Born Naughty: My Childhood in China gives children an understanding of the culture and experiences of a child growing up in China in 1982. From the very first page, Jin’s story hooks the reader. “When I was young I lived with my family in a mud house so tiny we barely fit inside. Our house had just one room, filled mostly with the bed we all shared—my mother, Ma, Die (meaning “father”) my two younger brothers, and I.” When I read this aloud to a class of 3rd and 4th graders, they immediately had questions about how five people could sleep together on such a small bed in a tiny one-room house. The black and white illustrations by Anisi Baigude helped them imagine the scene. The illustrations are expressive and action packed, adding details that illuminate the story.
Each chapter in the book evoked more questions from the students especially the description of what water was available to drink. “Because we had so little of it, water was a big, big thing… To save it, my family drank hardly any. Ma set most aside for cooking and washing clothes. We took baths once, maybe twice a year and shared about three cups of water each day for washing hands. I let my hands get very dirty before I washed them. But—Ma’s big rule—always before we ate we had to wash our hands.” The children listening to this part of the story were incredulous — a bath once or twice a year? Continue reading
Kapaemahu is a multilayered picturebook that leaves the reader with much to contemplate. Based on a traditional Hawaiian legend, this captivating picturebook begins by transporting the reader to the days before recorded history, the time of storytelling, long before the colonization of Hawaii. In that long ago time, four Tahitians journeyed across the Pacific Ocean and arrived on the shores of Waikiki on the island of Oʻahu. These visitors were māhū, two-spirited beings who were neither male nor female but “a mixture of both in mind, heart, and spirit.” The māhū were favored by the Gods “with skill in the science of healing.” They healed many of the islanders and to honor the māhū, the people erected four great stones. Before vanishing from the island, the māhū transferred their healing powers into these four stones. Following the telling of the history of the māhū, the story moves the reader ahead seven hundred years in history to witness the impact of colonization upon the stones and subsequently the culture of the Native Hawaiians. The book ends with the call to remember the story of the māhū declaring, “When you share that story, you honor it.” 