MOVIE - Crazy Rich Americans

PG-13 (2:00)

Wide release 8-15-18

Viewed 9/9/18 at Carlisle 8 with Ella

RT Critic: 92   Audience:  79
Critic's Consensus:  With a terrific cast and a surfeit of visual razzle dazzle, Crazy Rich Asians takes a satisfying step forward for screen representation while deftly drawing inspiration from the classic -- and still effective -- rom-com formula.

Cag:  4.5 So much fun!

Directed by Jon M. Chu

Warner Brothers Pictures

Henry Golding, Constance Wu

My comments:  This is a fun movie that highlights the city of Singapore, making it look glitzy and decadent and over the top.  I wonder how much of this is real?  A very enjoyable movie with a lot of comic relief balancing out the decadence and snobbishness of the rich.  Ella enjoyed it a lot, and snuggled with me in the recliner throughout the movie, which was the best part of it all!

RT/ IMDb Summary:  "Crazy Rich Asians" follows native New Yorker Rachel Chu (Wu) as she accompanies her longtime boyfriend, Nick Young (Golding), to his best friend's wedding in Singapore. Excited about visiting Asia for the first time but nervous about meeting Nick's family, Rachel is unprepared to learn that Nick has neglected to mention a few key details about his life. It turns out that he is not only the scion of one of the country's wealthiest families but also one of its most sought-after bachelors. Being on Nick's arm puts a target on Rachel's back, with jealous socialites and, worse, Nick's own disapproving mother (Yeoh) taking aim. And it soon becomes clear that while money can't buy love, it can definitely complicate things.

PICTURE BOOK - In Andal's House by Gloria Whelan

Illustrated by Amanda Hall

Copyright, publisher

2013 Sleeping Bear Press

32 pgs.

Goodreads rating: 3.64 - 28 ratings

My rating: 3.5

1^st line/s:   "Kumar's mother gave him another helping of mango pickle to go with his dal."

My comments:  This lovely picture book includes , along withing the story, lots of information about contemporary India, including the cast system, Diwali (The Festival of Lights) and bits and pieces about food and family and famous people.

Goodreads:  As a young boy in Gujarat, India, Kumar sometimes feels like he lives in two worlds. First there is the old world where people and their choices are determined by prejudice and bigotry. But then there is the second, modern world: in this world Kumar can be friends with whomever he chooses and his future looks bright. As part of the annual Diwali celebration, Kumar is invited to the house of his classmate Andal to watch fireworks. Andal is from a high-caste Brahmin family so Kumar is especially pleased to be included. But there in Andal's house, Kumar's two worlds collide in a very unpleasant way. Instead of being welcomed as a guest, Kumar is sent away, forbidden to join the festivities. Angry and hurt, Kumar is left questioning his place in Indian society. Where does he fit in? To which world does he really belong?

The Sky of Afghanistan - Ana A. de Eulate

Illustrated by Sonja Wimmer

2012 FSC, (all proceeds to Cometa Fdtn., wwww.fundacioncometa.org)

24 pages 

$15.95

TPPL

Goodreads rating: 3.60

My rating: 4

Endpapers: fluffy clouds on a brown paper-baggy paper showing fibers

Title Page: one kite, flying

Dedication:  "To the children who live in conflict zones, so that they can see their kite of PEACE flying high in the sky."

Illustrations: Beautiful.  They include subtle bits and pieces of Afghanistan - clothing - terrain - faces - children in daily life - simple drawings. They are done in browns with touches of color and fill the entire page - all are two-page spreads with the words in a cool font incorporated into the illustrations somewhere.

1^st line's:  "I look at the sky, I close my eyes, and my imagination begins to soar....

I fly between the clouds of the country i love: Afghanistan."

Ending:  "A place where harmony reigns, a place of togetherness...A place - please forgive me if my eyes fill with tears -- that leads us towards PEACE."

My Goodreads review:  "The sky can be full of kites, I think to myself, but it can also be full of dreams..."  This book is about the dreams a young Afghani girls has for peace in the country she loves.  It's more a piece of writing about hopes and dreams than a story, but that's more-than okay. It's really a simple wish, eh?  (And, I love the author's use of elipses!)

Goodreads summary:  Beautifully illustrated and undeniably moving, this is the story of a little Afghan girl’s dreams of peace. As her country is wracked by war, a girl’s imagination drifts toward the idea of peace for her people and for her country. Her powerful dreams soon take wing and fill the homes and hearts of those around her, uniting a people in their common desire for peace.

