RESOURCES

Background Information | Multicultural Education & Curriculum Materials
Asian Pacific American Literature for Children & Young Adults

Background Information

The Asian American encyclopedia. Ed. Franklin Ng. New York : Marshall Cavendish, 1995.
Reference E184.O6 A827 1995 v.1-6

Distinguished Asian Americans : a biographical dictionary. Ed. Hyung-chan Kim. Westport, CT : Greenwood, 1999.
Reference E184.O6 D57 1999

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Multicultural Education & Curriculum Materials

Bibliography

Selected Materials from Western Libraries Children's & Curriculum Collections

The following books from the Children's and Curriculum Collections are featured in the Spring/Summer 2004 Education Featured Topic Display: Diversity Series - Celebrating Asian Pacific Americans in Western Libraries on Wilson 4 East. The selected books are organized into the following categories, and are available to check-out for use outside the library. Consult the Western Libraries Online Catalog for location and availability.

If a specific Asian Pacific American ethnic group is the main subject of the book, this is noted where appropriate. For most of the books in the section on Asian Pacific American writers and illustrators, a brief story summary is included.

For more examples of resources for children and young adults or curriculum materials on Asian Pacific Americans, search the Western Libraries Online Catalog. Try a Keyword search and limit your search to Location: Children's Collection or Curriculum Collection.

Categories Adjusting to Life in the United States Asian Pacific American History & Historical Fiction Cross Cultural Conflict Sharing Asian Pacific & Asian Pacific American Culture The Search for & Acceptance of an Asian Pacific American Identity Asian Pacific American Writers & Illustrators Learning More about Asian Pacific Americans Problematic Texts Asian Pacific American Poetry Asian Pacific Folktales

Biographical and literary information on each featured author is from the Contemporary Authors database, available through Western Libraries.

Lensey Namioka | Yoshiko Uchida | Laurence Yep | Ed Young

Lensey Namioka, 1929-

Chinese-American author Lensey Namioka was born in Beijing, China. She "worked primarily as a mathematics instructor before beginning her current career as a writer in the mid-1970s. Namioka once told CA: [Contemporary Authors] 'For my writings, I draw heavily on my Chinese cultural heritage and on my husband's Japanese cultural heritage. My involvement with Japan started before my marriage, since my mother spent many years in Japan. My long years of training in mathematics had little influence on my writing, except for an urge to economy.' Namioka is perhaps best known for her series of exciting adventure-mystery books about two samurai warriors and for her humorous juvenile novels about young Chinese immigrants living in Seattle."

An ocean apart, a world away : a novel. Lensey Namioka.
CHIL F N174oc 2002
Summary: Despite the odds facing her decision to become a doctor in 1920's Nanking, China, teenaged Yanyan leaves her family to study at Cornell University where, along with hard work, she finds prejudice and loneliness as well as friendship and a new sense of accomplishment.

The samurai and the long-nosed devils. Lensey Namioka.
CHIL F N174s
Summary: During a warlord's drive to unify Japan, two unemployed samurai become bodyguards to a group of foreigners being harassed by the warlord's enemies.

Ties that bind, ties that break : a novel. Lensey Namioka.
CHIL F N174ti 1999
Summary: Ailin's life takes a different turn when she defies the traditions of upper class Chinese society by refusing to have her feet bound.

Village of the vampire cat. Lensey Namioka.
CHIL F N174v
Summary: When a young ronin returns to the village of his former teacher, he and his companion find it being terrorized by a mysterious killer.

White serpent castle Lensey Namioka.
CHIL F N174w 1976
Summary: During the struggle for a warlord's territory, two unemployed samurai attempt to secure power for the rightful heir.

Yang the third and her impossible family. Lensey Namioka.
CHIL F N174ya3 1995
Summary: Third daughter Mary Yang makes an unexpected new friend while trying to hide a kitten from her family.

Yang the youngest and his terrible ear. Lensey Namioka
CHIL F N174ya 1992
Summary: Recently arrived in Seattle from China, musically untalented Yingtao is faced with giving a violin performance to attract new students for his father when he would rather be working on friendships and playing baseball.

Yoshiko Uchida, 1921-1992

Japanese-American author "Yoshiko Uchida's appreciation for her Japanese heritage inspired her to become the author of many books on Japanese culture for readers of all ages. 'In fiction, the graceful and lively books of Yoshiko Uchida have drawn upon the author's own childhood to document the Japanese-American experience for middle-grade readers,' Patty Campbell commented in the New York Times Book Review. ...Uchida once explained to CA [Contemporary Authors]: 'Through my books I hope to give young Asian-Americans a sense of their past and to reinforce their self-esteem and self-knowledge. At the same time, I want to dispel the stereotypic image still held by many non-Asians about the Japanese and write about them as real people. I hope to convey the strength of spirit and the sense of hope and purpose I have observed in many first-generation Japanese. Beyond that, I write to celebrate our common humanity, for the basic elements of humanity are present in all our strivings.'"

