Award Best Comic/Graphic Novel - Winner
Eisner Award Best Publication for Teens (ages 13–17) - Nominee
Eisner Award Best Painter/Multimedia Artist (interior art) - Nominee
Eisner Award Best Cover Artist - Nominee
Hugo Award Best Graphic Story - Winner
2018:
Barnes & Noble's Best Books of the Year - Winner
Bram Stocker Superior Achievement in a Graphic Novel - Nominee
British Fantasy Award Best Comic/Graphic Novel - Winner
Eisner Award Best Writer - Winner
Eisner Award Best Painter/Multimedia Artist (interior art) - Winner
Eisner Award Best Continuing Series - Winner
Eisner Award Best Publication for Teens (ages 13-17) - Winner
Eisner Award Best Cover Artist - Winner
Entertainment Weekly's The Best Comic Books of the Year - Winner
Harvey Award Book of the Year - Winner
Hugo Award Best Graphic Story - Winner
Hugo Award Best Professional Artist - Winner
Newsweek's Best Comic Books of the Year - Winner
The Washington Post's 10 Best Graphic Novels of the Year
Powell's Best Science-Fiction, Fantasy, Horror, and Graphic Novels of the Year
Thrillist's Best Comics & Graphic Novels of the Year
YALSA's Great Graphic Novels for Teens
Sana Tekada (left) and Marjorie Liu (right) at Lucca Comics and Games, picture via Instagram sanatakeda_art
2019:
Bram Stocker Superior Achievement in a Graphic Novel - Nominee
Hugo Award Best Graphic Story - Winner
YALSA's Great Graphic Novels for Teens
2020:
Hugo Award Best Graphic Story - Nominee
2021:
Hugo Award Best Graphic Story - Pending
Scroll down to see some of ACENet's picks for children and adult books in various categories. Note that most of the books fall into multiple categories and can be used for a multitude of purposes.
Click the book covers to see a short description of the book. Use the arrows to navigate between the books listed in a category. Books are sectioned into two rows: 1) Children/Adolescent audience, and 2) Mature audiences.
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