Focus on Culture

For news on China, see Steven Whan's Focus on Culture at
www.autumnjade.com/foc.html

He finds interesting and approachable pieces, especially if you want to share it with your children or students.

Mid-Autumn Festival information

Here's an overview of the Mid-Autumn Festival (or Moon Festival).

Books on China

Picture Books
Picture books can be read to the youngest and the not-so-young. Some have longer words or more complex vocabulary and will not be easy for young readers for a while. Children need to be read to until they are at least 8 or 10 or 12 years old.

Although I am a fan of pre-reading before giving young children books, I have marked some where I think it is especially important. Many of these books are in the picture book section of your local library. However some libraries place the same books in the folktales section. You may need to check both places.

• Moon Lady * by Amy Tan MAF.


• The Empress and the Silkworm * by Lily Toy Hong


• Moon Festival by Ching Yeung Russell MAF


• Round is A Mooncake: A Book of Shapes ** by Rosemary Thong. She also wrote: Red is a dragon: A book of Colors, One is a Drummer: A Book of Numbers


• The Seven Chinese Sisters By Kathy Tucker, Grace Lin
  We have not yet read this modern adaptation of an old Chinese tale.


• The Five Chinese Brothers (Paperstar) by Claire Huchet Bishop, Kurt Wiese


• The Seven Chinese Brothers There are several version of this out. One is a Blue Ribbon Book by Margaret Mahy, Jean Mou-Sier Tsang


• Cleversticks * by Bernard Ashley, Derek Brazell


• Kites: Magic Wishes that Fly Up to the Sky The 9/9 date she gives is for the lunar calendar. The Gregorian date is different each year.


• The Empty Pot Fiction set in China, not a Chinese folktale. The emperor selects a successor. More a story of honesty than of China but beautiful illustrations. In The Greatest Power the story continues as Ping selects his prime minister.


• Liang and the Magic Paintbrush


• The Rooster's Antlers: A story of the Chinese Zodiac * by Eric Kimmel CNY Beautiful illustrations. Esp. useful for Chinese New Year
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• In the Snow by Huy Youn Lee (also In the Park, At the Beach, 1,2,3, Go)


• The Paper Dragon By Marquerite Davol
  Tall Tale Fantasy set in China. Firecrackers.


• The Emperor and the Kite By Jane Yolen and Ed Young
  Card catalog description: When the emperor is imprisoned in a high tower, his smallest daughter, whom he has always ignored, uses her kite to save him.


• Yeh-Shen: A Cinderella Story from China (Paperstar Book) by Ai-ling Louie et. al. Oldest known Cinderella story by 9 BC. This Cinderella earns her wishes through kindness to a magic fish. No fairy appears to grant them. At the end the stepmother and step-sisters are killed. You may want to edit that phrase if you have sensitive children.


• Henry’s First Moon Birthday by Lenore Look


• Animals in the Stars: Chinese Astrology for Children by Gregory Crawford
  I have not seen this one but it sounds like a good introduction. The fables could be read one at a time. Recommended for ages 9-12.


• The Runaway Rice Cake by Ying Chang Compestine
  Cross the “you can’t catch me” gingerbread man with a Chinese New Year story and this is what you get.


• Dim Sum for Everyone by Grace Lin (also wrote: The Ugly Vegetables, Fortune Cookie Fortunes, Kite Flying)


• Count Your Way Through China (Count Your Way) by Jim Haskins
  Introduces 1 to 10 in Mandarin Chinese and some Chinese culture. But you won’t be able to pronounce the numbers with just this book.


• Grandfather Counts by Andrea Cheng, Ange Zhang


• How The Rooster Got His Crown * Retold by Amy Lowry Poole 398.2 POO A Miao tale. Their Haoyi sounds like the Hou Yi of others Mid-Autumn Festival fame.


• The Last Dragon by Susan Miho Nunes
  Ten year old boy finds, repairs and then uses a parade dragon. Set in an American Chinatown.


