Studying Japan

Over the last two weeks we have spent time in and around Japan, specifically through the books A Pair of Red Clogs and Grandfather's Journey. Before these books go back to the library today, I would share with you some of the other books that we had enjoyed over the last two weeks in our studies. :)

Grandfather's Journey was written by Allan Say about his grandfather and his family. He has several other books published about his family and their life in Japan and we enjoyed all of them. Other titles by him to look for include:

• Tea with Milk (the story of Allan's mother who moves from American to Japan as an older teen)
• Tree of Cranes (the story of Allan himself learning of Christmas for the first time)
• Kamishibai Man (about a Japanese storyteller and his paper theater)
• Erika-San (a girl from California moves to Japan to teach and what she learns about the country)
• The Bicycle Man (set after World War II when American soldiers were in Japan)

Other books that we read with Japanese settings or culture were:

• Little Oh! (somewhat of a Japanese version of Pinnochio - a little origami girl comes to life).
• The Magic Fan (the story of a boy who could make anything and how he saved his village)
• How My Parents Learned to Eat (the story of a how the American Dad learned to use chopsticks and the Japanese Mom learned to use a knife and fork ... cute story). :)
• Japan ABCs (we didn't read this aloud but looks to be a good one for facts about Japan)
• Zen Shorts (another one we didn't get to about a panda bear)

A word about A Pair of Red Clogs - such a wonderful book about honesty that I think is a must for any little girl's shelf. We couldn't find any other books by the author (I may have just missed them), but this one is now a new favorite.

Over the next two weeks we will be headed to Italy in our school work and reading through the books The Clown of God by Tomie dePaolo (one of my favorites!) and Papa Piccolo by Carol Talley. But, for now, as we conclude Japan, we say "Sayonara!" and hope you all have a great Labor Day weekend.