Books for Kids About Vietnam

Picture Books, 
Dooley, Norah; Everybody Cooks Rice ()
Garland, Sherry, The Lotus Seed (1993) TPPL
Keller, Holly; Grandfather's Dream (1994) TPPL
McKay, Lawrence; Journey Home ()
Shea, Pegi Deitz, Ten Mice for Tet (2003) TPPL
Surat, Michele; Angel Child, Dragon Child ()
Thong, Roseanne, Fly Free! (2010) TPPL
Tran, Truong & Ann Phong; Going Home, Coming Home ()
Trottier, Maxine, The Walking Stick (1998) TPPL

Chapter Books
In Vietnam during the war
Lai, Thanhha, Inside Out and Back Again (2011)
Nhuong, Quang Huynh; The Land I Lost: Adventures of a Boy in Vietnam()

In American during the war
Partridge, Elizabeth, Dogtag Summer (2011)

Set in Vietnam
Nhuong, Huynh Quang; Water Buffalo Days ()

YA
.
Folktales
Garland, Sherry, Children of the Dragon: Selected Tales from Vietnam (2001) TPPL

How Tiger Got His Stripes: A Folktale from Vietnam (Story Cove)

by Rob Cleveland  (Author) ,

Nonfiction
Alberti, Theresa, Vietnam ABC's (2007) TPPL
Green, Jen; National Gographic Countries of the World: Vietnam (2008) TPPL

Books for Kids about India

Picture Books

Shank, Ned - The Sanyasan's First Day (1999)


Chapter Books

Ellis, Deborah - No Ordinary Day (2011)
House, Silas & Neela Vaswani - Same Sun Here (2012)


YA
.

Adult
.

Movies

Best Exotic Marigold Hotel
Eat, Pray, Love
Slumdog Millionaire

TO FIND/READ:

Picture Books
Out of the Way!  Out of the Way! (Uma Krishnaswami) 2012
The Rumor (Anushka Ravishankar) 2012

Chapter Books/ Emigrating from India to the US (or being Indian and living in the US)

Blue Jasmine (Kashmira Sheth)
The Not-So-Star-Spangled Life of Sunita Sen (Perkins)
Monsoon Summer (Perkins)
Climbing the Stairs (Padma Venkatraman)

AdultNonfiction/Memoir

A Bed of Red Flowers: In Search of My Afghanistan (Pazira)
A Good Indian Wife (Cherian)

The Walking Stick - Maxine Trottier

Illustrated byAnnouchka Gravel Galouchko

Stoddart Kids, 1998

07737-3101-6

24 pages

Goodreads rating: 2.80

My rating: 3.5

Endpapers :tiny green & lavender squiggles that appear like a field of lavender 

Illustrations Bright, collag-y without being actual collage - lots of tiny dots and squiggles - love 'em!  And her name is pretty darn cool, too....

Artist's dedication:  For those who have the courage to walk a different path, to those who find strength in walking alone, to independent spirits, but especially for Sacha, who was with me throughout this work, and born when it was finished - a beautiful masterpiece. - A.G.G.

1^st line/s:  "When Van was a boy wandering the forest of Vietnma, he found the stick.  It had fallen from a great teak tree."

A young boy's treasured walking stick, made from a teak tree outside the Buddhist temple in a village in Vietnam, watches changes in the country, travels far away, and is returned many years later to its place of origin by the young boy's granddaughter.

Books for Kids about Afghanistan

Picture Books
I See the Sun in Afghanistan (Dedie King/Judith Inglese) 2011, 40 pgs.
The Sky of Afghanistan (Eulate/Wimmer)
Nasreen's Secret School: A True Story from Afghanistan (Winter) 2009
Listen to the Wind: The Story of Dr. Greg and Three Cups of Tea (Mortenson/Roth)
The Old Woman and the Eagle (Idries/Delmar)

Chapter Books: Middle Grades & YA
Three Cups of Tea (Mortenson)
Afghan Dreams : Young Voices from Afghanistan
The Breadwinner series (Ellis)
Kids of Kabul: Living Bravely Through a Never-Ending War (Ellis)
Shooting Kabul (Senzai)

Nonfiction

National Geographic Countries of the World: AFGHANISTAN
Susan Whitfield, 2008

Population:  almost 32 millions
Official languages: Dari (Afghan Persian) and Pashtu
Capital: Kabul