The dancing kettle, and other Japanese folk tales. Yoshiko Uchida. Richard C. Jones, illustrator.
CHIL 398.2 U17d

The forever Christmas tree. Yoshiko Uchida. Kazue Mizumura, illustrator.
CHIL F U17f

Hisako's mysteries. Yoshiko Uchida. Susan Bennett, illustrator.
CHIL F U17h
Summary: A gift of money from an unknown donor on her birthday and a mysterious letter found in a closet set a thirteen-year-old Japanese girl wondering about the whereabouts of her father who supposedly died when she was two.

Journey to Topaz; a story of the Japanese-American evacuation. Yoshiko Uchida. Donald Carrick, illustrator.
CHIL F U17j
Summary: After the Pearl Harbor attack an eleven-year-old Japanese-American girl and her family are forced to go to an aliens camp in Utah.

The magic listening cap. Yoshiko Uchida.
CHIL 398.2 U17m
Summary: Tales from Japan.

The promised year. Yoshiko Uchida. William M. Hutchinson, illustrator.
CHIL F U17p

Samurai of Gold Hill. Yoshiko Uchida. Ati Forberg, illustrator.
CHIL F U17s
Summary: Seeking a new life in nineteenth-century California with his samurai father, a young Japanese finds it difficult to adjust to the idea of being a farmer and not a samurai.

Sumi & the goat & the Tokyo Express. Yoshiko Uchida. Kazue Mizumura, illustrator.
CHIL F U17su
Summary: The new high speed train wasn't supposed to stop at Sugi Village, but that schedule didn't take into account Miki, the goat.

Takao and grandfather's sword. Yoshiko Uchida.
CHIL F U17t

Laurence Michael Yep, 1948-

"The author of such award-winning novels as Dragonwings, Child of the Owl, and Dragon Steel, novelist and playwright Laurence Michael Yep is noted for penning fiction that brings the history and culture of Chinese Americans into realistic view, exchanging the exaggerated, stereotyped images of Dr. Fu Manchu and Charley Chan for portraits of the real-life men and women who have enriched the United States with their own labor and willingness to share their cultural heritage. As essayist Joe Stines noted in the Dictionary of Literary Biography, "Yep provides the reader with a new way of viewing Chinese-Americans, not as yellow men [and women] living in white society but as ordinary as well as extraordinary people."

Child of the owl. Laurence Yep.
CHIL F Y47c 1978
Summary: A twelve-year-old girl who knows little about her Chinese heritage is sent to live with her grandmother in San Francisco's Chinatown.

Dragon of the lost sea. Laurence Yep.
CHIL F Y47dr 1982
Summary: Shimmer, a renegade dragon princess, tries to redeem herself by capturing a witch with the help of a human boy.

Dragon prince : a Chinese Beauty & the beast tale. Laurence Yep. Kam Mak, illustrator.
CHIL 398.2 Y47dr 1997
Summary: A poor farmer's youngest daughter agrees to marry a fierce dragon in order to save her father's life.

Dragon's gate. Laurence Yep.
CHIL F Y47dg 1993
Summary: When he accidentally kills a Manchu, a 15-year-old Chinese boy is sent to America to join his father, an uncle, and other Chinese working to build a tunnel for the transcontinental railroad through the Sierra Nevada mountains in 1867. Sequel to "Mountain Light."

Dragonwings. Laurence Yep.
CHIL F Y47d
Summary: In the early twentieth century a young Chinese boy joins his father in San Francisco and helps him realize his dream of making a flying machine.

Hiroshima : a novella. Laurence Yep.
CHIL F Y47hi 1995
Summary: Describes the dropping of the atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan, particularly as it affects Sachi, who becomes one of the Hiroshima Maidens.

The Khan's daughter : a Mongolian folktale. Laurence Yep. Jean and Mou-Sien Tseng, illustrators.
CHIL 398.2 Y47kh 1997
Summary: In this retelling of a Mongolian folktale a simple shepherd must pass three tests in order to marry the Khan's beautiful daughter.

Lady of Ch'iao Kuo : Warrior of the South. Laurence Yep.
CHIL F Y47La 2001
Summary: In 531 A.D., a fifteen-year-old princess of the Hsien tribe in southern China keeps a diary which describes her role as liaison between her own people and the local Chinese colonists, in times of both peace and war.

