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National Education Association's Asian American Booklist
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Love as Strong as Ginger
by Lenore LookIn this touching storybook, Katie experiences her Chinese grandmother's hard life when she spends a day with her at work at a crab cannery. She sees her "GninGnin" laboring from sun up to sundown to earn just enough money for bus fare, dinner, and a bit left over to help her granddaughter go to college. Katie also catches the twinkle in her grandmother's eye and realizes that she has inherited the strength to fulfill the dreams her grandmother has for her.
In the Year of the Boar and Jackie Robinson
by Bette Bao LordA young Chinese girl in 1947 comes to Brooklyn and discovers her love for baseball while adjusting to new life in America.
Chinese Cinderella
by Adeline Yen MahA riveting memoir of a girl's painful coming-of-age in a wealthy Chinese family during the 1940s.A Chinese proverb says, "Falling leaves return to their roots." In Chinese Cinderella, Adeline Yen Mah returns to her roots to tell the story of her painful childhood and her ultimate triumph and courage in the face of despair. Adeline's affluent, powerful family considers her bad luck after her mother dies giving birth to her. Life does not get any easier when her father remarries. She and her siblings are subjected to the disdain of her stepmother, while her stepbrother and stepsister are spoiled. Although Adeline wins prizes at school, they are not enough to compensate for what she really yearns for -- the love and understanding of her family.Following the success of the critically acclaimed adult bestseller Falling Leaves, this memoir is a moving telling of the classic Cinderella story, with Adeline Yen Mah providing her own courageous voice. Includes 6-page photo insert.From the Hardcover edition.
My Chinatown
by Kam MakChinatown -- a place of dragons and dreams; fireflies and memories Chinatown -- full of wonder and magic; fireworks on New Year's Day and a delicious smell on every corner Chinatown -- where every day brings something familiar and something wondrously new to a small boy Chinatown -- home? Kam Mak grew up in a place of two cultures, one existing within the other. Using moving poems, he shares a year of growing up in this small city within a city, which is called Chinatown.
Baseball Saved Us
by Ken MochizukiA Japanese American boy learns to play baseball when he and his family are forced to live in an internment camp during World War II, and his ability to play helps him after the war is over.
Beacon Hill Boys
by Ken MochizukiIn 1972 Seattle, a teenager in a Japanese American family struggles for his own identity, along with a group of three friends who share his anger and confusion.
Shizuko's Daughter
by Kyoko MoriShizuko commits suicide to avoid being a hindrance to her husbands affair. Yuki, her daughter, grows up without the love of a mother but lives with the memories of her mother. The story brings out the struggles and achievements of Yuki.
Yell-Oh Girls! Emerging Voices Explore Culture, Identity, and Growing Up Asian American
by Vickie NamThe collection includes 80 brief selections (most are under three pages) by budding writers between 15 and 22 years of age, from all over the country.
The Land I Lost
by Huynh Quang NhuongA collection of personal reminiscences of the author's youth in a hamlet on the central highlands of Vietnam.
When the Emperor Was Divine
by Julie OtsukaFrom the bestselling, award-winning author of The Buddha in the Attic and The Swimmers, this commanding debut novel paints a portrait of the Japanese American incarceration camps that is both a haunting evocation of a family in wartime and a resonant lesson for our times.On a sunny day in Berkeley, California, in 1942, a woman sees a sign in a post office window, returns to her home, and matter-of-factly begins to pack her family's possessions. Like thousands of other Japanese Americans they have been reclassified, virtually overnight, as enemy aliens and are about to be uprooted from their home and sent to a dusty incarceration camp in the Utah desert. In this lean and devastatingly evocative first novel, Julie Otsuka tells their story from five flawlessly realized points of view and conveys the exact emotional texture of their experience: the thin-walled barracks and barbed-wire fences, the omnipresent fear and loneliness, the unheralded feats of heroism. When the Emperor Was Divine is a work of enormous power that makes a shameful episode of our history as immediate as today's headlines.
Seesaw Girl
by Linda Sue Park and Mou-Sien Tseng and Jean TsengJade never ventures beyond the walls of her family's Inner Court; in seventeenth-century Korea, a girl of good family does not leave home until she marries. She is enthralled by her older brother's stories about trips to the market and to the ancestral grave sites in the mountains, about reading and painting, about his conversations with their father about business and politics and adventures only boys can have. Jade accepts her destiny, and yet she is endlessly curious about what lies beyond the walls. A lively story with a vividly realized historical setting, "Seesaw Girl" recounts Jade Blossom's daring attempts to enlarge her world.
A Single Shard
by Linda Sue ParkIn this Newbery Medal-winning book set in 12th century Korea, Tree-ear, a 13-year-old orphan, lives under a bridge in Ch'ulp'o, a potters' village famed for delicate celadon ware. He has become fascinated with the potter's craft; he wants nothing more than to watch master potter Min at work, and he dreams of making a pot of his own someday.
When Min takes Tree-ear on as his helper, Tree-ear is elated -- until he finds obstacles in his path: the backbreaking labor of digging and hauling clay, Min's irascible temper, and his own ignorance. But Tree-ear is determined to prove himself -- even if it means taking a long, solitary journey on foot to present Min's work in the hope of a royal commission... even if it means arriving at the royal court with nothing to show but a single celadon shard.
Rebels of the Heavenly Kingdom
by Katherine PatersonNewbery Medal author Paterson presents the story of Wang Lee, the young son of starving peasants in 1850's China. Seized by bandits and carried away from home during the Taiping Rebellion, Wang Lee meets Mai Lin when members of her undercover society save him from his captors.
