Geraldine McCaughrean,
The Kite Rider
Oxford University Press, 2001.
13th century China is brought alive in this story, which opens with Haoyou watching his father disappearing up into the sky strapped to a kite. The circumstances of his father's death convince him that his father's spirit is still up there in the clouds and prompt him to become a kite rider himself...

Ji-Li Jiang,
Red Scarf Girl: A Memoir of the Cultural Revolution
HarperCollins, 1997.
A heart-rending memoir of growing up through China's Cultural Revolution, the bright daughter of wealthy parents; and having to choose between her persecuted family and her beloved Communist Party. Told with simplicity through the eyes of a child, the story is inspirational for its example of loyalty and courage in the face of overpowering adversity.

Da Chen,
China's Son: Growing Up in the Cultural Revolution
Delacorte, 2001.
Another compelling memoir of life in China in the 1960s: this time of a boy who, upon hearing that he will never be more than a farm laborer because of his family background, joins a gang and opts out of school mentally, if not physically. The turning point comes when he has the opportunity to go to college, following the death of Chairman Mao.

David Spillman & Lisa Wilyuka,
Us Mob Walawurru
Magabala Books, 2007.
A contrasting view of life in the 1960's, this time in Central Australia, where Ruby, a young Luritja girl, is just beginning to question the status quo of her life on a cattle station. The gentle pace of this novel accelerates to its denouement, where the ultimate irony of Ruby's situation serves to emphasize the deep-rooted importance of carrying forward one's cultural heritage.

Joanne Oppenheim
Dear Miss Breed
Scholastic, 2006.
This awe-inspiring true story brings together the letters of Japanese American children interned in the US during the Second World War to "Miss Breed", a librarian from San Diego who was determined to make a difference for "her children". In so doing, she touched the lives of many more. This is an immensely important book for its placing of primary sources about this episode in United States' history under the universal scrutiny of young adults.

Cynthia��Kadohata,
Weedflower
Atheneum, 2006.
In this novel, set in the Poston Internment camp, where the author's father was held during World War II, young Sumiko learns to find friendship in unexpected places. The book is a moving exploration by the author of Newbery winner Kira-Kira of what can happen when racial prejudices are left behind.

Linda Sue Park,
When My Name Was Keoko
Clarion, 2001.
Also set during the Second World War, this time the location is Korea, where the tensions of living under Japanese occupation come to a head when all Koreans are ordered to take a Japanese name. Keoko is the name chosen by the novel's narrator, Sun-hee. Linda Sue Park was inspired by her own family's experiences and as ever the background is well-researched and her narrative gripping.

An Na,
A Step from Heaven
Front Street Books, 2001.
There is a growing number of superb books for young adults, both fact and fiction, which deal with the immigration experience and this, An Na's first novel, is one of them. Young Ju's family find their new life in America much harder than they had imagined when they had dreamed of its opportunities before they emigrated from Korea. As she grows up, Young Ju must find her own voice to resonate beyond her fractured family; and follow the dreams which brought them there in the first place.

Jamila Gavin,
The Wheel of Surya
Egmont, 2005 (new edition).
Number One in The Surya Trilogy, this is the story of a brother and sister's perilous journey fleeing civil war in the Punjab, following the partition in India in 1947. Separated from their mother, they travel to England alone to find their father, who is not as they remember him... Jamila Gavin's finely tuned descriptions of her characters' actions and emotions, as well as the contrasting worlds of India and England make this a book not to be missed.

Allen Say,
The Ink-Keeper's Apprentice
Houghton Mifflin/Walter Lorraine Books, 2005 (new edition).
Artist Allen Say said of writing this autobiographical novel that it was "the hardest thing I'd ever attempted" - but the result was more than worth the effort. A coming-of-age story against a background of post-war Tokyo, Kiyoi is determined to become an artist and apprentices himself to one of Japan's most famous cartoonists.

Kazumi Yumoto, translated by Cathy Hirano,
The Letters
Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 2001.
A young woman attends the funeral of an old lady who had been her landlady and friend when she was a child who had just lost her father. Through reading the letters of her seven-year-old self to her dead father, she confronts both her past and her present and is forced to take stock of her life. Yumoto writes about both life and death with great sensitivity and builds up an impelling narrative.

Teresa C��rdenas, translated by David Unger,
Letters To My Mother
Groundwood Books/House of Anansi Press, 2006.
When this novel was first published in Cuba in 1998, it was both praised and criticized for being one of the first books to expose the racial prejudices inherent in Cuban society. We unravel the girl protagonist's story through these letters to her dead mother, which are a deep reflection of her coming of age while struggling to understand the attitudes of those around her.

Deborah Ellis,
I am a Taxi
Groundwood Books, 2006.
Ellis exposes the horrors of the drug smuggling underworld in Bolivia in this page-turner of a book. Diego lives with his mother and sister in the women's prison in Cochabamba, Bolivia. He works as a "taxi" running errands in the city for the prisoners - but a need for more money fast leads him down a dangerous path. Not long to wait now for the sequel...

Susanne Gervay,
Butterflies
HarperCollins (Australia), 2001.
17-year-old Katherine would love to be like other teenagers - and in many ways she is; but she cannot get away from the fact that she suffered severe burns when she was three - she is still undergoing painful skin grafts; and then there is the emotional scarring, which is alleviated thanks both to her close relationship with her mother and sister and to her innate intelligence, courage and humor. While exploring issues of acceptance and prejudice, this ultimately uplifting book is principally about growing up and looking the world in the eye.

Richard Lewis,
The Flame Tree
Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing, 2004.
Set on Java, Indonesia post September 11th 2001, this powerful novel explores universal themes of religious tolerance and above all forgiveness. The life of 12-year-old Isaac, the son of Christian missionary doctors, whose best friend is a muslim called Ismail, has been relatively untouched by events outside his own sphere, until the American hospital becomes the target of Islamic fundamentalists. Vivid descriptions and unexplained foreboding from the word go make this book impossible to put down.

Posted July 2007