joannqn Posted January 29, 2014 Share Posted January 29, 2014 I'm hoping to find a read aloud that is set in Japan...any time period but modern/recent history preferred. My kids range in age from 4 to 14, so I need it to be reasonably appropriate for the younger kids but they don't have to understand it all. At the same time, I don't want something so young that bores the older kids to tears.Ideas?I could also use some independent reading for the older kids on the same topic. They can read any reading level as long as "adult" isn't too adult, if you know what I mean. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coffeefreak Posted January 29, 2014 Share Posted January 29, 2014 I like: The Red Clogs The Big Wave Little Pear And I think there's another but I can't remember it right now. Have you checked Sonlight's reading list for Core F? Blessings! Dorinda Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LindaOz Posted January 29, 2014 Share Posted January 29, 2014 The Master Puppeteer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lori D. Posted January 29, 2014 Share Posted January 29, 2014 Lots 'o Japanese suggestions below, but, alas, most are not really set in modern times. (Side note: good suggestions from previous posters -- just FYI: SL books Little Pear, House of Sixty Fathers, Li Lun, and Young Fu of the Upper Yangtze are all books set in China, not Japan. ;) ) BOOKS all ages read alouds - The Cat Who Went to Heaven (Coatsworth) -- folktale; Buddhism - Japanese Children's Favorite Stories (Sakade) -- folktales gr. 1-4 read alouds - Hokusai: The Man Who Painted a Mountain (Ray) -- picture book; biography (lived 1760-1849) - Old Man Mad About Drawing: A Tale of Hokusai (Place) -- fictionaized biography of famed painter Hokusai - Grass Sandals: The Travels of Basho (Spivak) -- picture book; fictionalized biography of famous hiaku author (lived in 1600s) gr. 3-5 reader level - Sword of the Samurai (Kimmel) -- short folktale collection gr. 5-8 reader level - The Great Wave (Buck) -- timeless setting; peasant farmers and a tsunami - Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes (Coerr) -- fictional biography, late 1940s - Born in the Year of Courage (Crofford) -- fictional biography, shipwrecked teen fisher boy, 1850s - The Master Puppeteer (Paterson) -- 1700s - Demon in the Teahouse (Hoobler) -- first in a mystery series; boy detective and Samurai "Sherlock Holmes"; 1700s gr. 8+ reader level - The Samurai's Tale (Haugaard)-- historical fiction; 1700s - Sign of the Chrysanthemum (Paterson) -- historical fiction; 1700s EXTRAS - Japanese recipes: http://web-japan.org/kidsweb/cook/index.html - do some origami (esp. if you read Sadako) - Bunraku, Japanese Puppet Theater (esp. if you read Master Puppeteer): http://www2.ntj.jac.go.jp/unesco/bunraku/en/index.html MOVIES gr. 2+ - Totoro; Ponyo; Spirited Away -- films by Miyasaki & Studio Ghibli -- modern Japanese setting, with spirit/folklore characters gr. 6+ - Hidden Fortress (George Lucas' original Star Wars borrowed much from this film) gr. 6+ - Seven Samurai (Hollywood's Magnificent Seven based on this film) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
claluck Posted January 30, 2014 Share Posted January 30, 2014 My boys enjoyed "The House of Sixty Fathers" last year Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
danybug Posted January 30, 2014 Share Posted January 30, 2014 We really enjoyed Samurai's Tale, but obviously not a modern selection. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aurelia Posted January 30, 2014 Share Posted January 30, 2014 DD enjoyed Hachiko Waits and Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes. I think she was around 7 at the time. Totto-Chan might be good reading. It's an autobiography. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joannqn Posted January 31, 2014 Author Share Posted January 31, 2014 Thanks for all of the suggestions. I'll be looking into them.My librarian suggested Orchards by Holly Thompson. It is written in verse with almost no punctuation at all. It reads like a train of thoughts and is teen level. It deals with suicide. After a classmate commits suicide, one of the bullies gets sent to her mother's family in Japan for the summer. She grapples with her feelings about the girl's suicide while learning Japanese culture and her family's business growing a particular kind of oranges.I'm currently reading Flying the Dragon by Natalie Dias Lorenzi. It is set in the US, but with a main character who is half Japanese. When her extended family comes to the US for medical care, she finds her self feeling too Japanese for school and not Japanese enough at home. I have Young Samarai: the Way of the Warrior by Chris Bradford on hold, but I think it might be too long. Unfortunately, my library doesn't have The Big Wave by Pearl Buck.I'll check with the library to see what they have of the suggestions you all made. