Asian Culture

Between 1942 and 1945, the U.S. government wrongfully imprisoned thousands of Japanese American citizens and profited from their labor. Japanese American Incarceration recasts the forced removal and incarceration of approximately 120,000 Japanese Americans during World War II as a history of prison labor and exploitation.

Winnie Louie and Helen Kwong have always shared secrets, but now Helen wants to reveal them. Helen is convinced she is dying and decides to celebrate what might be her last Chinese New Year by telling all the secrets of her life, as well as Winnie Louie's and those of Winnie's daughter Pearl. There are some things, however, that Pearl would rather her mother didn't know. The result of Helen's tell-all mood is a series of comic misunderstandings and heartbreaking realizations about luck, loss, and trust.

As a young boy, Bao and his father awoke early, hours before his father's long workday began, to fish on the shores of a small pond in Minneapolis. Unlike many other anglers, Bao and his father fished for food, not recreation. A successful catch meant a fed family. Between hope-filled casts, Bao's father told him about a different pond in their homeland of Vietnam.

Through vivid storytelling, Early Bloomers explores the challenges and triumphs faced by high schoolers as they navigated the complexities of love, sexual awakening, identity, and self-discovery in this era of openness and cultural fusion. This novella holds high literary value in shedding light on a rarely explored group of individuals, and it also holds immense social and economic significance as some of them will play a major role in shaping the next generation as leaders.

The real story is about a young princess in China named Ra Pu Zel who doesn’t want to talk to princes or look proper. What Pu Zel wants is to cook and eat in peace, her long hair neatly braided to keep it out of her food. And when she gets tired of everyone telling her what to do, she locks herself in a tower with her dog Bao. Although princes from everywhere try to convince her to come down, it’s not until a young chef arrives with an intriguing food to share that Ra Pu Zel finally has a reason.

Obsession is a story about emotional growth and the pains that accompany it. Written in an experimental voice that employs an omniscient second-person perspective, it chronicles the life of a young Chinese woman who comes to the US in order to fall in love in a foreign land. Throughout her bizarre relationship with a Jewish-American scholar, who is both brilliant and selfish, we see how cultural difference leads to different interpretations of trust, personal boundary, respect, or even rape.

Two young men leave their families and businesses to walk the dusty roads of ancient times with hopes of excitement and adventure. An ordinary 19-year-old man, Daniyyel, observes miraculous moments in his friend Matityahu’s life and wonders what gift his friend has. Daniyyel goes so far as asking Matityahu how and why he has these abilities. After questioning, studying, and trying out Matityahu’s spiritual practices and suggestions, we see Daniyyel’s growth from traditional religious thinking to an awakening of his own spiritual nature.

Soma's mother, T.M. Song, was a storyteller and this is a tale she used to tell her daughters when they were little girls. Her mother had told it to her when she was growing up in a rural village in Korea during the reign of King Kojong.... The underlying lesson is filial piety, respect for one's parents, presented in an engrossing Oriental Cinderella story.

In this Caldecott Medal-winning tale set in Old Japan, a lively little woman who loves to laugh pursues her runaway dumpling - and must outwit the wicked three-eyed oni when she lands in their clutches.

It's almost Lunar New Year! Xiao Mi, Hang, Kwan, Malai, and Charu all celebrate the New Year in their own special way. Experience how each one of the Chinese, Korean, Thai, Vietnamese and Indian children and their families honor Lunar New Year, from dragon dances in China to firecrackers in India!