Asia Books - Page 2

Breadwinner

Deborah Ellis

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Subjects -> Children's Books -> Authors & Illustrators, A-Z -> ( E ) -> Ellis, Deborah

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 66 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

The Breadwinner brings to life an issue that has recently exploded in the international media — the reality of life under the Taliban. Young Parvana lives with her family in one room of a bombed-out apartment building in Kabul, Afghanistan. Because he has a foreign education, her father is arrested by the Taliban, the religious group that controls the country. Since women cannot appear in public unless covered head to toe, or go to school, or work outside the home, the family becomes increasingly desperate until Parvana conceives a plan. She cuts her hair and disguises herself as a boy to earn money for her family. Parvana’s determination to survive is the force that drives this novel set against the backdrop of an intolerable situation brought about by war and religious fanaticism. Deborah Ellis spent several months talking with women and girls in Afghan refugee camps in Pakistan and Russia. This suspenseful, timely novel is the result of those encounters. Royalties from the sale of The Breadwinner will go toward educating Afghan girls in Pakistani refugee camps. “A potent portrait of life in contemporary Afghanistan, showing that powerful heroines can survive even in the most oppressive ... conditions.” — Booklist

Grandfather's Journey

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 42 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Great Selection! 4 out of 5 stars.
3 of 3 people found this review helpful.

The cover illustration is what initially drew me to this book; watching a young man stand on the deck of a steamship while the wind and waves thrash about. The color of the sea beckoned me to turn the pages and find out more about where this man was going and whether or not he would get there.

Grandfather is a young immigrant traveling from Japan to his new home in America. He journeys all across this land and experiences all aspects of it: cities, farms, mountains, rivers, people, etc. He settles in California but eventually misses his homeland, and travels back to satisfy his longings. Through a series of events, he is unable to make his way back to the West Coast that he loves so much.

My husband and I were in the Navy and lived among people from all over the world. I loved getting to know them and experiencing their ways of life. Understanding how other people around the world think and love and live, has made me a more complete person. It has made me who I am today. In this way I connect with Grandfather and his journeys.

Editorial Review:

A picture book masterpiece from Caldecott medal winner Allen Say now available in paperback!

Lyrical, breathtaking, splendid—words used to describe Allen Say's Grandfather's Journey when it was first published. At once deeply personal yet expressing universally held emotions, this tale of one man's love for two countries and his constant desire to be in both places captured readers' attention and hearts. Fifteen years later, it remains as historically relevant and emotionally engaging as ever.

Bee-Bim Bop!

Linda Sue Park

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 15 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

We are fam-i-ly! 5 out of 5 stars.
4 of 6 people found this review helpful.

Remember when you were a kid and your mama made your favorite meal? You would smell it cooking and just could not wait? Well, hang on, it's time for Bee-bim bop! The little girl is part of the meal preparation from beginning to end. That is why she can sing a multitude of variations of "Hurry, hurry."

Instead of waiting on the sidelines or in the den, Linda Sue Park pulls the reader along with the child and mother in this adventure in shopping, preparing, cooking, and eating Bee-bim bop, a favorite Korean dish. Ho Baek Lee, the illustrator, creates large strides in the grocery store, crazy whirlwind angles, close-ups of the girl and her dog, a colorful focus on the areas near the girl and grayed, incomplete portrayals of distant areas in the kitchen.

All in all, Park features the little girl in this hurried, practiced look at Bee-bim bop preparation. In fact, mother's head sits invisibly above the picture line in most of the illustrations, which show her cooking. Why? The book is a first-person narration of the girl's excitement and an almost dizzying anticipation of a favorite dish. "Hurry, hurry, hurry," she says in many variations. It is a wonderful thing that Park gives the girl such an understanding and calm mother.

In fact, this book is as much about family as it is about cooking a specific dish. The mother seems to encourage the girl's participation instead of grumpily ordering her from underfoot. As the dog mirrors the girl's every movement, she, too, is allowed her place in the story. When the food is ready, the rest of the family immediately and respectfully appear instead of of being cajoled to the dining area. And lastly, the family immediately says grace instead of being reminded.

The family has an easy, settled routine. Everyone cooperates in serving, there is smiling all around. Grandmother wears a traditional Korean garment, and the prayer indicates a cohesion and unity of family through love. It is the family portrayal that makes this story so significant. Yes, the reader is presented with the fun and excitement of a favorite meal, but the display of connected family members is the crux of the story, intentionally or inadvertently. Park and Lee depict the happy family.

