1 . Thanks to my K-drama obsession (痴迷), I’ve started learning Korean, I have a new favorite actor Lee Dong Wook, and I’ve become increasingly curious about Korean folktales. I was familiar with the Rabbit in the Moon and the Gumiho, but the Snail Bride and the Imugi were new to me. I also did not know about “The Tale of Shim Cheong”, where the beautiful daughter of a blind man throws herself into the sea and is taken to the underwater palace of the Dragon King. Axie Oh’s deliciously lovely novel The Girl Who Fell Beneath the Sea is based on this tale, so I was very excited to learn more.

In this retelling, the perfect Shim Cheong is intended to be the Sea God’s hundredth bride. She will be his final bride, the locals say, bringing peace to both the angry god and the village that has been stuck by violent storms for a century. But as Oh’s story opens, a young man named Joon has lost his heart to Cheong and is about to risk everything to stop the sacrifice. To save the life of her brother, Joon’s 16-year-old sister Mina jumps into the sea at the last minute and gives herself to the Sea God instead.

Throughout the story are woven the timeless topics of faith, hope, responsibility, and loyalty to one’s family. And of course one of my favorite themes in all of literature: fate (命运) versus free will. What is it that determines our fate? If our path is truly one of our own makings, do we trust ourselves enough to make the “right” choices? What if we find our goals changing as we go along?

And if you, like me, have fallen hard in love with the legends woven into fantastic dramas like Hotel Del Luna and Tale of the Nine-Tailed, you’ll want to get your hands on The Girl Who Fell Beneath the Sea immediately and keep it in a special place on your bookshelf, for the express purpose of enjoying Axie Oh’s magical tale again and again!

2 . Nasugraq Rainey Hopson is an author and illustrator (插图画家). She has written short stories and made art inspired by her Iñupiaq culture. The Iñupiaq people are native to Alaska, the US. Hopson’s first and only novel to date, Eagle Drums, is set in Iñupiaq tales about a great festival. The great festival is still celebrated locally today.

In the book, the hero Pina struggles with the suffering from losing his brothers, who have traveled to a nearby mountain and never returned. Pina decides to go to the same mountain, trying to uncover the facts, where he happens to meet Savik, who gives Pina a choice: To follow him or to meet the same fortune as his brothers. Pina’s decision takes himself on a journey that exposes himself to the dances and songs that are part of Iñupiaq culture. Eagle Drums describes aspects of Iñupiaq life as a world that doesn’t exist much in the current world, such as walking in the tundra (苔原) and imagining mythological beings and talking animals everywhere. It will definitely inspire the teen magical thinking in its beauty.

Hopson wants to write more Iñupiaq stories. “We have a lot of oral history and stories in our culture,” she says. Hopson explains that Iñupiaq people use their voices, facial expressions and movements to express emotions as they tell a story. “But you can’t do that when you’re writing,” she says. “It’s very uncomfortable, in a way, to have to write down something that is a performance.” But she’s up for the challenge.

Eagle Drums is for anyone who is looking for a vivid adventure. Hopson says that when Iñupiaq kids read her work, they get excited about seeing something from their own area and their own culture. Other kids who read her work tell Hopson they’re excited about experiencing a story they’ve never experienced before in a new place. “You know, that’s the best part, hearing feedbacks,” she says.

3 . Elizabeth Sherrill is a long-time writer. For 70 years, her stories about faith, her experiences of traveling the world and dealing with depression (抑郁,沮丧) have been a beacon (灯塔) of light for many people. Check out some of her articles and let her words affect your heart.

A Letter on Depression

My struggle with depression hasn’t totally disappeared. It still surrounds me from time to time, blocking light and making it hard to smile. But the suffering no longer makes me frightened, because I keep telling myself to be positive.

An Angel Named Maria

“A baby was born here and no one knows what to do,” the doctor said into the telephone. He went on to explain that the mother had disappeared from the hospital after seeing the disabled baby. “She will not live long,” the doctor continued. “Bring us the baby,” answered Sister Marie Patrice at the other end of the line, who ran a day nursery.

Lessons from Abraham Lincoln

When I turned to leave, the picture over the door stopped me. It was a black-and-white photo: a tall, thin man with his hand on a table and with the saddest, most pain-filled face I’d ever seen.

The letters on the frame said “Abraham Lincoln”. He won every wrestling match and told funny stories that crowds would gather to enjoy. Over time, that picture made him more important to me than ever.

A Lesson while Moving

I stood looking out the kitchen window wondering how John and I could ever leave this house. We’d lived here for 50 years. Under the maple tree was the garden where we grew tomatoes that never ripened. There was the stump (树桩) of the cedar (雪松) we cut down to make room for our daughter’s wedding reception.

