TE Final: Asian and Asian American Literature

Today, the genres of Asian literature are widening and are starting to move away from “literature of folklore and historical fiction” and more towards “books about people living in today’s world from the various Asian countries.” (Yokota, 1)  However, even though progress is being made for the content of Asian literature, the Asian books being published each year is significantly low.  On average of the 3,000 children’s books being published each year, only 65 of them represent Asians or Asian Americans (Yokota, 1) Since, Asian and Asian Americans are underrepresented today in literature I decided to focus of them for this project.  I treated this project as a learning experience to expose myself to Asian literature and the Asian culture.  Through this project I am now able to bring into my classroom books that focus on Asian or Asian Americans and expose my students to this wonderful culture.  The word Asian when referring to literature is a broad term that encompasses many countries.  The Asian people are a diverse group “comprised of over fifty different ethnic groups who share no common history, language, religion, or culture.” (Yamate, 96)  Korea, Vietnam, and China are three countries that fall under this umbrella of a term and are the three countries that I chose to focus on for this project.  I chose three children narratives each having the authors informed about the culture they are writing about.  My Name is Yoon is a representation of Korean literature that illustrates the struggles that a young child has when moving to America.  Helen Recorvits does a wonderful job in presenting the theme of preserving ones culture through the character of Yoon.  Going Home, Coming Home by Truong Tran is a children’s book that represents Vietnamese culture.  A young girl travels with her family to Vietnam for the first time to visit her grandmother and uncle.  Going Home, Coming Home explores cultural differences that are seen through the language of the story.  My Name is Yoon and Going Home, Coming Home are both set in present day and illustrate the steps a child must take to adjust to a new culture.  This Next New Year is an energetic narrative about a young boy preparing for the New Year.  A major theme in Asian literature is this theme of celebration in Asian culture, especially the New Year.  Through the colorful and exciting illustrations the reader is able to learn the Chinese culture.

Book Review: My Name is Yoon

My Name is Yoon by Helen Recorvits and Pictures by Gabi Swiatkowska is a story about a young girl’s adjustment to a new life in America.  Yoon, who is the main character in the story, does not want to write her name in English because Yoon written in English is made up of “Lines. Circles. Each standing alone”, much like how Yoon feels in the beginning of the story.  She thinks her name “looks happy in Korean…the symbols dance together.”  In school Yoon writes CAT, BIRD, and CUPCAKE on lined paper when asked to write her name.  This sensitive story written by Recorvits is an inspiring story that tells a tale about a young girl not wanting to loose herself or her culture.  The dreamlike illustrations done by Swiatkowska adds to the story’s message and Yoon’s imagination.  The major theme that Recorvits has created through the character of Yoon is preserving ones culture.  Even though both Recorvits and Swiatkowska are “outsiders” to the Asian culture, the language and illustrations really captivate Yoon’s feelings and the processes she goes through in accepting and adjusting to her new life.

Book Review: Going Home, Coming Home

Going Home, Coming Home by Truong Tran and illustrated by Ann Phong is a narrative story that brings two cultures together.  Through the narration of a young eight-year-old girl, Ami Chi, Tran tells a story about a young girl who finds “home” in two very different places.  Ami travels to Vietnam for the first time with her parents to visit her grandmother and uncle.  In the beginning of the story Ami does not understand why her parents call Vietnam home because she thinks that Vietnam is nothing like America.  She has a hard time adjusting to the climate, the language, and even her grandmother’s small home.  However, as the story continues Ami stumbles upon Thao, a seven-year-old girl, who shows Ami that “home” is also in Vietnam.  Tran and Phong, both born in Vietnam, write and illustrate a heart felt story, that as some points became cliché, about a young girl recognizing that “home” does not have to be in one place. Phong uses warm acrylic paint to capture the country’s beauty and warmth.  Even though the illustrations depict a warm Vietnamese culture, the illustrations lack facial features of characters in the market and are blurred which hinders the view of Vietnamese culture.  Overall, Going Home, Coming Home gives its readers a valuable message, which is “My home is here. My home is there.  Home is two different places, on the left and right sides of my heart.”

Book Review: This Next New Year

This Next New Year by Janet S. Wong and illustrated by Yangsook Choi is a lyrical narrative about hopes and dreams.  In preparation for the Chinese New Year the young boy cleans his house, baths, and even flosses his teeth and cuts his nails.  All these preparations are done to make room for luck.  The young boy shows his courage and determination to make this New Year a good one by not being scared of the firecrackers and not hiding his face inside the crowd during the parade.  Wong presents the preparations done by the young boy in an understandable manner that allows children to make connections with the main character.  Choi captures the spirit of the young boy and the celebration of the Chinese New Year through her vibrant illustrations.  The bright illustrations capture the boy’s preparations and also symbolize the hopefulness of the New Year. 

