EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT ASIAN-AMERICAN HISTORY (Plume, 1996) by Lan Cao and Himilee Novas. Historical overview in readable question-and-answer format. For YA/adult readers.
STRANGERS FROM A DIFFERENT SHORE: A HISTORY OF ASIAN AMERICANS (Little Brown, 1989) by Ronald Takaki. More scholarly (but still readable) treatment of the Asian American experience. For YA/adult readers.
Asian American Book List from the National Education Association. Peek: "a bilingual reading list of titles appropriate for K-12 students. The following titles are listed by grade level and include fiction, non-fiction and poetry."
Asian American Curriculum Projects, Inc. "Our mission is to educate the public about the Asian American experience, fostering cultural awareness, and to educate Asian Americans about their own heritage, installing a sense of pride." Offers quality books related to the following communities: Cambodian, Chinese, Filipino, Hawaiian, Hmong, Indonesian, Japanese, Khmer, Korean, Lao, Samoan, Thai, and Vietnamese.
Asian American and Pacific Islander Multicultural Book Reviews for K-12 educators: brief summaries that are graded and (mostly) signed.
Asian American Writers Workshop: information on membership, programs, publications, awards, fellowships, people, and more.
Asia for Kids Educational Catalog: a resource for language and culture books, videos, CD-ROMS, crafts, games, dolls, and music. One of the very few commercial sites linked from this one. Excellent resource for Asian American books and more (Ancient Civilization, Adoption, Arabic & Middle EAstern, Bengali, Bilingual Books, Cambodia/Khmer, China, Cinderall stories, Gujarati, Hmong/Laos, India, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Multicultural/Biethnic, Pacific Islands/Hawaii, Pakistan/Urdu, Philippine, Spanish, Thailand/Thai, Vietnam, and more).
Buddist Books for Children from the University of Pennsylvania.
Childbook.com: features Chinese Children Books, Video's, Audio and computer CD's, and other materials for libraries, ESL Programs, and government institutions for teaching Chinese Culture and Language with secure online ordering.
Children's Literature Bibliography: Asian American, Asian & Pacific Islands from the Internet School Library Media Center.
Common Errors In American Children's Books With South Asian Characters or Content from Uma Krishaswami. Mentions mistakes found in recently published books.
“Great Expectations: Breaking Down the Wall of Assumptions” by Debbi Michiko Florence. Peek: "It's not enough that a main character in a book is Asian-American in physical description, but he/she should also share that melding of cultures.”
Pacific Rim Voices is the web site of the Kiriyama Pacific Rim Book Prize, which was created in 1996 to encourage the publication and readership of books that will increase understanding about the nations and peoples of the Pacific Rim region. The site, launched in September 1999, features not only information about the Kiriyama Prize -- its winners and finalists, but also book reviews, calendar listings, regional focus pages, author interviews, original fiction, links to other Pacific Rim related sites, and more. New features will be posted to the site regularly.
papertigers.org: featuring Pacific Rim and South Asian peoples and cultures through children's and young adult books. Features interviews, essential reading, resources, and reviews. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.
Polychrome Publishing Corporation: "publisher of authentic Asian Pacific American stories from the Asian Pacific American community."
Segregation and Shelf Space
from Cynthia Leitich Smith. A brief discussion of ethnic categorization
in children's and young adult literature.
South Asian Children's Books and Software by the South Asian Women's Network. Bibliography with related links.
The Wing Luke Asian Museum in Seattle: "the only pan-Asian American museum in the United States devoted to the collection, preservation and display of Asian Pacific American culture, history and art with projects, inspired and created by community members."
"I think the biggest problem is one of perception — the impression in many circles, publishing and otherwise, that stories from a given culture are mainly, even only, of interest to those within that culture. You often hear the word "niche" in connection with such work, and it's really a cop-out in some ways. It implies that kids will only read work that reflects their worlds, and I think kids are a whole lot smarter than that - they will read compelling stories, and they'll read them over and over."
—Uma Krishnaswami, Children's Book Author