4 . Praised writer Jessica Khoury was only four years old when she began to write. Today, she has printed several books for young people, including The Mystwick School of Musicraft Series, The Corpus Trilogy, and The Forbidden Wish. Her latest novel is called The Ruby Code.

I recently spoke with Khoury about her new science fiction (小说) for middle-graders. The book, she told me from her home in South Carolina, is for anybody who has ever thought, “What would it be like for a video game world to come to life?”

Set in a future New York City, the book is, in Khoury’s words, “a high-action scary book.” Readers are introduced to 13-year-old Ash, a silent young gamer. His life circles around his love for virtual (虚拟的) reality games. They offer a chance to stay away from his bad stepfather and the cold-hearted people who laugh at him.

Ash’s life takes an unexpected turn when he is given a small metal box after helping a man in need. It contains an old-style video game called “The Glass Realm”. To his surprise, Ash meets a character named Ruby who was created by artificial intelligence (AI). Her abilities are so huge that she can even rewrite the game.

Ruby’s secret knowledge leads Ash on a painful but exciting adventure. At last, he is able to learn the truth behind a dishonest company.

In The Ruby Code, Khoury seeks the advantages and disadvantages of rapid technological progress. Like many people, she wonders how AI will change life.

“As a writer,” Khoury said, “I think all the time about how long it will be before the robots take my job. But I’m not a person who’s scared of technology. I like to consider not just the worst-case situation but also the best-case situation.”

5 . Black Beauty by Anna Sewell is a great book that has attracted young and old readers for over a century. Its long-lasting popularity shows Sewell’s skillful storytelling and the great message at the novel’s heart.

Through the eyes of Black Beauty, readers are sent to a world filled with trouble, pity, and hope. Sewell’s choice to tell the story from the horse’s viewpoint (角度) was a new method which made it easier for future writers to explore the thoughts of animals. The main ideas in the novel are just as important today as they were in the Victorian times.

Black Beauty is a lovely black horse that begins as a carriage (马车) horse, but when he is hurt, his rich owner decides that he is no longer good enough to be a carriage horse. From that moment, he is passed from owner to owner and goes through lots of hard work. Even though many unpleasant things happen to Black Beauty at the hands of unkind humans, he lives up to his name both outside and inside.

This story of his life from birth to old age is beautifully descriptive. Everything from his active days as a baby horse on a farm to a hard life pulling carriages on stone roads in London can be readily pictured in the readers’mind. Each part carries an important message about animal well-being, kindness, and respect, and is filled with plenty of page-turning suspense (悬念).

This Collector’s Edition of Black Beauty shows respect for this beloved book. Each part of the book has been carefully considered. From the drawings on the cover to the colored blocking, this is truly one-of-a-kind. The matching colored endpapers add an extra touch of luxury (奢侈), making it the perfect addition to any collector’s library and a great chance to experience the story that will reach your heart and stay with you forever.

6 . If you want to understand China but can’t afford an expensive international flight, these four books can give you a complete overview of the country.

River Town

River Town: Two Years on the Yangtze by Peter Hessler-This book is a journal of the author’s two years spent teaching English in a small town called Fuling, situated on the banks of the Yangtze River. Hessler writes about his experiences living in a foreign culture and observing the lives of the town’s residents. The book was published in 2001 and has won several awards, including the Kiriyama Prize.

Deng Xiaoping and the Transformation of China

It is a book that tells the story of China’s modernization. It was written by Ezra Vogel and published in 2011. The author describes how Deng Xiaoping’s policies led to significant changes in China’s economy and society. The book has received critical honors and won the Lionel Gelber Prize In 2012.

The Search for Modern China by Jonathan Spence

This book is a comprehensive history of China from the Ming dynasty to the present day. The author, a prominent scholar of Chinese history, provides a detailed analysis of the social, cultural, and political changes that have taken place in China over the past 500 years. The book was first put out in 1990 and has since been revised and updated several times. This book was the top bestseller for years.

Factory Girls: From Village to City in a Changing China

Written by Leslie T. Chang, this book, published in 2008, is reportage on the lives of young women who leave their rural homes to work in factories in China’s cities. Chang, a former New York Times correspondent (someone who is employed by a newspaper or a television station etc. to report news from a particular area or on a particular subject), interviewed hundreds of factory girls to provide insight into the social and economic changes in China.

7 . How to Read a Poem

You’ve selected the poem you want to read — congratulations! Now it’s time for the business of reading it.

Examine the title and the shape

    1     — how does it make you feel? How does the title fit the shape of the poem? If the title is sad, let the shape of the poem inform the small difference of the emotion — if it’s short and sparse (稀疏的), maybe it’s coming from a place of desolation or desperation.     2    .

Read the poem as you normally read anything

Reading poetry doesn’t require a clever approach; you can read as you’d read anything else. On the first pass through, absorb whatever it is that arises upon first impression.     3    , maybe your stomach churns (恶心) at a particular phrase, or you hold your breath at a certain line. Explore the feelings that come up as you read.