Two more things particularly merit attention. A detailed recipe follows the story, making it an exciting possibility for cooks and little helpers to try at home. As one more piece of the puzzle of family togetherness,
Park also includes a picture of herself and a niece and nephew helping her prepare Bee-bim bop.

This book is such a winner in many ways. Highly recommended!

Editorial Review:

A wonderful paperback picture book about the joys of family and food, from Newbery Award winning author Linda Sue Park.

Bee-bim bop ("mix-mix rice") is a traditional Korean dish. In bouncy rhyming text, a hungry child tells of helping her mother make bee-bim bop: shopping, preparing ingredients, setting the table, and sitting down to enjoy a favorite meal. The enthusiasm of the narrartor is conveyed in the whimsical illustrations, which bring details from the artist's childhood in Korea to his depiction of a modern Korean-American family. The book includes Linda Sue's own bee-bim bop recipe!

Magic Tree House #5: Night of the Ninjas (A Stepping Stone Book(TM))

Mary Pope Osborne

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 22 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Night of the Ninjas 4 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

Night of the Ninjas
By Mary Pope Osborne

Would you like to hear about a book called Night of the Ninjas? The two main characters are Jack and Annie. They find a Magic Tree House that allows them to travel through time. In this book, they go back to the time of the ninjas. They are captured and taken to the head ninja. I'm not telling what's next. The series is Magic Tree House. This is book number five. Read the book to find out what happens to Jack and Annie.

Terry, 7 years old
Cunniff School
Watertown, MA.

Night of the Ninjas 4 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

Raymond Georges 3/13/06

Ms. Hillgardner Class: English

Title: Magic Tree House #5

Night of the Ninjas

Author: Mary pope Osborne

Illustrator: Sal Murdocca

Jack and Annie the two main characters. They go to the magic Tree house. It whisks them to ancient Japan. Their mission is to find their friend Morgan, while their friend Jack and Annie get seen by two ninjas. Jack saw them as a treat so he was very caution. They followed the Ninjas through valley up mountains and in the forest. They saw a few samurai warriors who were looking for the ninjas since they are with them the samurai see jack and Annie as emesis.
On their little journey they way of Jack and Annie met the ninja Master. He told Jack and Annie," Use nature be nature, Follow nature, if you use these three things you will find your way to the tree house and find your friend Morgan pg 38. I'm not going to tell you anymore because I do not want to spoil it

Editorial Review:

The tree house is back--but where is the enchantress Morgan le Fay?  The search for her begins as Jack and Annie are transported back to ancient Japan, where they find themselves in the cave of a ninja master.  Will the evil samurai warriors get to Jack and Annie before they can learn the secrets of the ninjas?    

The Jungle Books (Oxford World's Classics)

Rudyard Kipling

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 41 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Super Reader 4 out of 5 stars.
1 of 2 people found this review helpful.

Rather than being raised by apes, it is wolves that fulfill for the family role for the young boy Mowgli after he escapes being tiger snacks.

Shere Khan will continue to be his antagonist, and he will gain advice and assistance from other jungle denizens as he grows to manhood.

This also has the pretty cool heroic mongoose tale Rikki-Tikki-Tavi.

THE JUNGLE BOOKS by Rudyard Kipling 4 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

The Jungle Book (1894) and The Second Jungle Book (1895) are collections of children's stories and related poems by Rudyard Kipling, the Briton who was born in and loved India, and who wrote these stories while living in Vermont. The stories are written as fables, and teach some moral lessons. They are probably Kipling's best-known works.

Many of the stories in both volumes feature Mowgli, the child raised by wolves who becomes master of the jungle (the first three stories in The Jungle Book are very obviously the inspiration for the 1967 animated Disney film). Most of the other stories are also set in India, although "The White Seal" in The Jungle Book and "Quiquern" (which is about Inuits) in The Second Jungle Book are exceptions. In nearly all instances, Kipling anthropomorphizes the animals; they speak, and are always prominent characters.

Kipling does a good job of writing in the fable style, although he doesn't always keep things moving at a good pace, and so some stories are more engaging than others.

There is a subtle racism throughout both volumes. Kipling was a staunch imperialist (he wrote the poem "The White Man's Burden" - this phrase has been used by imperialists since to justify imperialism as noble), and when humans feature in these stories, English whites are often presented as culturally and intellectually superior to the native Indians. This racism is still relevant, as it indicates a popular attitude of the day.

Ultimately, the Jungle Books are well worth reading. They have, perhaps deservedly so, achieved a prominent place in the pantheon of children's literature.