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tomandlorih Posted January 31, 2014 Share Posted January 31, 2014 The following is from this website .. adding the link to comply with the new rules.. http://www.cynthialeitichsmith.com/lit_resources/diversity/asian_am/japanese_am/nihon_immigration.htmlSONG OF THE STRANGER by Angela Tung (Roxbury, 1999). Karen Nomura, 13, is a talented young artist who thinks she knows "her Japanese self." What she doesn't know is how Obasan (Grandmother) from Hokkaido can be so unfriendly. The two don't know each other at the beginning of the story because Obasan was born and raised in California, went to the camps, and then moved to Japan. Now because of a death bed promise, Obasan takes Karen to Japan to learn more about her cultural heritage. But Karen doesn't want to go and is unhappy to be in Obasan's house in part because of Obasan's very negative attitude toward Karen's art. But perhaps there is a reason for Obasan's feelings and it traces all the way back to the United States and to WWII. Ages 9-up. This .pdf looks to have some good info http://aboutjapan.japansociety.org/resources/content/2/9/4/9/documents/Children%20Literature.pdf Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stripe Posted January 31, 2014 Share Posted January 31, 2014 My boys enjoyed "The House of Sixty Fathers" last year Isn't this set in China? For the younger kids - I read a bunch of books about Japan to my younger kids a few years ago, and they enjoyed My Japan by Etsuko Watanabe and The Way We Do It In Japan by Geneva Cobb Iijima to get a sense of what modern Japan looks and feels like, from a kid's perspective. Allen Say has some interesting picture books set in Japan. I love his art. (Dodsworth in Tokyo by Tim Egan is a nice book, if you've read the rest of the series especially.) You have to watch Totoro. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Farrar Posted January 31, 2014 Share Posted January 31, 2014 - Demon in the Teahouse (Hoobler) -- first in a mystery series; boy detective and Samurai "Sherlock Holmes"; 1700s[/size][/font] I think that's the second one. The Ghost in the Tokkaido Inn is the first and that would be my pick, though many of the others suggested are good too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Melissa in Australia Posted February 2, 2014 Share Posted February 2, 2014 Lots 'o Japanese suggestions below, but, alas, most are not really set in modern times. (Side note: good suggestions from previous posters -- just FYI: SL books Little Pear, House of Sixty Fathers, Li Lun, and Young Fu of the Upper Yangtze are all books set in China, not Japan. ;) ) BOOKS all ages read alouds - The Cat Who Went to Heaven (Coatsworth) -- folktale; Buddhism - Japanese Children's Favorite Stories (Sakade) -- folktales gr. 1-4 read alouds - Hokusai: The Man Who Painted a Mountain (Ray) -- picture book; biography (lived 1760-1849) - Old Man Mad About Drawing: A Tale of Hokusai (Place) -- fictionaized biography of famed painter Hokusai - Grass Sandals: The Travels of Basho (Spivak) -- picture book; fictionalized biography of famous hiaku author (lived in 1600s) gr. 3-5 reader level - Sword of the Samurai (Kimmel) -- short folktale collection gr. 5-8 reader level - The Great Wave (Buck) -- timeless setting; peasant farmers and a tsunami - Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes (Coerr) -- fictional biography, late 1940s - Born in the Year of Courage (Crofford) -- fictional biography, shipwrecked teen fisher boy, 1850s - The Master Puppeteer (Paterson) -- 1700s - Demon in the Teahouse (Hoobler) -- first in a mystery series; boy detective and Samurai "Sherlock Holmes"; 1700s gr. 8+ reader level - The Samurai's Tale (Haugaard)-- historical fiction; 1700s - Sign of the Chrysanthemum (Paterson) -- historical fiction; 1700s EXTRAS - Japanese recipes: http://web-japan.org/kidsweb/cook/index.html - do some origami (esp. if you read Sadako) - Bunraku, Japanese Puppet Theater (esp. if you read Master Puppeteer): http://www2.ntj.jac.go.jp/unesco/bunraku/en/index.html MOVIES gr. 2+ - Totoro; Ponyo; Spirited Away -- films by Miyasaki & Studio Ghibli -- modern Japanese setting, with spirit/folklore characters gr. 6+ - Hidden Fortress (George Lucas' original Star Wars borrowed much from this film) gr. 6+ - Seven Samurai (Hollywood's Magnificent Seven based on this film) what a great list :hurray: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
countrygal Posted February 2, 2014 Share Posted February 2, 2014 Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes - takes place in 1950s Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yucabird Posted February 2, 2014 Share Posted February 2, 2014 Totto-Chan was one of our first read alouds, and it is a book that easily lends itself to discussion. The olders could also read it on their own. http://www.amazon.com/Totto-Chan-The-Little-Girl-Window/dp/1568363915/ref=dp_ob_title_bk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Walking-Iris Posted February 2, 2014 Share Posted February 2, 2014 I was also going to suggest the Sadako books. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carol in Cal. Posted February 2, 2014 Share Posted February 2, 2014 "The Sea of Gold and other tales from Japan"--because I think that the first point of entry into a culture should be its folk tales. And their appeal is timeless so it includes all ages. Lots to talk about in this particular book. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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