EPL.ca: Asian Heritage Books for Children

Abby's Birds - Ellen Schwartz
Watching the robins in the tree between their gardens is how Abby becomes friends with her elderly neighbour, Mrs. Naka.

Allison - Allen Say
When Allison realizes that she looks more like her favorite doll than like her parents, she comes to terms with this unwelcomed discovery through the help of a stray cat.

At the Beach - Huy Voun Lee
A mother amuses her young son at the beach by drawing Chinese characters in the sand.

Bee-Bim Bop! - Linda Sue Park
A child, eager for a favourite meal, helps with the shopping, food preparation and table setting.

Bracelet - Yoshiko Uchida
Emi, a Japanese American in Grade 2, is sent with her family to an internment camp during World War II, but the loss of the bracelet her best friend has given her proves that she does not need a physical reminder of that friendship.

Chinatown - William Low
A boy and his grandmother wind their way through the streets of Chinatown, enjoying all the sights and smells of the Chinese New Year's Day.

Chinese Siamese Cat - Amy Tan
Ming Miao tells her kittens about the antics of one of their ancestors, Sagwa of China, that produced the unusual markings they have had for thousands of years.

Chinese Violin - Madeleine Thien
Lin Lin and her father struggle with their new life when they emigrate from their small, quiet village in China to the big city of Vancouver.

Fine Feathered Friend - Jamila Gavin
Raju is angry about spending two months on his aunt and uncle's farm in India while his family attends a wedding in England, but things look much brighter after he becomes mother to a newly-hatched chick. An easy chapter book for beginning readers.

Fortune Cookie Fortunes - Grace Lin
After a Chinese American girl opens fortune cookies with her family, she notices that the fortunes seem to come true.

Going Home, Coming Home - Truong Tran
A young girl learns that she can call two places home when she visits her grandmother in Vietnam where her parents were born.

Grandfather Counts - Andrea Cheng
When her grandfather comes from China, Helen, who is biracial, develops a special bond with him despite their age and language differences.

Grandfather's Journey - Allen Say
A Japanese American man makes the same journey as his grandfather and recounts the feelings of being torn by a love for two different countries.

Happy Birthday Mr. Kang - Susan L Roth
Mr. Kang loves his caged Chinese bird, but when his seven-year-old grandson Sam persuades him to give the bird his freedom, they get a surprise.

Henry's First-Moon Birthday - Lenore Look
A young girl helps with preparations for the traditional Chinese celebration to welcome her new baby brother.

Invisible Seam - Andrew Frew
A Japanese girl apprenticed to a kimono-maker must overcome sabotage from jealous peers in order to keep a solemn promise that she will always do her best.

Jade Necklace - Paul Yee
When her father is lost at sea during a typhoon and her family no longer has enough to eat, Yenyee travels to Vancouver as a servant.

Journey Home - Lawrence McKay
Mai returns to Vietnam, the land of her mother's birth, to discover both a new country and something about herself.

Mats - Francisco Arcellana
Marcelina's father comes home from a trip to Manila with beautiful hand-made sleeping mats for each member of his large family, including the three daughters who died when they were very young.

Monsoon - Uma Krishnaswami
A child describes waiting for the monsoon rains to arrive and the worry that they will not come.

My Chinatown: One Year in Poems - Kam Mak
A boy adjusts to life away from his home in Hong Kong, in the Chinatown of his new American city.

Nadia's Hands - Karen English
A girl takes part in her aunt’s traditional Pakistani wedding.

Name Jar - Yangsook Choi
After Unhei moves from Korea to the United States, her new classmates help her decide what her new name will be.

Place Where Sunflowers Grow = Sabaku ni saita himawari - Amy Lee-Tai
Inspired by the experiences of the author's Japanese American grandparents at a relocation camp during World War II, this story celebrates the sense of purpose and peace that the act of creation can bring. (Japanese translation on each page.)

Raymond's Perfect Present - Therese On Louie
When Raymond's mother becomes sick, he remembers that she misses the living things of the country and, with the help of their neighbour, he tries to prepare the perfect present for her.

Red is a Dragon - Roseanne Thong
A Chinese American girl describes the colours she sees around her, from the red of a dragon, firecrackers and lychees, to the brown of her teddy bear.

Royal Bee - Frances and Ginger Park
A poor boy in Korea is determined to win a spelling be, even though poverty keeps from formally attending school.

