The Runaway Wok

When a boy goes to the market to buy food and comes home with an old wok instead, his parents wonder what they’ll eat for dinner. But then the wok rolls out of the poor family’s house with a skippity-hoppity-ho! and returns from the rich man’s home with a feast in tow! With spirited text and lively illustrations, this story reminds readers about the importance of generosity.

Circle of Cranes

Taken from her small, impoverished Chinese village and forced to sew in a New York City sweatshop, thirteen-year-old Suyin is visited by the cranes with which she has a strange connection and learns she is the daughter of the Crane Queen, who needs her help.

Tashi and the Tibetan Flower Cure

A young Tibetan American girl helps her grandfather recover from an illness through the use of a traditional cure that focuses on spiritual as well as physical recovery and brings together a caring community.

Tibetan Tales from the Top of the World

A young prince, wise monkey, and magical guardian are some of the engaging characters that fill this book. Each story, told in English and Tibetan, offers a fun, enchanting glimpse of Tibetan culture. The book is written and illustrated with full-page, full color paintings by Naomi C. Rose, and has a foreword by the Dalai Lama.

Mrs. Harkness and the Panda

In 1934, Ruth Harkness had never seen a panda bear.  Not many people in the world had.

But soon the young Mrs. Harkness would inherit an expedition from her explorer husband: the hunt for a panda.  She knew that bringing back a panda would be hard. Impossible, even.  But she intended to try.

So she went to China, where she found a guide, built traps, gathered supplies, and had explorers’ clothes made—unheard of for a woman in those days.  Then she set out up the Yangtze River and into the wilderness.  What she discovered would awe America: an adorable baby panda she named Su Lin, which means “a little bit of something very cute.”

The Chinese

This book focuses on the discoveries and inventions of the ancient Chinese civilization in the areas of transportation, agriculture, architecture, science, and technology.

Crouching Tiger

A Chinese-American boy gains a new understanding of his Chinese grandfather in this celebratory story of family, martial arts, and the Chinese New Year. Vinson is very excited when his grandfather comes from China for a visit. When Grandpa practices tai chi in the garden, Vinson asks to learn, hoping it will be like kung fu, full of kicks and punches. But tai chi’s meditative postures are slow and still, and Vinson quickly gets bored. He can’t understand why Grandpa insists on calling him by his Chinese name, Ming Da, or why he has to wear a traditional Chinese jacket to the Chinese New Year parade. As the parade assembles, however, he notices the great respect given to his grandfather and the lion dancers under his training. And when Vinson is offered a role in the parade, he realizes that being part Chinese can be pretty cool—and is ready to start learning from his grandpa’s martial-arts mastery in earnest.

Shaolin Tiger

The unlikely heroes of the Cockroach Ryu face their greatest danger yet — a warrior seeking revenge against his former teacher, Sensei Ki-Yaga. The White Tiger Temple is under threat. To help the Shaolin monks, Sensei KiYaga and the whole gang of samurai kids—from Niya Moto, the boy with one leg to Taji, the boy who is blind—embark on a perilous journey across the Sea of Japan to China. But soon they discover that getting there is only half the battle. A great danger awaits them: a former student of Sensei named Qing-Shen, China’s Warrior, now the most skilled soldier in the Middle Kingdom. But Qing-Shen is also a man with a vendetta against his onetime teacher. Could there be anyone more dangerous? The samurai kids must train in the ways of the Shaolin monks before facing him. But will they be able to protect the temple and their beloved Sensei?