Monsoon Afternoon

Monsoon Afternoon

Elementary Grades

Written by: Kashmira Sheth
Illustrated by: Yoshiko Jaeggi

"It is monsoon season in India. Outside, dark clouds roll in and the rain starts to fall. As animals scatter to find cover, a young boy and his dadaji (grandfather) head out into the rainy weather.

The two sail paper boats. They watch the peacocks dance in the rain, just as the colorful birds did when Dadaji was a boy. They pick mangoes and Dadaji lifts up his grandson so he can swing on the roots of the banyan tree, just as Dadaji did when he was young. Finally, when the two return home, hot tea and a loving family are waiting."

Publishers Synopsis

Tanuki's Gift

Tanuki's Gift

Written by: Tim J. Myers
Illustrated by: Robert Roth

Elementary Grades

"Myers adapts a traditional Japanese tale involving the friendship between a Buddhist priest and a magical raccoon-dog creature, a tanuki. The characters meet when the nearly frozen tanuki appears at the priest's door, begging for shelter. The man gladly obliges, and the two develop a friendly rapport. When the tanuki insists on demonstrating his thanks, the priest admits that a gold offering might help him enter Paradise. The tanuki then disappears, returning many months later with the gold. By that time, however, the priest has realized that the true gift is the friendship."

American Library Association

Coolies

Coolies

Written by: Yin
Illustrated by: Chris Soentpiet

Upper Elementary and Junior High Grades

"When the western line of the transcontinental railroad joined the eastern line at Promontory Point, UT, in 1869, the engraving commemorating the event left out an important group of workers-the Chinese. Derisively called "coolies" by their white overseers, these refugees from Southern China came to California desperate for any work that would help them feed their starving families back home. This picture book, cast as a story told by a modern Chinese grandmother, transforms the familiar ethnic slur into a badge of honor."

School Library Journal Review

Web Resources:
http://cprr.org/Museum/Chinese.html
http://www.pbs.org/weta/thewest/lesson_plans/lesson01.htm