Asia

Materials from Asia

We Live In China

Travel the world in this new series of illustrated books, and see each country through the eyes of the children that live there!Meet Meihua, a girl from Beijing; Shuilin, from a smaller province; and Sem Dui, a boy from Tibet. Learn about China’s school system, traditions, history, religion, and culture—just by spending a day with these children. With illustrations and photographs throughout, featuring some of the most important architecture and historical figures of the region, this book provides a great introduction to Chinese culture. Travel the world in this new series of illustrated books, and see each country through the eyes of the children that live there!Meet Meihua, a girl from Beijing; Shuilin, from a smaller province; and Sem Dui, a boy from Tibet. Learn about China’s school system, traditions, history, religion, and culture—just by spending a day with these children. With illustrations and photographs throughout, featuring some of the most important architecture and historical figures of the region, this book provides a great introduction to Chinese culture.

Good Morning China

A DAY IN THE LIFE OF CHINA.  Playing, exercising, resting under a lotus tree: the things happening in an ordinary park on an ordinary morning. Early morning, and a community is coming to life.  Children are playing, an artist is painting, people are exercising and meditating.  Each page in this lovely picure book presents a snap-shot, and a final foldout spread collects them all to give a panorama of daily life in China.  Hu yong Yi’s paintings are saturated with color and rich in life and feeling.

Passage to Freedom: The Sugihara Story

In 1940, Chiune Sugihara-a Japanese diplomat stationed in Lithuania-risked his life to issue thousands of exit visas to Jewish refugees fleeing from the Nazis. Seen through the eyes of his son, Hiroki, who was five years old at the time, this moving story shows how one person can truly make a difference.

Rama and Sita

A children’s retelling of the epic story from India and Southeast Asia. Rama marries beautiful Sita, but Ravana, the 10-headed, 20-armed Demon King, falls in love with her, too. He captures her and takes her in his chariot to the Demon Kingdom, Lanka. Rama has to find a way to rescue Sita, and he seeks the help of the monkey general Hanuman, and Jambuvan, the King of the Bears. Rama, his brother Lakshman, and the band of monkeys and bears battle their way to the Kingdom of the Demons. With the help of the fish, they build a bridge to cross the sea and find Sita locked in Hanuman’s tower, guarded by demonesses. After a final, terrible battle, the Demon King is defeated and Rama and Sita are reunited. The touching ritual at the heart of the Hindu festival of Diwali features the lighting of earthen lamps, called “divas,” which celebrate Rama’s and Sita’s return home.

White Crane

Even though he has only one leg, Niya Moto is studying to be a samurai, and his five fellow-students are similarly burdened, but sensei Ki-Yaga, an ancient but legendary warrior, teaches them not only physical skills but mental and spiritual ones as well, so that they are well-equipped to face their most formidable opponents at the annual Samurai Games.

My Name Is Number 4: A True Story from the Cultural Revolution

Here is the real-life story about the fourth child in a family torn apart by China’s Cultural Revolution. After the death of both of her parents, Ting-xing and her siblings endure brutal Red Guard attacks on their schools and even in their home.  At the age of sixteen, Ting-xing is sent to a prison farm far from the world she knows, where she survives for six years. Eventually, people leave the countryside, and Ting-xing passes the entrance exam for Beijing University, the only person in the prison camp to do so.