"Afghanistan is largely a land of brown, treeless mountains and gray, dusty deserts.  But nestled among the peaks and plains are small areas of vivid green, where people grow their crops and raise their animals.
"Pistachio trees grow wild in the mountains in the north of Afghanistan...The nuts are regarded as the best in the world.
"Almost all Afghans are Muslims.  It is against the law for Muslim Afghans to convert to another religion.  As in most parts of the Muslim world, public life in Afghanistan is dominated by men.  In most parts of the country women are required to cover their heads and bodies in public....When the Taliban imposed harsh Islamic laws, women became second-class citizens.  Girls were banned from schools and women were beaten for showing their faces in public.  Today, Afghan women are still expected to cover themselves, but in less extreme ways.
"Afghans make flying kites an art form.  The best flyers work in paris.  One holds the wooden spool connected to the kite by strings.  The other pulls the strings to control the movement of the kite in the air.  People take a lot of pride in making and flying their kites.  But it is not always a peaceful pasttime.  In kite fights or duels, the fighters fit their kites with thin, sharp wires or attach pieces of glass.  The aim is for a kite flyer to cut the strings of his opponents until only one kite is left in the air."
"Despite the continuing uncertainty, Afghan people remain optimistic and are working toward rebuilding their lives.  The markets in Kabul and other cities are bustling again. Many educated and skilled Afghans who fled the country under the Taliban are returning to help their country.  In the past, Afghanistan has recovered from many periods of war.  It will do so again."

Adult
Lipstick in Afghanistan (Roberta Gately) 2010

National Geographic Countries of the World SERIES

After hunting and hunting, reading through many different series of books about different world countries in the libraries and bookstores, I've decided that this series is the most accessible to my fourth graders.  Many are daunted by too much text - I think that is why I still dislike/d reading nonfiction.  This series is full of photos and maps (it IS by National Geographic!) and there's not one single page that is only text.  It's extremely readable and the information is interesting and seems current and well-researched.  I plan to use them in my classroom as literature circles, each group focusing on a different country and becoming an "expert" by reading this nonfiction book along with some fiction.
And in my reading from other sources, I've discovered that Afghanistan's largest income from agriculture is ..... opium!

Afghanistan
Susan Whitfield
2008, 64 pages


Population:  almost 32 million
Official languages: Dari (Afghan Persian) and Pashtu
Capital: Kabul

Asia in Children's Literature

Picture Books
Chen, Yong
A Gift - Contemporary China - Amy's mother, homesick for her family and homeland in China, receives a special package from them just in time for their Chinese New Year celebrations.

Cheng, Andrea
Shanghai Messenger - contemporary Shanghai -   11-year-old Chinese American Xiao Mei travels, alone, to Shanghai to meet the extended family she's never met, quickly forming loving bonds and learning a huge amount about the China of her ancestors. 

Chin-Lee, Cynthia
A is For Asia - a little about bits & pieces of Asia

Ellis, Deborah
No Ordinary Day - contemporary India - A homeless orphan Indian girl adapts to life in the streets until she meets...and ultimately trusts...a female doctor.

Eulate, Ana A. de
The Sky of Afghanistan -  a stream-of-conscientious almost like a prayer - a little girl wishes for peace in her country.

Koralek, Jenny
The Story of Queen Esther - ancient Persia  - This is the story of how Esther becomes a Persian queen, hides her Jewishness, and with the help of the cousin, Mordecai, who helped raise her, saves the Jewish people from annihilation.   

Malaspina, Ann
Yasmin's Hammer - Contemporary Bangladesh - A father, who is a rickshaw driver, and his wife realize that an education for their two young daughters, who both work in a brickyard, is more important than anything.

Niemann, Christoph
The Pet Dragon - Chinese folk-type story

Pacilio, V. J. 
Ling Cho and His Three Friends - China - A rich farmer tries to help three of his neighboring friends, sharing wisdom and a huge lesson when they all return with just a story to tell.....

Park, Linda Sue
Tap Dancing on the Roof - Korea - Sijo Poetry

Pennypacker, Sara
Sparrow Girl - 1958 China - When the Chinese government orders that all sparrows be killed in order to save the grain crops,   a young girls saves seven of them, thus saving her village from locusts and grasshoppers and weevils and worms that would destroy all those crops. 