    4    

Next, try reading the poem out loud or search for readings of the poem online. This is where the music of a poem emerges, and you can feel the shape of each word and line as you move through it.

Add context to paint a full picture

Finally, return to the poem context.     5    ; look at the publication date and consider the world around the poem when it was first released. Consider where the poem lives: Was it released as part of the author’s poetry book, or was it published in a literary magazine? From these details and materials you will get a deeper understanding of the poem.

8 . An Excerpt from The Mexican

—by Jack London

A mysterious youth came to the America—based Mexican Revolutionary Committee, requesting for its admission.

Nobody knew his history. The first day he drifted into their busy rooms, they all suspected him of being a spy of the Diaz regime(迪亚兹政权), which had been carrying out the dictatorial rule since 1876.

Boy as he was, he announced that he was Felipe Rivera, and he wished to work for the revolution. The revolutionists looked at each other with doubt in their eyes. And what made revolutionists the most confused was Rivera’s whereabouts—he always came back with his arms or legs seriously injured, dressed in ragged clothes. So what had he been doing recently? Everyone in the Revolutionary Committee started to take precautions against him.

The situation changed totally when the Committee was in bad need of funds. Much to their surprise, such a slender boy should have successively brought them batches of gold and silver coins. Then came the most urgent situation where 5, 000 dollars were needed to buy guns for those revolutionists on standby on the border between the US and the Mexico. Rivera stood out and made a promise that he would give them 5,000 dollars within three weeks.

So, how could he get so much money within such a short period of time?

Rivera was determined to help his people at the cost of his life. He fought against stronger and tougher boxers in the ring to make money for his people. One day he was engaged in a very tough fight against a champion boxer, Danny. Rivera didn’t match Danny in height, weight, or skills. And he was not half as popular. However, “The winner takes all!” And Rivera stubbornly asked for all—all he had on his mind was making the money for his people.

The fight was going on and on. The whole stadium was cheering for Danny; there were few on Rivera’s side. However, Rivera survived one blow after another; his excellent defence was frightening.

Danny rushed, forcing Rivera to give him a clinch. Was it a trick? Rivera thought to himself.

Yes, it was. But Rivera was smart enough to avoid it. He backed and circled away.

He pretended to clinch with Danny’s next rush. Instead, at the last instant, just as their bodies should have come together, Rivera went quickly back. He had fooled him!

While Rivera was dancing away, Danny kept challenging him openly. Having run after him for two rounds, Danny found the boy not even daring to come near him. He started to throw all caution to the winds. Rivera was struck again and again. He took blows by the dozen—just to avoid the deadly clinch.

In the seventeenth round, Rivera, hit heavily, bent down. His hands dropped helplessly. Danny thought it was his chance—the boy was at his mercy. He decided to strike the deadly blow. But before he could do that, Rivera caught him off his guard and hit him in the mouth. Danny went down. When he rose, Rivera gave him another blow on the neck and jaw. He repeated this three times.

Danny did not rise again. The audience shouted for him to stand up. But the miracle did not happen.

“Count!” Rivera cried to the referee. When the count was finished, Danny, gathered up by his assistants, was carried to his corner.

“Who wins?” Rivera demanded.

Unwillingly, the referee caught his gloved hand and held it high up.

Rivera, unattended, walked to his corner, where his assistants had not yet placed his stool. He didn’t care. All he could remember was that he had got the $5,000 he needed. “The winner takes all! ” What mattered to him was that________.

9 . Poetry Writing Contest

Deadline: November 30th

Results: Announced on December 31st

Prizes: Win $ 1,600 in prize money

Guest judges: Ken Liu, Brian Evenson, and Faylita Hicks

Your poetry can be laid out as you wish, as we understand that form often relates to the effect of a poem. However, please be sure to stick to a maximum of 3 pages per poem.

We accept works, written in English, from anywhere in the world. But we don’t accept works previously published elsewhere.

Writers over the age of thirteen are welcome to participate. Please note that if you’re aged 13-16 and your work is selected for publication, we’ll require a signature from a parent or a guardian.

Please include your name and contact information in your cover letter only and remove any identifying information from both the submitted work and the file name.

We edit every piece accepted for publication whether your work is selected for publication through our online blog or in our print magazine. For this cooperative process we’ll pair you with one of our senior editors. All our editors have been trained to help guide the development of each piece to reach its fullest potential in keeping with the author’s vision. This doesn’t mean we’ll take on a wild jumble of words and half-formed thoughts.

The contest reserves the right to NOT award a winner if the submissions don’t reach a publishable standard. In this case, the winner won’t be announced. Although this has rarely come to pass in our six-year publishing history, our top priority must remain with the quality of the work we publish.