Picture Book Resource
Tea Party in the Woods by Akiko Miyakoshi
Kikko is off to take pie to her Grandmother, but the man she was following turns out to not be her father at all. Kikko finds herself at a strange tea party deep in the woods where she finds unexpected friendship and kindness.
Activity Tie-ins:
- Compare/Contrast 1: The beginning of this, with a little girl setting off through the woods to deliver goodies to Grandma reminds me quite a bit of a Red Riding Hood. However, this story turns out very differently. There’s plenty of similarities and differences for readers to pick out.
- Compare/Contrast 2: The tea party in the woods reminded me a bit of Narnia, especially Lucy’s first time in. Perhaps it is the winter setting and talking animals? I think most readers familiar with the Chronicles of Narnia could also pick out similarities and differences.
- Grace/Kindness: The animals at the tea party show Kikko totally unexpected kindness by helping her with a small problem. Kikko does nothing to earn the kindness, so it provides a good example of grace. Ask students to think of ways they could do something small but significant for someone else.
- Art: The book is illustrated primarily in charcoals with just tiny splashes of color. Art students could examine how this choice in color affects the tale and why the author might have chosen to illustrate the book in this way.
- Japanese Literature: This book was originally published in Japanese. The author/illustrator herself is Japanese. So if you’re doing a unit on Japan or looking for an Asian author/illustrator to highlight, this is an option.
Middle Grade Fiction Resource
Dumpling Days (Pacy #3) by Grace Lin
Pacy and her family are off to Taiwan for a whole month to visit family. Pacy isn't too sure about this. Her parents think it's important for her to understand her roots, but she'd rather just stay in the comfort of New Hartford, CT. At first, Taiwan is just as confusing and strange as she'd thought it would be. She can't understand any of the Taiwanese or Chinese people when they speak. She can't read any of the signs. And she's worried that everyone can tell just by looking at her that she's a twinkie (Asian on the outside, white on the inside) and is judging her. Her mom has enrolled Pacy and her two sisters in Taiwanese cultural art classes while they're there. Pacy thought her class would be a breeze since she knows she has artistic talent, but it seems to take her forever to just get painting bamboo right. She's afraid that maybe even her talent has abandoned her here in this strange land. The two bright spots in Taiwan are the family members they get to see and all the incredible dumplings, Pacy's favorite food. Pacy and her sisters are afraid it's going to be a horribly long and torturous month in Taiwan, but the time flies quickly and without realizing it they learn a few things about Taiwan, their family, and themselves along the way.
Grace Lin has definitively nailed what it is to be a third culture kid in this book (well, she does have firsthand experience). The ups and downs of Pacy and her sisters are common ones for any expat kids returning "home" or children of immigrants visiting their parents' home. They may look like they should fit in, but they feel so very out of place and often struggle to figure out who they are. (Ok, so this doesn't just apply to kids. We adults who live overseas most of the time can feel the same way when returning to our passport countries.) There are so very few books out there that understand third culture kids, so I'm super excited that Grace Lin wrote this book. It's important for children like Pacy to figure out how to maneuver between cultures and come to peace with their unique blended cultural identity, and I think reading that other kids have similar experiences will help them. Oh, but a word of warning. You really need to have some dumplings on hand while reading this book. It made me hungry! Thankfully, wax apples (called rose apples here in Thailand) and dumplings and noodle soup are available just around the corner for me. A final note, this is book three in the Pacy series (Year of the Dog and Year of the Rat are the first two books), but you don’t have to read the two previous books to appreciate this one. I do encourage you to read them, though, they are both great as well.
Activity Tie-ins:
- Third culture kids: As mentioned above, this is a great read for third culture kids, as Pacy wrestles with her identity and can hopefully help readers with similar struggles.
- Asian food: I feel like this book is half a celebration of great Asian food. Have students identify foods that have been adopted by numerous Asian cultures but may have different names (like dumplings or wax apples) and see if they can figure out where the food originated. How did it end up in so many different places? And of course, you must have a party to eat such food.
