With more land, people, and voices than any other continent, Asia has an especially colorful literary presence. Explore these resonant folktales, heartbreaking immigrant stories, and luscious emotional landscapes.
Picture Books
Filled with conflicting emotions, a Vietnamese girl works with her classmates to try to bring her mother to the United States.
The Empress and the Silkworm by Lily Toy Hong
Wrap yourself in this 5,000-year-old legend about an empress who first imagines the lowly silkworm’s thread as a luxurious, beautiful cloth.
Hush! A Thai Lullaby by Minfong Ho
A mother begs a mosquito, water buffalo, and other animals to let her baby sleep in this striking and surprising Caldecott Honor book.
Lon Po Po: A Red-Riding Hood Story from China by Ed Young
Translated as “Wolf Grandmother,” this Caldecott Award-winning book retells the familiar story in a wondrous Chinese terrain.
Moonbeams, Dumplings, and Dragonboats: A Treasury of Chinese Holiday Tales, Activities, and Recipes by Nina Simonds, Leslie Swartz, and the Children’s Museum, Boston
Learn Chinese culture, one celebration at a time. A great book for bedrooms, classrooms, and kitchens.
How come there are few tigers and many birds? This book answers that question in beautiful, clever fashion.
Roses Sing on New Snow: A Delicious Tale by Paul Yee
Discover how a Chinese-American girl proves her worth with a dish that awes a visiting statesman and puts her lazy brothers in their rightful places.
The Song of Mu Lan by Jeanne M. Lee
Luminous watercolors and an elegant translation bring this ancient Chinese poem to dazzling life.
Zen Shorts by Jon J Muth
Western and Japanese art and life fuse in this story of three siblings and a philosophical panda bear.
Chapter Books
Part Cinderella story, part survival tale, this book combines gold slippers and wish-granting ancestors with the familial and societal pressures of ancient China.
The Conch Bearer by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni
Travel from Calcutta to the Himalayas in this lush and introspective adventure of an Indian boy and his mission to return a mystical shell to its proper home.
Millicent Min, Girl Genius by Lisa Yee
Tease your brain and your funny bone with an 11-year-old Chinese genius.
Monsoon Summer by Mitali Perkins
Spend an unexpectedly enlightening summer with a girl on her visit to India.
Kira-Kira by Cynthia Kadohata
This Newbery Award-winning book is a moving depiction of a 1950s Japanese family struggling with loss and belonging.
12/6/06
©2010 Jx3. All Rights Reserved.
With more land, people, and voices than any other continent, Asia has an especially colorful literary presence. Explore these resonant folktales, heartbreaking immigrant stories, and luscious emotional landscapes.
Picture Books
Filled with conflicting emotions, a Vietnamese girl works with her classmates to try to bring her mother to the United States.
The Empress and the Silkworm by Lily Toy Hong
Wrap yourself in this 5,000-year-old legend about an empress who first imagines the lowly silkworm’s thread as a luxurious, beautiful cloth.
Hush! A Thai Lullaby by Minfong Ho
A mother begs a mosquito, water buffalo, and other animals to let her baby sleep in this striking and surprising Caldecott Honor book.
Lon Po Po: A Red-Riding Hood Story from China by Ed Young
Translated as “Wolf Grandmother,” this Caldecott Award-winning book retells the familiar story in a wondrous Chinese terrain.
Moonbeams, Dumplings, and Dragonboats: A Treasury of Chinese Holiday Tales, Activities, and Recipes by Nina Simonds, Leslie Swartz, and the Children’s Museum, Boston
Learn Chinese culture, one celebration at a time. A great book for bedrooms, classrooms, and kitchens.
How come there are few tigers and many birds? This book answers that question in beautiful, clever fashion.
Roses Sing on New Snow: A Delicious Tale by Paul Yee
Discover how a Chinese-American girl proves her worth with a dish that awes a visiting statesman and puts her lazy brothers in their rightful places.
The Song of Mu Lan by Jeanne M. Lee
Luminous watercolors and an elegant translation bring this ancient Chinese poem to dazzling life.
Zen Shorts by Jon J Muth
Western and Japanese art and life fuse in this story of three siblings and a philosophical panda bear.
Chapter Books
Part Cinderella story, part survival tale, this book combines gold slippers and wish-granting ancestors with the familial and societal pressures of ancient China.
The Conch Bearer by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni
Travel from Calcutta to the Himalayas in this lush and introspective adventure of an Indian boy and his mission to return a mystical shell to its proper home.
Millicent Min, Girl Genius by Lisa Yee
Tease your brain and your funny bone with an 11-year-old Chinese genius.
Monsoon Summer by Mitali Perkins
Spend an unexpectedly enlightening summer with a girl on her visit to India.
