Materials from Asia
Nine-year-old Nat and his family are forced from their home on April 17, 1975, marched for many days, separated from each other, and forced to work in the rice fields, where Nat concentrates on survival. Includes historical notes and photographs.
See the review at WOW Review, Volume 4, Issue 2
This book focuses on the discoveries and inventions of the ancient Chinese civilization in the areas of transportation, agriculture, architecture, science, and technology.
This book offers students an introduction to the rich and diverse foods found around the world.
This book offers students an introduction to the rich and diverse foods found around the world.
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.
Little Mist is a sweet-faced snow leopard cub who is wide-eyed with wonder at the world before him. Guided and protected by his mother, Little Mist discovers the glistening snow, the mountain streams, and the cloud forests. The world may look big to a little cub, but one day, his mother tells him, he will be the king of the mountains. Safely curled up in his mother’s paws, Little Mist can’t wait for his journey to begin. A heartwarming portrayal of the unique bond between parent and child, set against the breathtaking backdrop of snow-covered mountains. This is the perfect picture book to read curled up with your own little cub.
The king of Long City is dying. For Kai Zu, the news means more than it does for most former street rats in the small mountain stronghold, because he and the king’s daughter are close friends. Then the majestic ruler of the ghost dragons orders Kai to travel across the country to the Phoenix Empire, where the princess is learning statecraft. In a court filled with intrigue, Kai and his best (female) friend Yan must work together to help the princess escape and return to Long City.
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?
In 1977, when Zhongmei Lei was eleven years old, she learned that the prestigious Beijing Dance Academy was having open auditions. She’d already taken dance lessons, but everyone said a poor country girl would never get into the academy, especially without any connections in the Communist Party of the 1970s. But Zhongmei, whose name means Faithful Plum, persisted, even going on a hunger strike, until her parents agreed to allow her to go. She traveled for three days and two nights to get to Beijing and eventually beat out 60,000 other girls for one of 12 coveted spots. But getting in was easy compared to staying in, as Zhongmei soon learned. Without those all-important connections she was just a little girl on her own, far away from family. But her determination, talent, and sheer force of will were not something the teachers or other students expected, and soon it was apparent that Zhongmei was not to be underestimated. Zhongmei became a famous dancer, and founded her own dance company, which made its New York debut when she was in just her late 20s. In A Girl Named Faithful Plum, her husband and renowned journalist, Richard Bernstein, has written a fascinating account of one girl’s struggle to go from the remote farmlands of China to the world’s stages, and the lengths she went to in order to follow her dream.
Kara Foster is finally starting to fit in at her boarding school in Japan—after all, nothing bonds you with your classmates like having an ancient demon put a curse on you. Hoping life can go back to normal now that the demon has been put to rest, Kara joins her friends Sakura and Miho in putting on a play for the Noh drama club. It’s the story of the Hannya, a snake demon who inhabits the body of a beautiful woman. When a few members of the Noh club go missing, Kara fears that the real Hannya has been awakened by the curse. Then Miho is abducted, and Kara must find her before the Hannya destroys her. But the demon is wily, and may be hidden in the last place any of them would think to look.