Monday, July 25, 2016

International District/Chinatown

Yikes! It must be summer in Seattle, because although I've been reading, it hasn't been raining much -- and I'm really late in making this post!

A few weeks ago, I was in the International District to do double duty. First, I visited the ID/Chinatown branch library, where they're now open from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. every Friday. To celebrate, Seattle Public Library has a Find it on Friday game featuring cool trading cards. I won't spoil the surprise ... you need to go check it out yourself ... but here's a photo of a marvelous tea cup display on the wall.

On my way out, I noticed that a book I have, Baseball Saved Us by Ken Mochizuki, was on prominent display. (I got a signed copy from Ken 22 years ago while living in Idaho. The book is about how exiled Japanese-Americans used baseball to pass the time at the Minidoka Internment Camp there during World War II.)

From the library, I headed to a release party-book signing for the new graphic novel, Walk Don't Run, by my friend Dale Hom, a lifelong friend of Ken's, who also was at the book launch. Small world! So here's a photo of Dale (right), Ken (center), and my buddy Rebecca Hom. Yay, Dale!

Walk Don't Run is a fun and thought-provoking read about growing up Asian in Seattle. I'm sure it, too, will soon be available at Seattle Public Library branches -- and you can order a copy of your own via Third Place Books.