Asia

Materials from Asia

Grandpa’s Soup

When Grandma dies, Grandpa is too sad to do anything. All day long, day after day, he sits by himself in his house. Then, one day, Grandpa wakes up and realizes he misses the soup his wife used to make for him. So he decides to try to make the soup himself. Though each batch he makes is bigger and better than the last, Granpda hardly gets a taste of it. Unexpected visitors, hungry for soup, keep arriving at his door. Soon, Grandpa discovers that sharing with his new friends is the best cure for his loneliness.

Game Of Stars

When the Demon Queen shows up in her bedroom, smelling of acid and surrounded by evil-looking bees, twelve-year-old Kiranmala is uninterested. After all, it’s been weeks since she last heard from her friends in the Kingdom Beyond, the alternate dimension where she was born as an Indian princess. But after a call to action over an interdimensional television station and a visit with some all-seeing birds, Kiran decides that she has to once again return to her homeland, where society is fraying, a terrible game show reigns supreme, and friends and foes alike are in danger. Everyone is running scared or imprisoned following the enactment of sudden and unfair rules of law. However, things are a lot less clear than the last time she was in the Kingdom Beyond. Kiran must once again solve riddles and battle her evil Serpent King father — all while figuring out who her true friends are, and what it really means to be a hero.

A Grain of Rice

When a humble farmer named Pong Lo asks for the hand of the Emperor’s beautiful daughter, the Emperor is enraged. Whoever heard of a peasant marrying a princess? But Pong Lo is wiser than the Emperor knows. And when he concocts a potion that saves the Princess’s life, the Emperor gladly offers him any reward he chooses except the Princess. Pong Lo makes a surprising request. He asks for a single grain of rice, doubled every day for one hundred days. The baffled Emperor obliges only to discover that if you’re as clever as Pong Lo, you can turn a single grain of rice into all the wealth and happiness in the world!

Farmer Falgu Goes Kite Flying

Farmer Falgu’s trips never go smoothly. In the fourth book of the popular series, he is on his way to the annual kite-flying festival with his daughter, Eila. But…. Whoosh! She loses her kite to the strong wind. Will our clever Farmer Falgu come up with a solution to make his daughter happy? Chitra Soundar’s beautiful tale is complemented by Kanika Nair’s colorful illustrations that bring alive the kite flying festival of Rajasthan.

The Shadow In The Moon

Two young sisters celebrate the Mid-Autumn Festival, admire their mooncakes decorated with a picture of a lady in the moon, and listen to their Ah-ma tell the ancient tale of how the holiday began.

The Bridge Home

Four determined homeless children make a life for themselves in Chennai, India.

The Bridge Home was our WOW Recommends: Book of the Month for October 2019 and also featured our August 2019 My Take/Your Take, June 2020 My Take/Your Take, and July 2020 My Take/Your Take.

Dear Professor Whale

Now that Professor Whale has retired, he writes many letters to “You, Whoever You Are, Who Lives on the Other Side of the Horizon”. Seal and Pelican are busy delivering the letters and Penguin is now teaching. Although he is happy his friends are doing so well, Whale wants a special friend;, who might call him by a friendly sort of name. Like Whaley, maybe, instead of Professor.