Kira-Kira by Cynthia Kadohata
This Newbery Award-winning book is a moving depiction of a 1950s Japanese family struggling with loss and belonging.
12/6/06
From the Editors: April is National Child Abuse Prevention Month — a great time to educate ourselves about how to keep children safe from abuse. DreamTeamShannonR volunteers on her children’s school district’s sexual abuse prevention team and is the author of an award-winning children’s picture book about childhood sexual abuse, NOT IN ROOM 204.
My 13-year-old daughter Sabrina came home after school one day and told me that a teacher had said something that made her feel “weird.” Rather than panicking, we decided to use the experience as a “safety drill” to talk about what had made her feel uncomfortable.
We discussed what he said (“Hey, babe!”), the context (passing in the hall), and if he had ever said or done anything else to make her feel uncomfortable (he hadn’t). We also talked about why this incident made Sabrina feel so “weird.” She said it was just that “babe” isn’t something teachers usually say. Finally, we agreed that she would tell me if anything else happened that caused her alarm.
Months later, it turned out that incident was a fluke, one-time-only comment, and that nothing troubling was going on with this teacher. What pleased me most was that Sabrina knew what to do — and did it — when something uncomfortable popped up on her radar screen.
At age-appropriate levels, I have given my children the information they need to keep them safe from sexual abuse, and to know what to do if sexual abuse happens to them. Through the years, I’ve taught them about names of body parts and human sexuality, instructed them not to speak with or go anywhere with strangers, explained what childhood sexual abuse is, and assured them that no matter what anyone else tells them, they should always tell me if something happens to them.
At first, I worried that teaching my children about sexual abuse would rob them of their innocence. I soon found out that my safety advice, given in an educated, calm, and ultimately empowering way, protected their innocence and their personal safety.
All child abuse is odious, but many parents don’t realize how prevalent childhood sexual abuse is, in particular. Most sources agree that childhood sexual abuse happens to one in four girls and one in six boys by the time they reach age 18.
Many parents also don’t realize that while “stranger danger” education is important, the vast majority of childhood sexual abuse is perpetrated by someone the child knows, such as a relative, an adult in a position of trust, or an older or larger child.
Research shows another important fact about childhood sexual abuse, too: Most kids who are sexually abused don’t tell when it happens to them. Some don’t understand what’s happening, some don’t have the vocabulary to describe the abuse, others are afraid, and some are manipulated by abusers to keep the secret.
©2010 Jx3. All Rights Reserved.
From the Editors: April is National Child Abuse Prevention Month — a great time to educate ourselves about how to keep children safe from abuse. DreamTeamShannonR volunteers on her children’s school district’s sexual abuse prevention team and is the author of an award-winning children’s picture book about childhood sexual abuse, NOT IN ROOM 204.
My 13-year-old daughter Sabrina came home after school one day and told me that a teacher had said something that made her feel “weird.” Rather than panicking, we decided to use the experience as a “safety drill” to talk about what had made her feel uncomfortable.
We discussed what he said (“Hey, babe!”), the context (passing in the hall), and if he had ever said or done anything else to make her feel uncomfortable (he hadn’t). We also talked about why this incident made Sabrina feel so “weird.” She said it was just that “babe” isn’t something teachers usually say. Finally, we agreed that she would tell me if anything else happened that caused her alarm.
Months later, it turned out that incident was a fluke, one-time-only comment, and that nothing troubling was going on with this teacher. What pleased me most was that Sabrina knew what to do — and did it — when something uncomfortable popped up on her radar screen.
At age-appropriate levels, I have given my children the information they need to keep them safe from sexual abuse, and to know what to do if sexual abuse happens to them. Through the years, I’ve taught them about names of body parts and human sexuality, instructed them not to speak with or go anywhere with strangers, explained what childhood sexual abuse is, and assured them that no matter what anyone else tells them, they should always tell me if something happens to them.
At first, I worried that teaching my children about sexual abuse would rob them of their innocence. I soon found out that my safety advice, given in an educated, calm, and ultimately empowering way, protected their innocence and their personal safety.
All child abuse is odious, but many parents don’t realize how prevalent childhood sexual abuse is, in particular. Most sources agree that childhood sexual abuse happens to one in four girls and one in six boys by the time they reach age 18.
Many parents also don’t realize that while “stranger danger” education is important, the vast majority of childhood sexual abuse is perpetrated by someone the child knows, such as a relative, an adult in a position of trust, or an older or larger child.
Research shows another important fact about childhood sexual abuse, too: Most kids who are sexually abused don’t tell when it happens to them. Some don’t understand what’s happening, some don’t have the vocabulary to describe the abuse, others are afraid, and some are manipulated by abusers to keep the secret.