Allison
by Allen SayWhen Allison tries on her new red kimono and looks in the mirror, she suddenly realizes that she looks more like her favorite doll, Mei Mei, than her parents. Where did Mei Mei come from? Where do I come from?" Allison asks. "Far, far away -- from another country; Father says."Mother and I went there and brought you and Mei Mei home with us." But Allison is confused. At daycare the next day, she refuses to climb the monkey bars or play tag with the other children, and alone in her room that night she asks Mei Mei, "Allison isn't my real name. Do you know what it is?" But the only answer is the cry of a stray cat looking in her window. Through evocative watercolors and understated prose, Caldecott Medalist Allen Say creates a moving statement on families, adoption, and the search for belonging.
The Bicycle Man
by Allen SayThe amazing tricks two American soldiers do on a borrowed bicycle are a fitting finale for the school sports day festivities in a small village in occupied Japan. Includes picture descriptions.
El Chino
by Allen SayA biography of Bill Wong, a Chinese American who became a famous bullfighter in Spain.
Emma's Rug
by Allen SayFrom the book: When Emma is born, she is given a small rug. Mother lays it by the crib, for the day the baby can stand on her feet. By the time Emma climbs out of the crib, no one can remember who gave her the rug. As soon as she can hold a pencil, Emma begins to draw. Her parents are impressed by her mysterious talent. She wins top prizes in the first grade art contest and a citywide competition. Then one day at school Emma refuses to draw. "Do you feel all right?" the teacher asks. Emma only nods and pushes the box of crayons away. Without her beloved rug, Emma believes that she cannot draw. As the story takes an unusual turn, Emma finds her way back to the easel where she has had so much fun. Other books by allen Say are available from Bookshare.
Grandfather's Journey
by Allen SayA picture book masterpiece from Caldecott medal winner Allen Say. Lyrical, breathtaking, splendid--words used to describe Allen Say's Grandfather's Journey when it was first published. At once deeply personal yet expressing universally held emotions, this tale of one man's love for two countries and his constant desire to be in both places captures readers' attention and hearts. Images and descriptions available.
The Ink-Keeper's Apprentice
by Allen SayA fourteen-year-old boy lives on his own in Tokyo and becomes apprenticed to a famous Japanese cartoonist.
The Sign Painter
by Allen SayIn his Caldecott acceptance speech for GRANDFATHER'S JOURNEY, Allen Say told of his difficulty in separating his dreams from reality. For him this separation was not as important as finding a meaning behind the contradictions and choices we all must make in life and their consequences.
Early one morning a boy comes into town, hungry, and looking for work. He meets a sign painter who takes him on as a helper. The boy yearns to be a painter. The man offers him security. The two are commissioned to paint a series of billboards in the desert. Each billboard has one word, Arrowstar. They do not know its meaning. As they are about to paint the last sign, the boy looks up and sees in the distance a magnificent structure. Is it real? They go to find out.
Through a simple text and extraordinary paintings, the reader learns of the temptation of safe choices and the uncertainties of following a personal dream. Here Allen Say tells a haunting and provocative story of dreams and choices for readers of all ages.
[This text is listed as an example that meets Common Core Standards in English language arts in grades 2-3 at http://www.corestandards.org.]
Stranger in the Mirror
by Allen SayOne morning eight-year-old Martin looks in the mirror and sees a stranger. Overnight, he has changed. His parents take him to one doctor after another, only to be told that there is nothing wrong with their son. At school his teacher asks, "What have we here, trick or treat?" His classmates will not play with him. At home his family tries to treat him as if he were the same child. But things now are different. Martin has grown very old in the space of one day. His world will never be the same again.
Tea with Milk
by Allen SayAt home in San Francisco, May speaks Japanese and the family eats rice and miso soup and drinks green tea. When she visits her friends' homes, she eats fried chicken and spaghetti. May plans someday to go to college and live in an apartment of her own. But when her family moves back to Japan, she soon feels lost and homesick for America. In Japan everyone calls her by her Japanese name, Masako. She has to wear kimonos and sit on the floor. Poor May is sure that she will never feel at home in this country. Eventually May is expected to marry and a matchmaker is hired. Outraged at the thought, May sets out to find her own way in the big city of Osaka. Allen Say has created a moving tribute to his parents and their path to discovering where home really is.
Lion Dancer
by Kate Waters and Madeline Slovenz-LowDescribes six-year-old Ernie Wong's preparations, at home and in school, for the Chinese New Year celebrations and his first public performance of the lion dance.
The Filipino Americans
by Jennifer SternDiscusses the history, culture, and religion of the Filipinos, factors encouraging their emigration; and their acceptance as an ethnic group in North America.
The Joy Luck Club
by Amy TanAmy Tan’s beloved, New York Times bestselling tale of mothers and daughters
Four mothers, four daughters, four families whose histories shift with the four winds depending on who's "saying" the stories. In 1949 four Chinese women, recent immigrants to San Francisco, begin meeting to eat dim sum, play mahjong, and talk. United in shared unspeakable loss and hope, they call themselves the Joy Luck Club. Rather than sink into tragedy, they choose to gather to raise their spirits and money. "To despair was to wish back for something already lost. Or to prolong what was already unbearable." Forty years later the stories and history continue.
With wit and sensitivity, Amy Tan examines the sometimes painful, often tender, and always deep connection between mothers and daughters. As each woman reveals her secrets, trying to unravel the truth about her life, the strings become more tangled, more entwined. Mothers boast or despair over daughters, and daughters roll their eyes even as they feel the inextricable tightening of their matriarchal ties. Tan is an astute storyteller, enticing readers to immerse themselves into these lives of complexity and mystery.