ASIA

KEY: jP = Picture Books; jZ = 1st and 2nd Grade Readers; jE = 3rd and 4th Grade Readers; JF = 5th Grade and Up

ASIA

updated 9/08


Picture Books


Beginning-to-Read Books


3rd and 4th Grade Books

McCully, Emily BEAUTIFUL WARRIOR
THE LEGEND OF THE NUN'S KUNG FU

Tells the story of two unlikely jung fu masters and how their skill in martial arts saves them both. Reign of the last Ming Emperor.
1998 unpaged

Pilegard, Virginia THE WARLORD'S KITES
When a hostile army attacks the warlord's palace in ancient China, Chuan and his friend, Jing Jing, find an ingenious way to scare them off using simple kites. Includes instructions for making a kite from a paper bag.
2004 unpaged

Schaeffer, Edith MEI FUH
MEMORIES FROM CHINA

Recounts the lives of an American girl and her family living in China in the early 1900’s, with details about food, home life, servants, and customs.
1998 90 p.


5TH Grade and UP

Bosse, Malcolm THE EXAMINATION
Fifteen-year-old Hong and his older brother Chen face famine, flood, pirates, and jealous rivals on their journey through 15th-century China as Chen pursues his calling as a scholar and Hong becomes involved with a secret society.
1994 296 p.

Compestine, Ying Chang REVOLUTION IS NOT A DINNER PARTY
Starting in 1972 when she is nine years old, Ling, the daughter of two doctors, struggles to make sense of the communists' Chinese Cultural Revolution, which empties stores of food, homes of appliances deemed "bourgeois," and people of laughter.
2007 243 p.

Holman, Sheri SONDOK, PRINCESS OF THE MOON AND STARS
The Royal Diaries
In a series of messages placed in her grandmother's ancestral jar, a 6th-century princess and future ruler of the Korean kingdom of Silla vents her frustraion at not being permitted to study astronomy because she is a girl. Korea A.D. 595.
2002 159 p.

Mah, Adelina Yen CHINESE CINDERELLA AND THE SECRET DRAGON SOCIETY
Chinese Cinderella is kicked out of her house by her stepmother and she has no idea what her future holds. After she joins the secret Dragon Society, though, she learns about espionage and martial arts allowing her to save lives in WWII.
2005 242 p.

McCaughrean, Geraldine THE KITE RIDER
This adventure novel portrays twelve-year-old Haoyou, who has to fend for himself and protect his mother when his father dies suddenly. His solutions to problems are acrobatic, innovative, and immersed in Chinese and Mongol folklore.
2002 272 p.

Park, Linda Sue THE KITE FIGHTERS
In Korea in 1473, eleven-year-old Young-sup overcomes his rivalry with his older brother Kee-sup and combines his kite-flying skill with his brother's kite-making skill in an attempt to win the New Year kite-fighting competition.
2000 136 p.

Russell, Ching CHILD BRIDE
An 11-year-old Chinese girl is sent to her grandmother’s village for an arranged marriage, and tries every method she can think of to escape her fate. Southeastern China of the 1940’s.
1999 128 p.

Russell, Ching WATER GHOST
Living in China during the late 1940's, Ying gives all her hard-earned money to the grandmother of a classmate who has drowned.
1995 192 p.

Whelan, Gloria CHU JU'S HOUSE
1976. In order to save her baby sister, fourteen-year-old Chu Ju leaves her rural home in modern China. She earns food and shelter by working at several jobs, yet, she wonders if she will ever see her family again.
2005 227 p.

Wilson, Diane I RODE A HORSE OF MILK WHITE JADE
Oyuna tells her granddaughter the story of how love for her horse enabled her to win a race and bring good luck to her family living in Mongolia in 1339.
1998 232 p.

Yep, Laurence LADY OF CH'IAO KUO
WARRIOR OF THE SOUTH

The Royal Diaries
In 531 A.D., a 15-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.
2001 278 p.

Yep, Laurence SPRING PEARL
THE LAST FLOWER

Girls of Many Lands series
Called boyish by her new family for being able to read and write, 12-year-old orphaned Spring Pearl's "odd ways" help save the family during the 1857 Opium War in Canton, China.
2002 197 p.


Young Adult

Banks, Lynne Reid
THE DUNGEON

In fourteenth-century Scotland, a rivalry has embittered Lord Bruce MacLennan. MacLennan's anger causes him to order a castle built, after which he travels to China. A decision he makes in China affects MacLennan's life thereafter.
2002 297 p.