Ruby's Wish - Shirin Yim Bridges
In China, at a time when few girls are taught to read or write, Ruby dreams of going to the university with her brothers and male cousins.

Share the Sky - Ting-xing Ye
Fei Fei must leave her grandfather in China when her parents send for her from their new home in North America.

Story of Paper - Ying Chang Compestine
After the Kang brothers get in trouble at school, they devise a way to make paper, which will make things easier for their teacher and themselves.

Suki's Kimono - Chieri Uegaki
Suki is determined to wear her beloved kimono to her first day of Grade 1.

Trip Back Home - Janet S Wong
A young girl and her mother travel to Korea to visit their extended family.

Amah - Laurence Yep
Chinese American Amy finds her family responsibilities growing and interfering with her ballet practice when her mother takes a job outside the home.

Aruna's Journeys - Jyotsna Sreenivasan
Aruna, an eleven-year-old Indian American girl, reluctantly visits her relatives in India and in the process discovers more about who she is.

Case of the Goblin Pearls - Laurence Yep
Lily and her aunt, a Chinese American movie actress, join forces to solve the theft of some priceless pearls and stop the operator of a sweatshop in San Francisco's Chinatown.

Clay Marble - Minfong Ho
In the late 1970s, twelve-year-old Dara joins a refugee camp in war-torn Cambodia and becomes separated from her family.

Ghost Train - Paul Yee
Choon-yi, the artistic daughter of a Chinese immigrant railway worker who is killed in an explosion, dreams that her father’s spirit bids her to paint a “fire-car” to take the souls of the dead workers back to their homeland in South China.

Goodbye, Vietnam - Gloria Whelan
Thirteen-year-old Mai and her family embark on a dangerous sea voyage from Vietnam to Hong Kong to escape the unpredictable and often brutal Vietnamese government.

Half and Half - Lensey Namioka
At Seattle's annual Folk Fest, twelve-year-old Fiona and her brother are torn between trying to please their Chinese grandmother and making their Scottish grandparents happy.

Happiness of Kati - Jane Vejjajiva
With the impending death of her mother, Kati, a young Thai girl, completes the puzzle of her past and discovers the reason that her mother gave her up as a much younger child.

Himalaya - Tenzing Norbu
Every year, the people of Dolpo must make an ardurous trek down from the Himalayan mountains to trade salt for the wheat they need to survive.

Iqbal - Francesco D'Adamo
A fictionalized account of the Pakistani child who escaped from bondage in a carpet factory and went on to help liberate other children before being gunned down at the age of thirteen.

Legend of Hong Kil Dong: The Robin Hood of Korea - Anne Sibley O'Brien
A graphic novel capturing the drama and pageantry of 16th-century Korea and paying tribute to the adventure story that became the first novel written in the Korean language.

Music for Alice - Allen Say
Based on a true life story, a Japanese American farmer recounts her agricultural successes and setbacks and her enduring love of dance.

Mystery of the Frozen Brains - Marty Chan
A Chinese Canadian boy, growing up in a small town in Alberta, is convinced that his parents are aliens and is determined to locate their spaceship.

Neela: Victory Song - Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni
In 1939, twelve-year-old Neela meets a young freedom fighter at her sister’s wedding and soon after must rely on his help when her father fails to return from a march in Calcutta against British occupation.

Ocean Apart: The Gold Mountain Diary of Chin Mei-ling - Gillian Chan
A girl and her father struggle to pay the head tax that will allow the rest of their family to come to Canada from China.

Onion Tears - Diana Kidd
A Vietnamese girl tries to come to terms with her grief over the loss of her family and her new life with the Australian with whom she lives.

Revolution Is Not a Dinner Party - Ying Chang Compestine
Starting in 1972, when she is nine years old, the daughter of two doctors struggles to make sense of the communists' Cultural Revolution.

Shanghai Messenger - Andrea Cheng
Eleven-year-old Xiao Mei visits her extended family in China, where the Chinese-American girl finds many differences but also the similarities that bind a family together.

Silk Umbrellas - Carolyn Marsden
Eleven-year-old Noi has a talent for painting umbrellas that may help to support her family in Thailand.

Single Shard - Linda Sue Park
An orphan in medieval Korea lives under a bridge in a potters’ village and longs to learn how to throw the delicate celadon ceramics.

Skunk Scout - Laurence Yep
Teddy’s tenth birthday present from his uncle is a camping trip that will be his first outing away from San Francisco’s Chinatown.