Critical Resource:  Asian Americans in Literature for Children and Young Adults

I found this scholarly article using the E-Resource, ProQuest, found on the MSU Library homepage.  Asian Americans in Literature for Children and Young Adults is an article by Junko Yokota.  Junko Yokota was born in Japan, making her an insider to this topic.    The article gives some fascinating statistics about Asian literature and focuses on three main points, which are “the range of representation, the authenticity of representation, and the need for a balanced perspective through a collection of books.” (Yokota, 1)  The article flows and transition to each new point smoothly and Yokota gives examples for each of her arguments.  The examples are of different children books, which enhances the points she is trying to make.  At the end of the article she gives helpful tips about what teachers and librarians can do to inform themselves better on Asian culture and other unfamiliar cultures in general.  She gives many ideas that are commonly known but also a few creative ones, like “pair books across cultures:  pair a book from an unfamiliar culture with a book from a familiar culture, and have related themes that can connect the discussion of the books.” (Yokota, 4)  At the end of the article Yokota makes an imprecise point when she says, “Teacher-librarians can also choose from the award-winning authors and illustrators in order to identify culturally authentic books” because even though award winning books symbolize a “good book” it does not mean that the book is truly authentic.  She concludes her article with other thoughts and gives the references she used, which increase the validness of the article.  

BOY MEETS BOY

Thought I should share....I really enjoyed reading Boy Meets Boy by David Levithan.  Even though the main character was gay, I could totally relate to many of the things he was going through in high school, especially the relationship drama.  I have to say Infinite Darlene was a trip to read about and added humor in the story. 

Seen #2

This past weekend when I was home, my dad rented the movie Beverly Hills Chihuahua.  Since I had nothing to do I decided to watch it with him.  The movie is about a spoiled female dog who is taken away from her comfortable Beverly Hills home by her niece.  They travel to Mexico and their adventure begins.  I do not recommend the movie!  As I was watching the movie I noticed how each talking dog represents a certain multicultural group that we have discussed in class.  In the movie there are Mexican, African American, gay, and white dogs.  I was able to tell this because of their voice and how they looked because the dogs were dressed in clothes.  It only took me a few minutes to notice these stereotypes and I immediately thought of this class.  The movie is rated PG, which means it's recommended for children.  Interesting.....as kids are watching the movie they are learning these stereotypes.

Project Mulberry

As I was reading Project Mulberry I was not for sure what was going to happen next or how the book was going to end.  I was caught off guard at the point in the novel when we learn how Julia's mom might be racists.  It was interesting to me how the author played that part out in the book and how she did not give a definite answer.  Does anyone have any thoughts about how the author incorporated racism in the book?  Also, I think this is the first book we read that the main character does not want to be apart of her culture.  As the book starts off and as it continues Julia does not want to associate herself with anything Korean and at the end of the book to me, I feel that she has come to terms with her culture but for the most part still has the same feelings towards it as in the beginning of the book.  Any thoughts??

Something Heard...

Today in one of my classes a mother shared to the class how she related to a video clip we watched.  She tells the class that her son was born with down syndrome and when he was first born a team of young doctors came into the room and instead of looking at the child as a new born, she said they looked at him like he was some kind of medical case.  She did not specifically say the emotions/feelings she felt at the time but I can only assume they were not good.  I think at times all people have judged or looked at some differently because they are "different" but because they are "different" doesn't mean they are not the same as us.  We are all made the same way and all have the same potential, I believe no one should feel like they are being looked at as a medical case.

Seen and Heard

I watched The View this past Friday and in the beginning of the show the women talk about different things and this episode they talked about stereotypes and what stereotypes are offensive, I immediately thought of this class!  They debated and talked about different stereotypes and how in the past stereotypes were not as big of an issues as they are now.  Their conversation intrigued me because two of the hosts are black and to hear their take on the issue was interesting.  As they were talking it seemed to me that there are a lot of offensive stereotypes out there for African-Americans than there are for whites.  

Also when I was watching T.V. the new Oreo commercial came on and I have seen this commercial a couple of times before, but it never clicked until now to apply it to this class.  The commercial has a white red-haired young girl on one train and on the other train there is a young Asian girl, both girls look the same age and both are eating Oreos.  As the red-haired girl is making movements and eating her Oreo, the Asian girl is doing the same exact thing.  Then as the red-haired girl turns to her mom, I believe, and then looks to the other train, the train is gone.  Even though this is an advertisement for Oreo and the main point is that all kids around the world eat Oreo, I think it can unite kids in the sense of showing them that no matter what you look like or where you live everyone has the same interest or does the same things.  

HABIBI

I think Habibi is a great book for middle school students to read because it really gives insight on how to come accustom to a different culture by gradually learning through family and other citizens who live in that specific country.  I also think that it teaches American students that students who attend schools half way around the world still have the same interest and do the same activities as them.  This might sound cliche but by educating our students throughout their schooling about different cultures around the world could have the possibility of bringing the world closer to peace because by being educated on different cultures a person is able to see the similarities among cultures much more than the differences.

As I was reading this book I imagined myself in Liyana and the mother's shoes and how I would be if my family told me that we were moving to Jerusalem (Palestine).  I thought Liyana and the mother did a wonderful job assimilating themselves into the Arabic culture.  They really showed a lot of respect and I thought the mother was especially humble about it.  She left everything she has known and sacrificed for mostly her husband because he was the one who wanted to move there and really, I would say, embraced the Arabic culture.   

Also, when the Abbound family was mentioning the Arabic food such as grape leaves, hummus, and others, I knew what they were talking about because my family eats the same food and I would say that the food is delicious!