In ancient China, a young musician named Yu Boya gained fame for his talents. On the night of the Moon Festival, he encounters a mysterious woodcutter who is also a musician and admires Boya’s most famous song: Lofty Mountains and Flowing Water. Their friendship deepens and Boya vows to play the song for his new friend every year on the festival night. But the next year, upon hearing of his friend’s death, Boya smashes his instrument and never plays again. To this day, the word for “close friendship” means “understanding the music.”
China
Materials from China
Dragon Noodle Party
“The animals of the zodiac gather one by one to make long life noodles for Snake’s birthday”–
The Flamingo: A Graphic Novel Chapter Book
A little girl arrives, excited for a beachy vacation with her Lao Lao. The girl and her grandmother search for shells, chase crabs, and play in the sea, but when the girl finds an exquisite flamingo feather in her grandmother’s living room, her vacation turns into something fantastical.
A Sweet New Year For Ren
Ren has always been too little to help make her favorite pineapple cakes for the Lunar New Year, but when her one-of-a-kind brother Charlie arrives for the festivities, with his help, she finally gets her chance. Includes recipe for pineapple cakes.
Foul Lady Fortune
In 1931 Shanghai, two Nationalist spies pose as a married couple to investigate a series of brutal murders causing unrest in the city.
Strike The Zither
As three warring fractures try to gain control of the kingdom, orphaned Zephyr, a strategist serving Xin Ren, infiltrates an enemy camp where she encounters the enigmatic Crow, an opposing strategist who might just be her match.
Feather And Flame
Mulan goes from a celebrated war hero to a reluctant Empress and must once again rise above expectations and prove she doesn’t have to be anyone but herself to save China.
A Magic Steeped In Poison
Ning enters a cutthroat magical competition to find the kingdom’s greatest master of the art of brewing tea, but political schemes and secrets make her goal of gaining access to royal physicians to cure her dying sister far more dangerous than she imagined. This is first book in The Book Of Tea duology.
This book is featured in Season 1, Episode 4 of the WOW Reads podcast.
Judy I. Lin is profiled in Authors’ Corner.
Roses Sing On New Snow: A Delicious Tale : Level E (Into English)
Maylin cooks delicious meals every day in her father’s restaurant, but her lazy brothers take all the credit. One day a contest is held to honor the visiting governor of South China, and Maylin’s brothers decide to pass off her cooking as their own. But when neither they nor the governor can replicate Maylin’s wonderful dish, they all learn that there’s more to the art of good cooking than the right ingredients. Paul Yee’s charming text and Harvey Chan’s dramatic watercolors transport the reader to another time and culture.
Zachary Ying And The Dragon Emperor
After his augmented reality gaming headset is possessed by the spirit of the First Emperor of China, twelve-year-old Chinese American Zack Ying is compelled to travel across China to steal an ancient artifact, fight figures from Chinese history and myth, and seal a portal to prevent malicious spirits from destroying the human realm.