• Wan Hu is in the Stars by Jennifer Armstrong, Barry Root
  Based on a Chinese folktale?


• Mulan – There are many Hua Mulan books available now.


• Daisy Comes Home by Jan Brett


• Beautiful Warrior: The Legend of the Nun’s Kung Fu * by Emily Arnold McCully


• Ma Jiang and the Orange Ants by Barbara Ann Porte/Annie Cannon

Longer children's books on China, being Chinese or Chinatown include:
Look What Came From China! By Miles Harvey
NF – inventions, sports, food, customs. RL 4-8 years, but it would be a read-to for most of the youngest in that range, most say more like grade 2-5.

Autumn Jade Mystery Series by Steve Whan * autumnjade.com Bullets on the Bund, The Emperor's Pendant, Sing Song Girls. The Autumn Jade in these books is a Chinese girl who was adopted by an American family and has vivid dreasm of 1930s, usually Shanghai.

Monkey King by Ed Young

The Magic Paintbrush by Laurence Yep
Refers to the Moon Lady but does not explain Mid-Autumn Festival.

The Case of the Firecrackers (Chinatown Mysteries) by Laurence Yep

Fu-Dog by Rumer Godden

When the Circus came to Town by Laurence Yep
One could call it a historical novel for young readers

There are a lot more out there. However, you should know that a "folktale" could be a folktale of 100s of years, or it could be a story that the author's father made up; it could be well known or it could be from a small group (usually called a minority group) in some part of China. Not everyone celebrates the same festivals, or celebrates them the same way. China is a big place with years of history and tradition and full of stories. And some stories attributed to China came just from the author's imagination.

Not my personal favorites:

The Dragon's Tale : and Other Animal Fables of the Chinese Zodiac by Demi et. al. Stories for each animal in the Chinese zodiac, with a moral. They do not seem to be drawn from Chinese traditions and there are not sources given.

The Weaving of a Dream: A Chinese Folktale (Picture Puffins) by Marilee Heyer
A bit dark for many in Primary. Some suggest saving it for at least 8 year olds.

Lon Po Po: A Red-Riding Hood Story from China (Caldecott Medal Book) by Ed Young Pre-reading required. A Red Riding Hood Tale but it may be too scary for Primary children.

Sam and the Lucky Money by Karen Chinn, et. al.
Story. Introduce Chinatown and makes children think about giving and appreciation. Pre-reading required. Not a personal favorite.

D Is for Doufu: An Alphabet Book of Chinese Culture by Maywan Shen Krach, Hongbin Zhang
Beautiful. Each letter has a word starting with the same sound that introduces some aspect of Chinese culture. I suspect that many primary students will not have the patience for it.

I can not recommend:

Ping by Marjorie Flack (pub 1933) A tale of a duckling on the Yangzhe river and its misadventures – but not a Chinese tale. I just do not like the duckling being spanked at the end.

Tikki Tikki Tembo by Arlene Mosel. Although labeled a Chinese tale, that is unlikely. It is a fun book for many, but in this day and age some may find the joke (on Chinese names) hard to justify. It would be as good, or better, if for “China” one substituted “Elsewhere” or “some village”. And, at least in Mandarin, the dialect spoken by most of China, “Chang” does not mean “nothing”.

Chinese Mother Goose Rhymes by Robert Wyndham. Childhood Rhythms but no one likes the Chinese in the book. They certainly do not rhythm in Mandarin. The pictures are the best part of the book.

Musical Mandarin

Fall 2004 class start in October
in Mountain Lakes, NJ.

A 9 or 10 week session will start Monday, Tuesday or Wednesday mornings at 10 a.m. 45 minute sessions of music and fun for your 2 to 6 year old child(ren) and their adult. Expose or re-expose them to Mandarin through songs, play and games.

For more information, email mus-mandarin@wubison.com