Rumford, James
Silent Music, A Story of Bagdhad - Contemporary Iraq - Ali, a boy who loves to write and doodle, proudly practices the calligraphy of his language, Arabic, as he continues to learn it.

Say, Allen
Erika San - Contemporary Japan - An American girl, always taken with a paiting of a house in Japan, finally goes there to teach and comes upon not only a house that looks just like it, but a boyfriend, too.....

Shank, Ned
The Sanyasin's First Day - Contemporary India - A sanyasin - a holy man who gives away all he owns - spends his first day in a busy Indian marketplace, as to a female plumber, a male policeman, and a female farmer, all on their first day, too.

Stryer, Andrea Stenn
Kami and the Yaks - Nepal - Kami helps his father find their four missing yaks as a huge storm - thunder, lightning, hail - approaches.

Thong, Roseanne
The Wishing Tree - contemporary China - Ming and his much-loved grandmother have always made wishes on the huge Banyan tree in their town, but one year, the year Min is nine, his wish does not come true...and he loses his grandmother.

Trottier, Maxine
The Walking Stick -  3 generations past in Vietnam - Through the years, Van takes a teak walking stick he made in his village in Vietnam, escaping his country during the war, but always walking with his stick, until his granddaughter returns it to where he first found it, near the Buddhist temple in his original village.

Williams, Brenda
Lin Yi's Lantern - contemporary China -  Lin Yi's mother sends him to the market to bargain for five items for their Moon Festival trek up the mountain that night....and if he has enough money left over, he can purchase the red rabbit lantern that he so dearly wants.

Winter, Jeanette
The Librarian of Basra - Contemporary Iraq - Another version of the bombing of the central library in Basra, Iraq 

Middle Grade & Young Adult Fiction
Cornwell, Autumn
Carpe Diem - YA - contemporary Malaysia - Very anal Vassar Spore, planner extraordinaire, is thrown topsy-turvy on a trip to Malaysia with the grandmother who plans for NOTHING.

House, Silas & Neela Vaswani 
Same Sun Here - Mid Grades  - contemporary NYC/India - Meena, an Indian immigrant girl and River, a Kentucky coal miner's son, become penpals and best friends as they share their lives, their problems, and the love of their families with each other.

Stamaty, Mark Alan
Alia's Mission - Graphic Novel - In Iraq, in a few fast-paced days as the war in Basra is imminent, Alia and many helpers move over 30,000 books - by hand - before the library is destroyed.

Staples, Suzanne Fisher
Under the Persimmon Tree - YA- realistic near-contemporary Afghanistan -  This very sad - tragic - story goes back and forth between two protagonists;  one an American woman living in Peshiwar, and the other an Afghani girl fleexing from her destroyed home in the mountains.  

Whelan, Gloria
Small Acts of Amazing Courage - YA - 1919 India - 15 year old Rosalind James, daughter of a British official in India, is sent to live with aunts in England because her father thinks that her love of India and its people is inappropriate.  Gandhi, Hinduism, the caste system are all mentioned.


Countries

Afghanistan
see more detailed article about Afghanistan
Eulate, Ana A. de - The Sky of Afghanistan (picture book)
Staples, Suzanne Fisher - Under the Persimmon Tree (YA)
Whitfield, Susan - National Geographic Countries of the World: Afghanistan (Middle Grades

Bangladesh
Malaspina, Ann - Yasmin's Hammer (picture book)

China
Chen, Yong - A Gift (picture book)
Cheng, Andrea - Shanghai Messenger (picture book)
Niemann, Christoph - The Pet Dragon (picture book)
Pacilio, V. J. - Ling Cho and His Three Friends (picture book)
Pennypacker, Sara - Sparrow Girl (picture book)
Thong, Roseanne - The Wishing Tree (picture book)
Williams, Brenda - Lin Yi's Lantern (picture book)

India
see more detailed article about India
Ellis, Deborah - No Ordinary Day (upper middle grade chapter book)
House, Silas & Neela Vaswani - Same Sun Here (middle grade chapter bk)
Shank, Ned - The Sanyasin's First Day (picture book)
Whelan, Gloria - Small Acts of Amazing Courage (middle grade chapter bk)

Iraq
Rumford, James, Silent Music, A Story of Bagdhad (picture book)
Stamaty, Mark Allen, Alia's Mission, (graphic novel)
Winter, Jeanette, The Librarian of Basra (picture bk)

