culture textbook for elementary school students

from SENSEIONLINE, Fri Sep 3, 2010

culture books on Asia for kids
<> Floating lanterns & Golden Shrines
<> 40 activites to learn about Japan (or something like that).
<> an Iowa book called "Sweet Corn and Sushi". It's a children's story book written in English and Japanese (but the reading level for both languages is upper elementary). It's the story about an American soldier who had been stationed in Japan right after WWII, but then went back to Iowa to become a farmer. When a disaster hit Yamanashi prefecture in Japan, he rounded up his farmer friends and sent the Japanese people some help. Years later when the floods of '93 hit Iowa, the Japanese people of Yamanashi sent help to the people of Iowa. It's a beautiful book about the ties between two countries.

<> "My Japan" by Etsuko Watanabe, and "I live in Tokyo" by Mari Takabayashi, http://www.amazon.com/My-Japan-Etsuko-Watanabe/dp/1933605995
http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6226681-my-japan

http://www.amazon.com/I-Live-Tokyo-Mari-Takabayashi/dp/0618077022 and http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/921351.I_Live_in_Tokyo

<> "Hashi No Mochikata" by Michiko Konagai, http://www.ehonnavi.net/ehon00.asp?NVKB=E00&no=16236
<> "Asobi No Osama Zukan7: Tabemono", http://www.ehonnavi.net/ehon00.asp?no=9074
<> "Lovely Hekimen 12kagetsu", http://www.natsume.co.jp/book/index.php?action=show&code=004836
<> "Pocket Monster Origami Collection" by Kanata Miru, http://bookweb.kinokuniya.co.jp/htm/4091016154.html

<>Yoko, http://www.amazon.com/Yoko-Rosemary-Wells/dp/0786803959
is about a Japanese-American cat that goes to school and always brings lunches that her mom packs for her. The other kids (animals?) tease her about her red bean ice cream and sushi and she's always embarrassed. Later in the school year, the class has an international food day and everyone has to bring a food that represents their culture. The book is more about tolerance of other cultures, but it's about a Japanese main character.

<> Allen Say's autobiographical picture books:
Grandfather's Journey (coordinate with US History, Japanese immigration, etc.)
A Tree of Cranes (read at Christmas time)
Tea with Milk (cultural comparisons)
The Bracelet (about WWII Japanese internment camps but not too harsh for elementary students)

<> Akiko Hayashi books, http://www.amazon.com/Childrens-Picture-Books-Japan/lm/3MK7OPYENYTH1

<> The story of Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes is used in talking about Hiroshima. There is even a video to go along with this book, too.

<> "How My Parents Learned to Eat" is about introducing Japanese food and chopsticks.

<> To show Japanese culture: the Shiba Inu books and the illustrator Akiko Hayashi's "Kon to Aki", which is now available in English! Many of her very cute books have beentranslated into English.

<> "Baseball Saved Us" is another excellent book about the Internment camps.
<> For high school, "Snow Falling on Cedars" is both a good book and an excellent film on the subject of the J-A experience during and after the war.


------SEE ALSO, lending library in USA: http://www.jflalc.org/?act=tpt&id=292