I read a very cool historical picture book over the weekend, Landed, by Milly Lee. It's the story of Lee's father-in-law and the rules that governed the immigration of Chinese people to the U.S. in the early part of the 20th century. I had no idea that Chinese immigrant children were tested on their family history in order to prove that they really belonged to the families that claimed them. It's odd to me that we cared so much - if someone was willing to send their child to the U.S. as part of an immigrating family then why did it matter? If you have one son or two sons or three why do we care so much? And the tests were insane - I doubt any average kid could pass them. It's a really interesting book - and gorgeously illustrated by Yangsook Choi. I would recommend it for older kids, say around 7 or 8 as the text is indepth and the subject matter a little complicated. But I do recommend it, and I'll be including it in both my picture book round-up for Eclectica next month and my April column at Bookslut (which will be on historical fiction for YAs.)

Landed got me to thinking about picture books and the age groups they are targeted for. I think a lot of parents leave the picture book section behind when children get through kindergarten and start reading - they tend to look for early readers and that sort of thing. But really most picture books could apply to an older age and a book like Landed is certainly for 7 - 10 year olds. And the pictures are so lovely - they just make the book a more pleasurable read.

In the past couple of days, I read Landed and so did my Mom and Aunt and none of use knew about this part of history. What does it mean when three adults all learn something vital and interesting from a picture book? Pretty wild on the one hand, but if we had been reading these kinds of books all along (as kids) then we would have known something about it anyway. It just goes to show that the picture book section really is not just for preschoolers (and fans of Dr. Seuss).

I have a new book review up at the Voices of New Orleans. It's about the lovely essay collection, My New Orleans. Take a look at the site and certainly get your hands on the book if you can. Half the profits go to NOLA writers, and lord knows they could use the help.

Tomorrow - hopefully - a February update on the 75 Books project. I'm close to finishing book #30. I'll run the titles and short reviews as well as a breakdown on YA vs adult books. I think I did pretty good this go-round.

Oh - and very cool news - my review of The Ice Museum was a starred review in the latest issue of Booklist. It's an excellent history of the mythical land of Thule and all about northern worlds, the lure of the Arctic and, well, Hitler and Greenland and famous writers, and you just have to check it out. Consider it cultural history at its finest and very very well done.