Japan
Kajikawa, Kmiko - Tsunami  (folktale picture book)
Say, Allen - Erika-San (picture book)

Korea
Park, Linda Sue - Tap Dancing on the Roof (poetry)

Malaysia
Cornwell, Autumn - Carpe Diem (YA)

Nepal
Stryer, Andrea Stenn, Kami and the Yaks (picture book)


Persia
Koralek, Jenny - The Story of Queen Esther (picture bk)

Vietnam
see more detailed article about Vietnam
Trottier, Maxine - The Walking Stick (picture bk)

33. Same Sun Here - Silas House & Neela Vaswani

Candlewick Press, 2011
298 pgs.
for:  Middle Grades
Rating:  Very Good/4

1st Line/s:  "Dear River,  I cannot tell from your name if you are a boy or a girl so I will just write to you like you are a human being."
Setting:  Late 2008 through 2009 NYC and the mountains of Kentucky
OSS:  Meena, an Indian immigrant girl and River, a Kentucky coal miner's son, become penpals and best friends as they share their lives, their problems, and the love of their families with each other.

53. Inside Out & Back Again - Thanhha Lai

Harper, 2011
HC, $15.00
for:  Middle Grades
264 pgs.
Rating:  5

First Line/s   Today is Tet/ the first day/ of the lunar calendar

Every Tet/ we eat sugary lotus seeds/ and glutinous rice cakes./ We all wear new clothes,/ even underneath

Mother warns/ how we act today/ foretells the whole year.

Everyone must smile/ no matter how we feel.

No one can sweep,/ for why swap away hope?/ No one can splash water,/ for why splash away joy?

44. Small Acts of Amazing Courage - Gloria Whelan

A Paula Wiseman Book, Simon & Schuster, 2011
HC $15.99
for:  Mid Grades
218 pgs.
Rating:  3.5

In 1919 India, being the daughter of a high-ranking British official gives you wealth, prestige, and power.  In Small Acts of Amazing Courage, Gloria Whelan tells of such a daughter,15-year-old Rosalind James.  Rosy's father has been away a lot, leaving her care to Rosy's mother and a huge household of various Indian servants.  Rosy has grown up with her maid's daughter, loves the bazaar and all things related to India.  Her father greatly forbids her to have anything with the native population.  She's strong headed and disobeys him.  And this leads him to send her to England - for the first time in her life - for a "proper" education, under the care of her two aunts.

The setting goes from privileged life in India to a steamship from Bombay to England, to life in England and back to India again.  Along the way we meet Gandhi and many of his followers and sympathizers, learning about nonviolent protesting and the plight of the Indian people.  We learn a bit about Hinduism, the caste system, and the colonials.  It's an interesting taste, but it's just a taste.  I would have liked a little deeper look into life of this girl.  Where some books are just too long and involved, this one needed a little more.  I love Gloria Whelan's work, and I was a bit disappointed with this one.

31. The Jasmine Trade - Denise Hamilton

Eve Diamond, LA Investigative Reporter, Book 1
Pinnacle Books, Kensington Publishing, 2001
pap $6.99
328 pgs (with about 20 more following the story, the first of book number 2, The Sugar Skull.)
For : Adults
Rating:  5

Eve Diamond is 29, smart, quick, and  little bit dare-devilish.  She writes for the LA Times, particularly in the San Gabriel Valley. Her JOB is to horn her way into people's lives so she can get the down and dirty.  And she does her job well.

The whole suburban area around LA is the setting, and Denise Hamilton uses it well.  The descriptions became so real that I found a suburban LA map and spent a good hour pouring over it, glad to have it handy when I encountered a new place that Eve had to cover.  She describes her home in Silverlake so well, I can hear it, see it, smell it.

The book begins when she is asked to write a story about a 17 year old Chinese-American girl that was murdered during a car jacking.  The girl was rich and pretty, but only Eve sensed that there was more to the story than a simple car jacking.  Along the way I learned so much, about "parachute kids", kids whose parents have moved them to southern California to go to good schools to get into good colleges, ensconcing them in huge, fancy, homes....and then going back to China or Hong Kong or Malaysia and being a long-distant parent.  I learned about Asian gangs, brothels, and the kidnapping sex trade......as bad as the slave trade from Africa.  It was well written, and every single one of my questions was answered by the end of the book.  Nothing was left hanging.  Characters became real, hearing Eve's thoughts were an added bonus.