The lost garden. Laurence Yep.
CHIL 979.4 Y47Lo 1991
Summary: The author describes how he grew up as a Chinese American in San Francisco and how he came to use his writing to celebrate his family and his ethnic heritage.

Sea glass. Laurence Yep.
CHIL F Y47sea
Summary: A Chinese-American boy whose father wants him to be good in sports finally asserts his right to be himself.

The serpent's children. Laurence Yep.
CHIL F Y47ser
Summary: In nineteenth-century China, a young girl struggles to protect her family from the threat of bandits, famine, and an ideological conflict between her father and brother.

The shell woman & the king: a Chinese folktale. Laurence Yep.
CHIL E Y47sh 1993
Summary: To save herself and her husband from an evil king, Shell agrees to bring him three wonders.

The star fisher. Laurence Yep.
CHIL F Y47st 1991
Summary: Fifteen-year-old Joan Lee and her family find the adjustment hard when they move from Ohio to West Virginia in the 1920s.

Thief of hearts. Laurence Yep.
CHIL F Y47th 1995
Summary: When Stacy is paired with a Chinese girl at school who is accused of theft, she must come to terms with her own Chinese and American heritage.

The Tom Sawyer fires. Laurence Yep.
CHIL F Y47t
Summary: The fifteen-year-old narrator relates how, with his help, cub reporter, Mark Twain, and fire fighter, Tom Sawyer, uncover the plot of a deranged Southern arsonist in San Francisco during the Civil War.

Ed (Tse-chun) Young, 1931-

Chinese-American author-illustrator Ed (Tse-chun) Young was born in Tientsin, China. "A critically acclaimed illustrator of children's books since the early 1960s, Ed Young often uses the folklore and folktales of his native China for inspiration. Illustrating the work of other writers as well as his own tales and adaptations, Young has put a visual face to historical China, from the days of the Han dynasty onward. His awards include Caldecott honors for Jane Yolen's The Emperor and the Kite and his own retelling of Seven Blind Mice and a Caldecott Medal for his translation of Lon Po Po: A Red Riding Hood Story from China. Often working with charcoals and pastels on rice paper, Young literally captures the feel of Chinese art in his illustrations, citing the philosophy of Chinese painting as his inspiration. 'A Chinese painting is often accompanied by words,' Young explained for Authors Online. 'They are complementary. There are things that words do that pictures never can, and likewise, there are images that words can never describe.'"

Chinese Mother Goose rhymes. Ed. Robert Wyndham. Ed Young, illustrator.
CHIL 398.8 H997c
Summary: A collection of nursery rhymes translated from Chinese, including ones on lady bugs, kites, and bumps on the head. Also includes the rhymes in Chinese characters.

The emperor and the kite. Jane Yolen. Ed Young, illustrator.
CHIL 398.2 Y543e
Summary: When the emperor is imprisoned in a high tower, his smallest daughter, whom he has always ignored, uses her kite to save him.

Eyes of the dragon. Margaret Leaf. Ed Young, illustrator.
CHIL E L4339ey 1987
Summary: An artist agrees to paint a dragon on the wall of a Chinese village, but the magistrate's insistence that he paint eyes on the dragon has amazing results.

The hunter : a Chinese folktale. Mary Casanova. Ed Young, illustrator.
CHIL 398.2 C335hu 2000
Summary: After learning to understand the language of animals, Hai Li Bu the hunter sacrifices himself to save his village.

Lon Po Po : a Red-Riding Hood story from China. Ed Young, translator and illustrator.
CHIL 398.2 Y709Lo 1989
Summary: Three sisters staying home alone are endangered by a hungry wolf who is disguised as their grandmother.

The lost horse : a Chinese folktale. Ed Young.
CHIL E Y21Lo 1998
Summary: A retelling of the tale about a Chinese man who owned a marvelous horse and who believed that things were not always as bad, or as good, as they might seem.

Monkey King. Ed Young.
CHIL 398.2 Y709mo 2001
Summary: In his journey to a more enlightened state, a monkey must end his trickery and understand that there is strength in admitting weakness. Based on a section of the Chinese epic "Journey to the West."

Seven blind mice. Ed Young.
CHIL E Y71se 1992
Summary: Retells in verse the Indian fable of the blind men discovering different parts of an elephant and arguing about its appearance. The illustrations depict the blind arguers as mice.

White wave : a Chinese tale. Diane Wolkstein. Ed Young, illustrator.
CHIL F W862w
Summary: A young Chinese farmer discovers a generous goddess living in a snail shell.