The Barefoot Serpent

Author: Scott Morse

First line: He cam from an old samurai family, but Akira liked to paint.

Why you should read this book: A children's biography of acclaimed director Akira Kurosawa frames a story about a little girl coping with the death of her brother in a tale that is all at once dark, mystical, and uplifting. Kurosawa's life story, told in simple sentences with colorful images, bookends the black and white drawings of a child whose broken family has traveled to Hawaii in an effort to heal from a child's untimely death. When the little girl hears ghostly drummers haunting the coast, she embarks on a day-long adventure with a young mask-maker that helps to exorcise her own ghosts.

Why you shouldn't read this book: You don't confront death; you simply ignore it.