Song for Ba - Paul Yee
Chinese immigrants in North America try to keep the ancient art of Chinese opera alive in this story set in the early part of the 20th century.

Tea with Milk - Allen Say
After growing up near San Francisco, a young Japanese woman returns with her parents to their native Japan, but she feels foreign and out of place.

Trouble Begins - Linda Himelblau
Reunited with his Vietnamese family for the first time since he was a baby, fifth grader Du struggles to adapt to his new home in the United States.

Water of Possibility - Hiromi Goto
After their family moves to a tiny village in Alberta, twelve-year-old Sayuri and her brother Keiji go through a cellar door to a different world where Japanese folklore comes to life.

White Jade Tiger - Julie Lawson
On a field trip to Chinatown in Victoria, BC, thirteen-year-old Jasmine passes through a doorway and finds herself in the Fan Tan Alley of the 1880s, where she meets Keung, a boy who has recently arrived from China to search for his father, believed to be one of the thousands of Chinese working on the hazardous construction of the Canadian Pacific Railway.

White Lily - Ting-xing Ye
A young girl challenges the ancient practice of foot binding when her own feet are bound.

Yang the Second and Her Secret Admirers - Lensey Namioka
While her younger siblings have adopted many American customs since moving from China to Seattle, Yinglan Yang clings to her Chinese heritage, so her brother and sister hatch a plot to convert her to American culture.

Year of the Dog - Grace Lin
A young Taiwanese American girl applies the lessons of the Chinese Year of the Dog, those of making best friends and finding oneself, to her own life.

All the Way to Lhasa: A Tale from Tibet - Barbara Berger
A boy and his yak persevere along the difficult way to the holy city of Lhasa and succeed where others fail.

Donkey and the Rock - Demi
In this version of a tale with many Asian variations, a wise king, who rules a town full of foolish people in the mountains of Tibet, puts a donkey and a rock on trial to settle the dispute between two honest men.

Gecko's Complaint: A Balinese Folktale - Ann Martin Bowler
Gecko complains to Raden, lion chief of the jungle, that fireflies are keeping him awake at night.

Lao Lao of Dragon Mountain - Margaret Bateson-Hill
A greedy emperor demands an impossible task from Lao Lao, a peasant woman who makes beautiful shapes from paper. Includes instructions for making traditional Chinese paper-cuts.

Legend of the Panda - Linda Granfield
A Tibetan legend tells how the snowy white panda came to have its distinctive black-and-white coat.

Mouse Bride: A Chinese Folktale - Monica Chang
A mouse goes to the sun, cloud, wind and wall in search of the strongest husband for his daughter, only to find him among his own kind.

Nine Animals and the Wall - James Rumford
Fable about a search for the perfect present for the raja-king’s birthday. Discusses how the numerals we use originated in India.

Piecing Earth and Sky Together: A Creation Story from the Mien Tribe of Laos - Nancy Raines Day
While she and her grandmother work on their embroidery, Mei Yoon listens to an old Mein tale about the creation of the earth and the sky.

Rooster's Antlers: A Story of the Chinese Zodiac - Eric A Kimmel
Relates how the Jade Emperor chose twelve animals to represent the years in his calendar and discusses the qualities associated with each animal in the Chinese zodiac.

Tiger and the Dried Persimmon: A Korean Folk Tale - Janie Jaehyun Park
A proud and boasting tiger is brought low by his own vanity and foolishness.

Two Bullies - Junko Morimoto
Two bullies, one from China and one from Japan, inadvertently intimidate one another before meeting face to face and never fight as a result.

White Tiger, Blue Serpent - Grace Tseng
When his mother's beautiful brocade is snatched away by a greedy goddess, a young Chinese boy faces many perils as he attempts to get it back.

Cloud Weavers: Ancient Chinese Legends - Rena Krasno
Presents legends and tales from China, including ancient folktales, stories that reflect Chinese traditions and virtues, historical tales, and selections from literature.

Khan's Daughter: A Mongolian Folktale - Laurence Yep
A simple shepherd must pass three tests in order to marry the Khan’s beautiful daughter.

Lon Po Po: A Red-Riding Hood Story from China - Ed Young
Three sisters staying home alone are endangered by a hungry wolf who is disguised as their grandmother.

Momotaro and the Island of the Orgres - Stephanie Wada
Brave and wise Momotaro is called Peach Boy because his parents find him inside a peach. The illustrations are handscroll paintings by Kano Naganobu (1775-1828).