Editorial Review:

The Jungle Books, regarded as classic stories told by an adult to children and best known for the "Mowgli" series, also constitutes a complex literary work of art in which the whole of Kipling's philosophy of life is expressed in miniature. The stories, a mixture of fantasy, myth and magic, are underpinned by Kipling's abiding preoccupation with the theme of self-discovery and the nature of the "Law."

Ancient China (Eyewitness Books)

Arthur Cotterell

List Price: $19.00 By: Knopf Books for Young Readers Amazon Marketplace: 30 new & used starting at $0.33

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Subjects -> Children's Books -> History & Historical Fiction -> Fiction -> Ancient Civilizations

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 7 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Fascinating! 5 out of 5 stars.
9 of 10 people found this review helpful.

Ancient China was the best book dealing with China that I have so far read. It was intriguing how I learned, saw, and discovered many things in only about 65 pages. The beautiful photography gave the words life. This book proves excellence truly exists and gives the word perfection an even greater new meaning.

Ancient China 5 out of 5 stars.
8 of 10 people found this review helpful.

This book report is about the world's oldest continuous civilization called China. From 221 B.C to A.D 1912 in China was combined under a great and powerful empire called the Qin Empire. Ancient China was remained untouched because it was apart by the huge a scorching deserts, mountain ranges, and the ocean. It was cut off from other cultures such as India, West Asia, and Europe. China's social structure was a main role in maintaining its national stability. What also helped China together was a great philosopher named Confucius who encouraged people to lead an ordered family way of life. Once in a while the Chinese empire experienced short periods of unrest and disunity and attacks from foreigners. During those times they changed the governments and they built many innovations and technological advances such as gunpowder, paper, printing, and industrial machinery. The Chinese people still used the same customs and traditions and stayed remarkably to today.

The first dynasty to leave historical record was the Shang Dynasty. Their kings ruled the greater part of northern China from 1650 to 1027 B.C., where the soil was fertile and had enough water from the Yellow River. The ruler of the dynasty was a priest or known as the Son of Heaven. He had to believe that his empire has to maintain good relations between our world and heaven. The Shang Dynasty had many slaves, but they rely upon the labor of their rural population. The peasant farmers cultivated the soil and took parts hunting for food and served as soldiers in the army.

Confucius believed that the early years of the Zhou dynasty were golden years of social harmony. During his lifetime, he saw growing disorder and saw reducing power in the dynasty. This fight became more and more turmoil, which led Confucius to develop a moral outlook. It was based on happiness, respect for elders, and strength in the family. He had a saying that a good ruler should set an example by dealing with people. In return, the people had to respect and obey their emperor. Confucius also believed that different families should be governed by common family relationships with a stable society. After Confucius encouraged ancestor worship because it strengthened families. Then the Chinese came to see themselves as a part of a greater family.

For three centuries of war marked a decline of the Zhou dynasty. This dynasty became unstable, so in 481 B.C. China was separated into seven warring states. The battles became large in scale with crossbowmen, cavalry, armored infantry, and chariots. During the war many men were killed and wounded. In 260 B.C. Sun Zi, a writer, wrote the Art of War, the world's oldest military handbook, which gave nobles practice of warfare. Eventually the northwestern state of Qin was victorious and united the feuding lords under one empire. The military began to decline and the civil service grew in importance and Confucianism came in.

During the 250 years of the Chinese empire was occupied a non-Chinese people from the north of the Great Wall. China prospered for 150 years of Manchu, Qin, and different rulers who ruled China. For the first time Chinese technology fell behind and France, Russia, and Japan began to bully the Qin empire. In 1912, ancient China was brining to an end of 2000 years of imperial history.

I recommend this Eyewitness Book: Ancient China because if learning about China in history class it can help you a lot. It has many captions you can read from and learn more just by reading it and the pictures shows you many things what were like and different paintings and sculptures. So whoever likes this may be smarter because they might learn something.

Editorial Review:

Illus. with full-color photos. From the earliest dynasty to the last emperor, watch 3,000 years of splendor come alive in this colorful chronicle of the civilization that's given us everything from gunpowder to dim sum.  

Yeh-Shen: A Cinderella Story from China (Paperstar Book)

Ai-Ling Louie

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 8 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Not appropriate for young children 1 out of 5 stars.
34 of 67 people found this review helpful.

I am very enthusiastic about exposing my children to different cultures and ideas, and when I saw this book and read the reviews on Amazon, I was excited to get it for my girls. When the book arrived, I read it immediately. The story and the pictures are beautiful. I liked everything until the very last sentence of the book -- I was very surprised to read that Yeh-Shen's stepmother and stepsister were "crushed to death in a shower of flying stones." Although I understand that this may be part of the original story, I am giving this book one star because it is supposed to be appropriate for children 4-8. I don't believe, with such a violent and disturbing ending, that it is appropriate for this age group.

more realistic cinderella 5 out of 5 stars.
3 of 3 people found this review helpful.

