Special Collections
National Education Association's Asian American Booklist
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Good Luck Gold and Other Poems
by Janet S. WongThis is the first book of poems by a young Asian-American poet
All the Colors of the Earth
by Sheila HamanakaWith soaring words and majestic artwork, Sheila Hamanaka evokes all the rich colors children bring to this world. Laughing, loving, and glowing with life, young people dance across the pages of her book, inviting readers to share a special vision of peace and acceptance. Images removed.
When the Circus Came to Town
by Laurence YepAn Asian cook and a Chinese New Year celebration help a ten-year-old girl at a Montana stage coach station to regain her confidence after smallpox scars her face.
Anno's Magic Seeds
by Mitsumasa AnnoThe reader is asked to perform a series of arithmetic operations integrated into the story of a man who plants magic seeds and reaps an increasingly abundant harvest. A story that helps children understand the process of plant growth.
Growing Up Asian American
by Maria HongDifferent authors give their life views on growing up Asian American.
American Eyes
by Lori M. Carlson and Cynthia KadohataHeartfelt short stories written by ten young Asian-American writers who share the conflicts that many young people feel living in two distinct worlds - one of memories and traditions, and one of today. Stories by Marie G. Lee, Ryan Oba, Katherine Min, Mary F. Chen, Lois-ann Yamanaka, Fae Myenne Ng, Cynthia Kadohata, Peter Bacho, Lan Samantha Chang, and Nguyen Duc Minh.
Necessary Roughness
by Marie G. LeeSixteen-year-old Korean-American Chan moves from Los Angeles to a small town in Minnesota, where he must cope not only with racism on the football team but also with the tensions in his relationship with his strict father.
The Cook's Family
by Laurence Yep12-year-old Robin Lee goes to her grandmother's house in Chinatown where they befriend a lonely cook. In Robin's new make-believe family, she discovers a sense of her Chinese heritage. The thing is, once Robin starts pretending, she doesn't want to stop.
China Boy
by Gus LeeKai Ting is the only American-born son of a family that has fled China. Unprepared for life on the streets of San Francisco, Kai spends his childhood trying to adapt to American life.
The Land I Lost
by Huynh Quang NhuongA collection of personal reminiscences of the author's youth in a hamlet on the central highlands of Vietnam.
F Is for Fabuloso
by Marie G. LeeThe sky had not yet begun to lighten, and Jin-Ha could see hard fingers of frost pressing on her window, outlined by the light from the street lamp. She wanted to stay in her warm bed and never come out. Being cold -- and knowing you were going to be even colder before you got any warmer -- was the worst feeling. Then she remembered her dream. Then she remembered her math test. Now she wanted to jump out of bed and onto the first bus out of town. How else to cope with this terrible thing she had done? She failed a math test and a quiz and she had lied to her parents. Lying to her parents had been ten times worse than telling them the truth: telling the truth would have gotten the unpleasant news over with right away. By lying she was only postponing the agony. Everything only seemed all right; underneath, it was all wrong. All WRONG.
El Chino
by Allen SayA biography of Bill Wong, a Chinese American who became a famous bullfighter in Spain.
The Journal of Wong Ming-Chung:
by Laurence Yep1881. A small village in China. A new emperor. The old problems such as hunger. Uncle Precious Stone declares that he is going to The Golden Mountain. After some time for preparation, he goes.
A few months later, Mama and Papa receive a request to send older brother. But they send Runt! He is the younger, smaller, more intellectual brother.
This is an exciting adventure! Although the journal is fiction, the events it portrays are based on history (American and Chinese) and culture. A fine book for a book report!
Grandfather Counts
by Andrea ChengWhen her mother's father comes from China, Helen, who is biracial, develops a special bond with her grandfather despite their age and language differences.
A Jar of Dreams
by Yoshiko UchidaWhen Aunt Waka comes to visit, and brings with her the old-fashioned wisdom of Japan, she teaches Rinko the importance of her Japanese heritage, and the value of her own strengths and dreams.
China's Bravest Girl
by Charlie ChinThe story of Hua Mu Lan, a girl who, disguised as a man, went to war in place of her elderly father.
Flowers from Mariko
by Rick Noguchi and Deneen JenksMariko's family has been freed from a Japanese-American internment camp, but the transition hasn't been easy. "Flowers from Mariko" tells of a family striving to reestablish their lives--through hope, perseverance, and love.
The Tiger's Apprentice (Book One of the Tiger Trilogy)
by Laurence YepA tiger, a monkey, a dragon, and a twelve-year-old Chinese American boy fight to keep a magic talisman out of the hands of an enemy who would use its power to destroy the world.
When the Emperor Was Divine
by Julie OtsukaThe debut novel from the PEN/Faulkner Award Winning Author of The Buddha in the AtticOn a sunny day in Berkeley, California, in 1942, a woman sees a sign in a post office window, returns to her home, and matter-of-factly begins to pack her family's possessions. Like thousands of other Japanese Americans they have been reclassified, virtually overnight, as enemy aliens and are about to be uprooted from their home and sent to a dusty internment camp in the Utah desert. In this lean and devastatingly evocative first novel, Julie Otsuka tells their story from five flawlessly realized points of view and conveys the exact emotional texture of their experience: the thin-walled barracks and barbed-wire fences, the omnipresent fear and loneliness, the unheralded feats of heroism. When the Emperor Was Divine is a work of enormous power that makes a shameful episode of our history as immediate as today's headlines.
Dream Soul
by Laurence YepIn 1927, as Christmas approaches, fifteen-year-old Joan Lee hopes to get her parents' permission to celebrate the holiday, one of the problems belonging to the only Chinese American family in her small West Virginia community.
The Moon Lady
by Amy TanNainai tells her granddaughters the story of her outing, as a seven-year-old girl in China, to see the Moon Lady and be granted a secret wish.
Cool Melons - Turn to Frogs!
by Matthew GollubThe life story of Issa, a famous Japanese poet, as told through his haikus.
The Green Frogs
by Yumi HeoLike most rebellious children, the green frogs in this Korean folktale love to disobey their mother. Whatever she asks them to do, they do the opposite ... until their bad habit lands them in trouble.
Stella
by Lauren LeeHoping to be accepted by a popular seventh grade clique, a Korean American girl is embarrassed by her family's heritage-until a series of events gives her a better sense of who she is.
Journey Home
by Yoshiko UchidaYuki, a 12-year-old Japanese American girl, and her family were sent to a concentration camp in Utah. This is the story of their journey back to Berkeley, California after WWII is over.