Sky Legends of Vietnam - Lynette Dyer Vuong
Six legends account for celestial events or describe encounters between sky fairies and mortals.

Time of Golden Dragons - Song Nan Zhang
Dragon years, dragon kites, dragon cakes and dragon boats—through the ages, the dragon has been an important symbol for the Chinese.

Yu the Great: Conquering the Flood: A Chinese Legend - Paul D. Storrie
When China is flooded, the Emperor Shun calls on Yu to save the land and the people. A graphic novel adapted from traditional retellings.

A is for Asia - Cynthia Chin-Lee
An alphabetical introduction to the diverse peoples, lands and cultures of the world’s largest continent.

Children of China: An Artist's Journey - Song Nan Zhang
Song Nan Zhang travelled from Inner Mongolia east, south, and north to find and paint unusual scenes of Chinese family life.

Count Your Way Through China - James Haskins
Presents the numbers one through ten in Chinese, using each number to introduce concepts about China and Chinese culture.

Rice is Life - Rita Golden Gelman
On the island of Bali, rice is consumed for breakfast, lunch and dinner.

Sadako - Eleanor Coerr
Hospitalized with the dreaded atom bomb disease, leukemia, a child in Hiroshima races against time to fold one thousand paper cranes to verify the legend that by doing so a sick person will become healthy.

Story of Divaali - Jatinder Nath Verma
Retells the Hindu tale of a heroic prince and his bride who are separated by the demon prince Ravana until the Monkey Army of Hanuman helps them.

Ten Mice for Tet! - Pegi Deitz Shea
A village of mice prepares for Vietnamese New Year.

A to Zen: A Book of Japanese Culture - Ruth Wells
Introduces Japanese words in a book designed to be read from back to front and from right to left.

Awakening the Dragon: The Dragon Boat Festival - Arlene Chan
Boat races honour the dragon that, in ancient times, the Chinese believed to be both a protector and a threat, able to bring on rain or cause droughts.

Beyond the Great Mountains: A Visual Poem About China - Ed Young
Spare prose and paper collage illustrations combine to convey the many elements of the country of China.

Child in Prison Camp - Shizuye Takashima
With sadness and joy, the author tells of her family’s internment in the Canadian Rockies during World War II, when she was eleven.

Chinese Book of Animal Powers - Al Chung-liang Huang
Describes the twelve animals of the Chinese zodiac with their strengths and weaknesses, and shows how to write their names in Chinese calligraphy.

Chingis Khan - Demi
A biography of the Mongol leader and military strategist who, at the height of his power, was supreme master of the largest empire ever created in the lifetime of one man.

Cowboy on the Steppes - Song Nan Zhang
The true story of a studious, gentle city boy, sent to live with Mongolian herdsmen in 1968, during Mao’s Cultural Revolution.

Cricket Never Does: A Collection of Haiku and Tanka - Myra Cohn Livingston
A collection of more than fifty original haiku and tanka verses about the four seasons.

Dia's Story Cloth - Dia Cha
The story cloth made for her by her aunt and uncle chronicles the life of the author and her family in their native Laos and their eventual emigration to the United States.

Emperor's Silent Army - Jane O'Connor
Describes the archaeological discovery of thousands of life-sized terracotta warrior statues in northern China in 1974, and discusses the emperor who had them created and placed near his tomb.

Great Wall of China - Leonard Everett Fisher
A brief history in picture book format of the Great Wall of China, begun about 2,200 years ago to kep out Mongol invaders.

Hiromi's Hands - Lynne Barasch
Hiromi lives in New York City and becomes a sushi chef like her father.

Once upon a Full Moon - Elizabeth Quan
When she was a child in the 1920s, Quan travelled with her family across Canada by rail and then across the ocean by ship to meet her grandmother for the first time in China.

Our Journey from Tibet: Based on a True Story - Laurie Dolphin
Follows the dangerous journey of three young sisters from their home in Tibet, occupied by the Chinese, to a new life in India, where they can freely learn about their religion and culture.

Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes - Eleanor Coerr
Hospitalized with the dreaded atom bomb disease, leukemia, a child in Hiroshima races against time to fold one thousand paper cranes to verify the legend that by doing so a sick person will become healthy.

Voices of the Heart - Ed Young
Explores 26 Chinese characters that describe feelings or emotions.

Asian Heritage Month
Lists events and contact information.

Updated February 2008