HIT: Books on Japan

[Tawana West <twest@COMP.UARK.EDU>]

Here is a list of the books, folktales, and other information on Japan
that was sent to me.
Thanks so much to everyone who sent information!  :-)

Sadako and the Paper Cranes
How My Parents Learned to Eat
Grandfather's Journey
Sadako", "Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes", "Meiko and the Fifth
Treasure" by Eleanor Coerr
"The Two Bullies", "The Inch Boy", "The White Crane", "A Piece of Straw",
"A Mouse's Marriage", "Kenju's Forest" by Junko Morimoto
"Snowball" Wolfgang Grasse
"Nose Trouble" Jean Chapman
"The Stone Cutter" by Gerald McDermott
"The Farmer and the Poor God" by Ruth Wells
"The Sea of Gold" retold by Kath Lock
Allan Say has written several picture books based in Japan. There is also
"My
brother My Sister and I" which is post WWII Japan,

 THE LITTLE OLD WOMAN, also THREE STRONG WOMEN, also BAMBOO
CAKES AND RICE and also THE EMPTY POT (I think that is Japanese but I
am not sure) and then THE WISE OLD WOMAN.

Yoshiko Uchida books.
Hiroshima by Yep (short, upper elementary retelling of the bombing)
Sign of the Chrysanthemum by Paterson? (feudal Japan, main character goes
looking for Samurai father)
The Warrior and the Wise Man by Wisniewski (fantastic folk tale!)

Under the Blood Red Sun (Japanese-American main character in Hawaii during
WWII) don't know author.

Two marvelous books are Baseball Saved Us and Heroes both my the same
author.
His name starts with an M but I can't remember it.

I just went to my state convention for Librarians (TLA) and discovered
Japanese story cards there called Kamishibai.  Using a screen with cards
that have pictures on the front and story on the preceeding page, a
storyteller has all the props needed.  The address for information is:
        Kamishibai for Kids
        Catherdral Station
        P. O. Box 629
        New York, NY  10025

        (800) 772-1228
        www.kamishibai.com
        kmishi@cybernex.net

"The Crane Wife," retold by Katherine Paterson

I'm not sure if it is in print, but Miss Happiness and Miss Flower by
Rumer
Godden is great for elementary.  It is about Nona, raised in India but
sent to
live with English relatives.  She receives two Japanese dolls and imagines
that they are as homesick as she is.   She sets out to make a house,
garden,
and clothes being forced to come out of her shell for the sake of the
dolls.
The doll's point of view is also expressed. As a child, I learned a lot
about
Japanese customes and culture in a very painless way from this book.

Moshi moshi/London

The Eternal Spring of Mr. Ito

I read the book Mieko and the Fifth Treasure to a second grade class and
have been amazed how many want to reread it now that they are in the third
grade. It is set just after the war and Mieko who is a gifted artist has
had
her hands damaged as a result of the bombings. She is a little girl and
her
parents send her to live with her grandmother so that they may remain in
the
city and offer help to seriously injured people. It is a lovely story and
had greater impact than I expected.
 Umbrella by Yashima is a classic.  The Bracelet by Uchida is about the
internment camps during WWII.  Crow Boy is a Caldecott winner.
 Postcards from Japan (publisher ?)
and Children's Press New True Book have information at a low level.

The Japanese word book by Yuko Green, published by Bess Press, Honolulu
This is a picture dictionary of the Japanese language.

Folktales
The Magic Purse/Uchida
The Boy Who Drew Cats/Levine
Lily and the Wooden Bowl/Schroeder
Crane's Gift/Biddle
On Cat Mountain/Richard
Screen of Frogs/Hamanka
Badger and the Magic Fan/Johnston
Warrior and the Wise Man/Wisniewski
Tale of the Mandarin Ducks/Patterson
Jojofu/Waite
Under the Cherry Blossom Tree/Say
Samauri's Daughter/San Souci

Other picture books
How My Parents Learned to Eat/Friedman
Bicycle Man/Say
Chibi: A True Story From Japan/Brenner
Moshi Moshi/London
Tea With Milk/Say
Shibumi and the Kitemaker/Mayer
Boy of the Three Year Nap/Snyder
Tree of Cranes/Say

Nonfiction
Commander Perry in the Land of the Shogun/Blumberg
Japan, the Culture/Kalman
Japan, the People/Kalman
Japan, the Land/Kalman

Badger and the Magic Fan by Tony Johnson (cute folktale
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Tawana West, LMS                E-mail:  twest@comp.uark.edu
Walker Elementary School        phone:   501.750.8874
1701 S. 40th Street             fax:     501.750.8717
Springdale, AR   72762          A National Blue Ribbon School

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