This was a great story, truly interesting, informative, well-written, and suspenseful.  I can't wait to read number two!

Yasmin's Hammer - Ann Malaspina

Illustrated by Doug Ghayka
Lee Lows Books, 2010
$18.95
Endpapers: Royal Blue

Found this at the Chicago Library when I spent some meandering hours there.
Setting: Dhaka, Bangladesh

Two sisters go every day to work in the brickyard in the city of Dhaka. Abba (their father) pedals a rickshaw all day and Amma (their mother) works a a maid. To survive in the city, money must be earned by every family member. That is, until the oldest girl, because she wants to read, go to school, and make something of her life, works extra hard to earn enough to purchase a book. This makes Abba and Amma realize they must do anything they can to get their daughters an education.

Illustrations cover the entire page with the text in the street or walls. This is a heartwarming, eye-opening story that shuld be read to all the kids in the U.S. who take school for granted.

Ling Cho and His Three Friends - V. J. Pacilio

Illustrated by Scott Cook
Farrar Straus Giroux, 2000
Looks like it's out-of-print
Library: picture book section
32 pages
Rating: 3.5
Endpapers: 4

This is a longish story told in couplets. The couplets are wonderfully rhythmic, use great words (fertile, entrusted, summon, reap, grueling, resolution, poverty, annual, depart, meager, transport, envision, destined, ...) and is full of alliteration. It's a tale of friendship and honesty. The illustrations are great at close examination, but would look blurry and washed out if read aloud and a listener was even a short distance away.

This would make a great reader's theater or choral reading for an older class.

Note: I took it from the library to read because i thought it might apply to my unit on China. And although the illustrations are about Chinese people, it could apply to any group of farmers that celebrate the harvest.

"In the wondrous land of China, many years ago,
There lived a wise and kindly man, a farmer names Ling Cho.
Together with his wife and sons, in fertile fields he'd toil;
Their lives entrusted to the land, true servants of the soil."

Lin Yi's Lantern - Brenda Williams

A Moon Festival Tale
Illustrated by Benjamin Lacombe
Barefoot Books, 2009
32 pages
For: young kids
Rating: 3+
Endpapers: Red with stenciled Chinese designs

Lin Yi's mother sends him to the market to bargain for five items for their Moon Festival trek up the mountain that night. If he has enough money left over, he can purchase the red rabbit lantern that he so dearly wants.

After the story itself we learn about the markets in rural Chinese villages, there's directions for making a simple Chinese paper lantern, and there's even a two-page story "The Legend of the Moon Fairy." But there's no explanation anywhere about the Moon Festival or information about the beautfiul red lanterns that are used. Unfortunately, I find this a weakness. The story uses repetition, which is great for young kids, but makes it a little "young" for my fourth graders. And how Uncle Hui "magically" has a lantern gift, and it's okay that we don't know how he got it or where it came from, it's too abrupt and leaves too much to wonder about. However, the book beautfiully depicts what happens in a market AND the illustrations are just wonderful. So a few pluses, and few minuses.

The Wishing Tree - Roseanne Thong

Illustrated by Connie McLennan
Shen's Books, 2004
32 pages
Rating: 5
Endpapers: Gold & beige decorated Chinese designs

I spent an hour browsing and reading in the Martha Cooper Library on Catalina - a small public library I rarely get to visit. The local neighborhood holds many cultures, and there are many kids' books in different languages here. In other words, a great multicultural find.

There's a huge banyan tree in Ming's hometown where his grandmother would always take him to make a wish for the lunar new year. She would purchase a Ng Bo Dip (Five Treasures Pile), a stack of decorated red and yellow papers. After writing a wish, the papers were rolled into a scroll, secured with string, and attached to a large mandarin orange. When ready, this was flung high into the banyan wishing tree.

For many years Ming and his grandmother enjoyed this yearly custom, until, when Ming was nine, his wish was not fulfilled and his grndmother's sickness does not get better. She dies. The rest of the story deals with grief resolution in a positive, helpful way.

Each two page spread is beautiful with an edge-to-edge illustration on one side and the text is usually within a pale-colored box that looks like paper. The same one inch Chinese patterns found on the endpapers are "seals" at the bottom of the page.

Fantastic explanation in the Author's Note at the end of the book.

Included are directions for making your own Ng Bo Dip and a black and white WISHING PAPER page to photocopy and use as the five pages.

