Dumpling Soup
by Jama Kim Rattigan, illustrated by Lillian Hsu-Flanders
Little, Brown & Co, 1993

A delightful story about a (mostly) Korean-American family in Hawaii celebrating the Lunar New Year with a huge family reunion, fireworks at midnight, and a truly Asian Pacific American feast. Seven-year-old Marisa is finally old enough to help the Yang family women make dumplings or mandoo, but the dumplings she makes are a little lumpy, and she worries about them not being good enough for the family. Grandma to the rescue. The family is enormous and multicultural, with Japanese, Chinese, Hawaiian, and haole cousins, all playing side by side. The food is mouthwatering and pan-Asian, including sushi, mochi-zuki, kimchi, roast pork, boiled tripe, octopus, spicy seaweed, and sticky new year's cake. Many Asian American families will be able to find themselves in this story of love, family, and food. At least two Chinese American children I know (mine, ages 2 and 3) have been inspired by this book to learn how to make dumplings.

Sam and the Lucky Money
by Karen Chinn, illustrated by Cornelius Van Wright and Ying-Hwa Hu
Lee & Low, 1995

A wonderful story with a socially conscious message that helps children realize the value of all that they have. Sam is excited to receive his red envelopes of money for Chinese New Year, until he goes to Chinatown with his mother to spend it. They go into a vegetable stand, a bakery, a toy store, and also see the fireworks and lion dance of the New Year. He becomes angry when he finds he cannot buy very much with four dollars. Then he meets a homeless Chinese man with no shoes in the middle of winter, and he gives away his red envelopes so that the man can at least buy some socks. The appearance of a homeless person in Chinatown makes this book uniquely Asian American, dealing with a theme not often found in children's books. Young children can easily relate to having cold hands and cold feet in the wintertime. It also puts the value of the much-treasured red envelopes into perspective. It opens up a discussion for how lucky our children are to have family, home, and basic necessities like socks and shoes.

Halmoni and the Picnic
by Sook-Nyul Choi, illustrated by Karen Dugan
Houghton Mifflin, 1993

Yunmi's grandmother has just come to New York City from Korea to help watch Yunmi while her parents are at work. When Yunmi's friends volunteer grandma to chaperone the class picnic, Yunmi worries that her other classmates may make fun of Halmoni's inability to speak English, her traditional hanbok and pointy shoes, or the kimbap she brings to the picnic to share. Many Asian Pacific American children will be able to relate to these worries of how the foreignness of their loved ones will be perceived by others.

Halmoni also offers a fuller picture of immigrants (that some of our legislators could benefit from seeing, too)—Yunmi's grandmother is not just some old lady, she had a life before she came to America—she was a respected teacher in Korea—and her difficulties learning American culture and English language are not because she is not smart, but because they are indeed complicated.

The Name Jar
by Yangsook Choi
Dragonfly Books, 2003.

Unhei has just come to America from Korea, and on her first day of school, she is teased on the bus for her Korean name. She decides that she needs to find a more American sounding name, and her classmates try to help her by putting name suggestions into a big glass jar. In the end, she decides that her Korean name, which means 'grace,' fits her just fine, and she teaches her classmates how to pronounce it correctly. At the same time, a Caucasian classmate also decides to take on a Korean name, too, meaning 'friend.'

This is a story that will resonate with many Asian Pacific American children, as well as their friends and classmates, as they take pride in their unique names and heritage. As I tell my own children, 'That's not a weird name, just one you're not used to. If you lived in Korea or India, 'Ashley' would be a weird name that no one could pronounce.'

Lights for Gita
by Rachna Gilmore, illustrated by Alice Priestley
Tilbury House Publishers, 2000

Gita and her family have just moved far away from all their family, from India to Canada. It is time for the Hindu festival, Divali, a harvest festival of light and family and best of all, fireworks. However, Divali in Canada (in November) is not the warm outdoor holiday it is in India, especially as a huge ice storm hits. Gita is disappointed as her friends cancel their visits and Papa cancels the fireworks, but Mummy shows her that the true meaning of the holiday lies beyond fireworks. This story shows how we can celebrate and adapt our Asian holidays in North America.

Posted May 2006