New Release Books by Matt Faulkner

“Evocative prose and illustrations bring to life…[the] heart-wrenching decisions and considerations that Japanese Americans had to face…[and] their endurance, sacrifices, and resilience, even as their loyalty was questioned without cause.” —Susan H. Kamei, author of When Can We Go Back to America? Told in a brilliant blend of prose and graphic novel, this unforgettable middle grade story about a Japanese American family during World War II is written and illustrated by Asian/Pacific American Award for Literature winner Matt Faulkner. Manzanar is nothing like home. Yet the relocation center is where Mari and her family have to live, now that the government has decided that Japanese Americans aren’t American enough. Determined to prove them wrong, Mari’s brother Mak has joined the army and is heading off to war. In protest, Mari has stopped talking for the duration of the war. Or at least until Mak comes home safe. Still, Mari has no trouble expressing herself through her drawings. Mak, too, expresses himself in his letters home, first from training camp and later from the front lines of World War II, where he is fighting with the 442nd Regimental Combat Team. But while his letters are reassuring, reality is not: Mak is facing danger at every turn, from racism within the army to violence on the battlefield. In turns humorous and heartbreaking, Mari and Mak’s story will stick with readers long after the last page.

With a white mother and a Japanese father, Koji Miyamoto quickly realizes that his home in San Francisco is no longer a welcoming one after Pearl Harbor is attacked. And once he's sent to an internment camp, he learns that being half white at the camp is just as difficult as being half Japanese on the streets of an American city during WWII. Koji's story, based on true events, is brought to life by Matt Faulkner's cinematic illustrations that reveal Koji struggling to find his place in a tumultuous world-one where he is a prisoner of war in his own country.

Some Online Copy

Bushi is menaced by the bullies who call themselves Bullfrogs. One day, when he's running away from them, he hides in a dojo (karate school), where he sees a belt that once belonged to a karate master hanging on the wall. When he tries on the belt, he trips on it, falls, and hits his head. Upon awakening, he discovers he's been transported back in time and he's in a long-ago dojo where everyone seems to know him! There he hears about a dangerous bandit hiding in the hills and is grateful for the company of the two best students on his walk home. But when the bandit ambushes the two, Bushi learns firsthand that in karate, the winner is not necessarily the strongest fighter but may be the smartest fighter. It's a lesson he eventually takes back home and puts into practice when the Bullfrogs come after him one last time.

When the son of notorious Irish pirate queen Granny O'Malley is captured by the English, Granny tries to meet with Queen Elizabeth I to negotiate for his freedom.

Fairy tale about clever Jack, who climbs a beanstalk and outwits a hungry giant.