Perfect addition to my 4th grade China study!

23. Carpe Diem - Autumn Cornwell

Audio read by Lynde Houck
Random House, 2008
Book published 2007
7 unabridged cd's
9 hrs. 5 min.
368 pages
80% of the book is based on the author's own experiences!
Check out her website.

Vassar Spore is an overachiever (AP and AAP courses have her GPA soaring around 5.3) who is competing with another student for valedictorian of their class. So when the grandmother she has never met invites her to spend this summer between her junior and senior year in Malaysia, she is sure her parents will support her and say no. At first they do. But then Vassar thinks that Grandma Gerd somehow blackmailed her parents into allowing Vassar to go. Not only does she not want to go, she really, really wants to disover the "secret."

So she sets off to Singapore with ten suitcases and lots of lists and plans. But when she meets Grandma Gerd, her life is turned topsy-turvy. Grandma Gerd is NOT a planner. She looks for found art (what Vassar considers trash), and insists on calling her Frangipani, the middle name that she had given Vassar at her birth. She also "hires" an 18-year old Asian young man to shadow her to keep her out of trouble. And trouble is what Vassar is constantly getting into. For a supposedly smart girl she's pretty.....dumb....most of the time. Hilariously so.

I don't like all the voices that Lynda Houck used. She nailed Vassar. But Grandma Gerd sounded a little too cutesy, and one of her friends sounded like a boy. Oh well, you can't have it all, right?

A little bit of romance, lots of problems with bathrooms and relieving oneself, art and family and hiking....we get wonderful glimpses of Malaysia, Cambodia, and Laos, so seldom seen in an American YA novel. Very enjoyable. Cute. Funny. Fun. I'd sure love to meet this author...she must be a riot. Hope she writes more.

8. Under the Persimmon Tree - Suzanne Fisher Staples

for: Middle Grades
Frances Foster Bks, Farrar Strauss & Giroux, 2005
HC, $17.00
275 pgs.
My rating: 4

This was a very interesting book, detailing, so sadly, some of the atrocities that have (and possible still are?) taking place under the Taliban in Afghanistan. This story has TWO interesting perspectives. We flip-flop, chapter by chapter, between an American woman living in Peshiwar and an Afghani girls fleeing from her destroyed home in the mountains. Both stories are heartbreaking.

It looks like Najmah has lost her whole family to the Taliban or American bombs. The 12-year old is rescued by fleeing neighbors, disguised as a boy, and set out on a difficult journey to the refugee camps on the Afghanistan-Pakistan border. There is no food, little warmth or shelter, and a deep, deep sadness. Najmah stops talking, but uses her wits and determination to continue.

Nusrat has accompanied her doctor-husband from New York City to Pakistan so that he can help. She has converted to Islam, loves Faiz' family (who love and accept her) and has opened a school for refugee kids while she waits for him to return to her from the war zone, where he is working in clinics.

Najmah and Nusrat's stories progress until they come together. Incredibly sad, but an honest look at what's been going on for the last ten years in Afghanistan, to the population and particularly to the women.

There hasn't been a whole lot written (yet) for kids about what's been going on over there. I am so thankful for books like this. However, I'm such a Breadwinner (Deborah Ellis) fan that I must admit as much as I like Staples' work, I prefer Breadwinner over Under the Persimmon Tree and would recommend it first.

Such unbelievable despair. A whole country of people who have lost entire families, traditions, history, and freedom.

A Gift - Yong Chen

Boyds Mills Press, 2009
$16.95
32 pages
Rating: 4
Endpapers: Red

A simple story.

I live 3000 miles away from my family, but I don't have to cross an ocean to get the them. I live in the same country and am surrounded by the same cultural stimuli as them. Not so for the mother of the protagonist in this lovely picture book.

Amy's mother's family lives in China - far away from Amy's American home. It's really difficult being so far from loved ones, but there are certain times that are even more difficult. For Amy's mom, the Chinese New Year is one of those times.

A package and a letter arrive from China. The mother's siblings, working together, have created a beautiful dragon pendant from a lovely found piece of stone. It's a beautiful gift within a loving, far-flung family.

Note" Red is the color of luck in Chinese tradition. For Amy to hang her pendant from a red string is a sign of live and a wish for luck.

Illustrations are realistic, large, many complete cover the page. The appear to depict the Chinese culture well.