- Art: Pacy spends a lot of time describing traditional art that she and her sisters are participating in. Have students look up examples to better picture what Pacy is talking about, and maybe even try out the art styles themselves.
- Taiwan: If you’re studying Taiwan, there aren’t too many English books out there set in Taiwan, but this is one. And since Pacy is looking at Taiwanese culture with outsider eyes, you get a lot of typical Taiwanese customs and culture described and explained.
Young Adult Fiction Resource
Under a Painted Sky by Stacey Lee
Sammy and her father are the only people of Chinese descent in their town of St Joe, Missouri. Most people respect them because her father is well-respected, but Sammy still knows what it is to get those looks from people. It also doesn't help that she wants to be a professional musician at a time when the job is only considered respectable for men. Sammy's father has started talking about going to California, but before he can tell Sammy his full plans disaster strikes. Soon Sammy finds herself on the run from the law with a runaway slave girl, Annamae. Sammy decides to head out West in search of her father's friend Mr Trask who was headed to California to set up something for them. Annamae is on the hunt for her older brother who told her to meet him at a waterfall which may or may not exist. The two girls decide to masquerade themselves as boys in search of gold in California as they follow the wagon trains west. A group of ranch hands stumbles across them one night, and the girls work out a deal to travel with them in exchange for pulling their share of the chores. West, Cay, and Peety take pity on the two boys and share their horses and knowledge of the trail with them. Which is a good thing, because there are many dangers ahead both expected and unforeseen. But probably the biggest challenge will be for Sammy and Annamae to figure out how to keep the bond of sisterhood they've formed strong while both pursuing their goals at the end of the trail.
Like many tales of those headed out West in the mid 1800s, the story is both one of adventure and the excitement of life on the trail and also symbolic of the journey and progress being made in the lives of those on the path. At the beginning of the book I was a little scared Lee was going to be one of those authors who has everything that can possibly go wrong go wrong for our heroines, but thankfully, that didn't turn out to be the case. There's a good mixture of both good and bad, which plays into Sammy's inner turmoil well. Sammy's upbringing is a curious mixture of Chinese traditions and French Catholicism. (Her father was adopted by a French missionary, and she was born in the US.) She is worried that she is one of those rare people born in the Year of the Snake who are unlucky since her mother died in childbirth. She continually looks to things that happen to figure out if this is true or not. Annamae on the other hand is staunchly Christian and doesn't buy into Sammy's talk of luck and fate. She believes in her own two hands and God's will. The girls are quite different in temperament and upbringing, but oh so good for each other in many ways. They both bear some heavy burdens of the past that they help each other work through as the trail goes on. They also turn out to help the cowboys work through some of their past too. In return, the cowboys teach them how to be ranch hands, which provides some comic relief to the book. Lee works in a little love interest between the girls and the cowboys they're traveling with which gets a little Twelfth Night-ish thanks to the masquerade as boys. In all, a riveting historical fiction that provides both entertainment and things to think about.
Due to some content, only recommended for teens and older (click on title to see full review with content notes for more information).
Activity Tie-ins:
Race in 1800s America: Both Sammy and Annamae have to deal with racism, but some people treat the girls differently because of their different races. It’s an eye-opening look at how Asian-Americans and African Americans were viewed by average Americans in the 1800s. An extension activity would ask readers to compare how race relations for each have evolved over time in America (and other places).
Multicultural Lit: This book is written by an Asian American about an Asian American girl and an African American girl. A great pick if you’re looking for multicultural reads.
Third & Fourth Culture Kids: I’m always on the lookout for characters our third and fourth culture students can relate to. Even though Sammy comes from a far removed time period, I think there are many aspects of her mixed culture that third and fourth culture kids can relate to.
Physical Journey & Emotional Journey: Have students map the physical journey and/or the emotional process Sammy and Annamae are going through. How does the landscape correspond to their hearts? This is a common literary method employed. Can readers think of other books that have journeys both physical and representative of something intangible?
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