Bought this for my 6-yo niece, who reads very well. It's a great version of the Cinderella story, set in China. Instead of fairies and magic, the story is woven with events that could actually happen. (Makes me wonder if it inspired Cinderella, or vice versa.) Loved it, and so does my niece!

Editorial Review:

This version of the Cinderella story, in which a young girl overcomes the wickedness of her stepsister and stepmother to become the bride of a prince, is based on ancient Chinese manuscripts written 1000 years before the earliest European version.

Yum Yum Dim Sum (World Snacks)

Amy Wilson Sanger

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 16 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

A brilliant way to introduce our baby to cultural diversity... through food!!! 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

My husband and I are both foodies. We love ethnic cuisines quite a bit. So, we are so happy that our little boy, who's almost a-year-and-half, already loves items like pasta, onigiri, dim sum, fried rice, taco, quesadilla, etc.

I was so excited when I discovered this book series one day. I thought it would be a great addition to his little library, as well as being a great supplement to our effort to introduce him to all the various yummy food different people throughout the world eat. I began with "Yum Yum Dim Sum." It provides lots of fun, helps him associate these yummy dishes with exciting pictures. I cannot wait to get more.

Highly recommended!!!

Great way to learn about foods 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

We have a series of these books for my son. We read them to him and he loves the pictures. It's a great way for him to be introduced to different kinds of food.

Cute book about Chinese food 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

I would have preferred photographs of the foods rather than multimedia collages, but the writing is very cute.

Not as good as the sushi book. 3 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

I bought this book for my one year-old son, because he loves the sushi book in this series. Neither my son nor I enjoyed this one as much. I expected the book to be more interesting. The pictures are nice and it it does provide an easy way to introduce dim sum to a young child. Ultiimately though, after reading it to my child, I decided not to buy any additional ones in the series.

Lost Horizon

James Hilton

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 97 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Excellent Fantasy 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

This is a most excellent fantasy and perhaps James Hilton's greatest work. Where his other books have not survived, this modern version of Camelot or Utopia lost someplace in Asian mountains is an answer for a perfect society. His style is pleasant easy reading, while being thoughtful and provactive, making a person consider that perhaps industrialization is not the answer for the ills plaguing humanity. I only wish the movie and the musical had portrayed the book exactly as written.

My favorite book of all time 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

I think the first thing that struck me was how timeless this story is, the search for a personal utopia, the subtle morality, the ideal of moderation. The quotes struck me as so appropriate for the modern age, even though the book was written in 1933. "laziness in doing stupid things is quite a virtue." "Time enough for everything" and the ever popular "the meek shall inherit the world," an old time biblical favorite. The book is charming and elegant, about a magical place for everyone.

Editorial Review:

While attempting to escape a civil war, four people are kidnapped and transported to the Tibetan mountains. After their plane crashes, they are found by a mysterious Chinese man. He leads them to a monastery hidden in "the valley of the blue moon" -- a land of mystery and matchless beauty where life is lived in tranquil wonder, beyond the grasp of a doomed world.

It is here, in Shangri-La, where destinies will be discovered and the meaning of paradise will be unveiled.

Chinese Children's Favorite Stories

Mingmei Yip

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 8 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Something I'd want to have for my own collection 5 out of 5 stars.
2 of 2 people found this review helpful.

Mingmei Yip is an excellent writer--very engaging. And her illustrations are very colorful and eye-catching as well. I was looking for books to introduce Chinese culture to my young nieces, nephews, and cousins, and I can definitely recommend this one. I couldn't put it down myself, late one night! I had checked out a slew of books from the library, but only some met my criteria of excellent writing and good pictures. Some had one or the other: this one had BOTH. I don't give anything I wouldn't want myself...I sure wish I had this when I was growing up! Adults can enjoy this, too.

Editorial Review:

This volume of beloved Chinese stories contains a delightful selection from the rich store of Chinese folklore and legend. Discover the many delightful animal characters as well as Chang-E, the famous Eight Immortals, and Guan Yin, goddess of compassion. Retold for an international audience, the beautifully illustrated stories will give children aged six to ten in other countries a glimpse into both the tradition and culture of China.

Other titles in the series include Japanese Children's Favorite Stories: Books One and Two , Balinese Children's Favorite Stories, Filipino Children's Favorite Stories, and Singapore Children's Favorite Stories. Korean Children's Favorite Stories, andFavorite Children's Stories from China and Tibet.