I grew up with just one Chinese Folk Tale picture book. I had a tattered copy of The Five Chinese Brothers with cartoon-like illustrations. It wasn’t my favorite book and so I didn’t realize how many more great Chinese Folk Tales were out there. For my own children, I read them more Korean and Japanese…
According to legend, Vietnam’s history began four thousand years ago when a dragon prince named Loc Long Quan married a fairy princess named Au Co. They had one hundred children, but this was too much for them to handle, so the parents agreed to separate. Au Co moved to the mountains with half of the…
It’s interesting how few Filipino children’s books are available in the United States, despite being 1.1% of the population, numbering 4 million. Filipinos are the second largest self-reported Asian ancestry group after Chinese Americans according to 2010 American Community Survey. I have a list of Filipino picture books created by illustrator Mika Song to complement this…
My introduction to Japanese folk tales was through a beautifully illustrated copy of Momotaro. In this book, Momotaro wears the traditional samurai armor and it was a glimpse into my Japanese ancestry. I’ve since sought out Japanese folk tales to read to my kids, searching in Japanese markets and bookstores when I am visiting family…
When I was a child, a relative in Hawaii from my mother’s side that I’d never met sent me two picture books as a Christmas present. It was a little weird because they didn’t send a gift for either of two siblings, nor did they indicate that this was a shared gift. Pua Pua Lena…
