Autumn is a time for harvest festivals all around the world, and
although our families celebrate Thanksgiving here in America, many
of us also celebrate other harvest festivals as well. These books
all share themes of giving thanks, family, and food.
Thanksgiving at Obaachan's
By Janet Mitsui Brown
Polychrome Publishing, 1994
ISBN: 1879965070
(American Bookseller’s Pick of the Lists;
Parent’s Council Choice Book)
Although the sansei narrator does
not speak Japanese and her grandmother does not speak English, they
enjoy a warm and loving Thanksgiving at grandmother’s house with
their extended and multicultural family, complete with turkey,
pumpkin pie, omanju, and tsukemono. The San Francisco Chronicle
called it "the quintessential Sansei book."
Lights For Gita
By Rachna Gilmore
Tilbury
House Publishers, 1994
ISBN 0884481514
Gita’s first Divali in Canada will be
different without all her aunts, uncles, cousins, and grandparents,
but neither freezing rain nor a blackout can keep the lights that
honor the goddess Lakshmi from shining during this Hindu harvest
festival. Gita learns that the festival is more than just fireworks
but about filling the darkness with light. Her new friends also come
and help her make this cold new place home.
Mooncakes and Hungry Ghosts : Festivals of China
Carol
Stepanchuk and Charles Wong
China Books and Periodicals, 1991
ISBN 0835124819
The Chinese harvest festival known as the
Mid-Autumn Festival takes place on the fifteenth day of the eighth
lunar month, usually September or October. This book discusses many
Chinese festivals, and it has a good chapter on the Mid-Autumn
Festival, which is celebrated with mooncakes, feasting with family
and friends, lantern parades, gazing at the moon, and stories of the
Moon Lady or Chang E.
Samira’s Eid
By Nasreen Aktar
Share with Samira and her family a day of
fasting during Ramadan and the celebration of Eid, the excitement of
the first sighting of the new moon, the visit to the mosque and the
celebration party. But who is the surprise visitor? Bilingual in
English and Bengali, Gujarati, Urdu, Punjabi, Arabic, or Somali.
Available at Asia for Kids.
Grandfather Counts
By Andrea Cheng,
illustrations by Ange Zhang
Lee and Low Books, 2000
ISBN
1584300108
When Grandfather comes from China to live
with Helen’s family, he talks to them excitedly in Chinese until he
realizes that none of his hapa grandchildren understand. Then he is
quiet and just reads his Chinese newspapers. Then one day, he and
Helen start counting the trains together. He teaches her to count in
Chinese, and she teaches him to count in English—and a relationship
that transcends language begins to develop. Although not exactly a
"thanksgiving" book, this is nonetheless a good book about family
love overcoming language barriers with the older generation.
The Musubi Man : Hawaii's Gingerbread Man
By Sandi Takayama
Bess Press, 1996
ISBN 1573060534
This is my vote for absolutely the most
delightful Asian-American book ever. No Gingerbread Man was ever so
cool as this pidgin-speaking Musubi man made with limu hair, a
little nori jacket, two takuan eyes, an ebi nose, a smiling mouth of
red ginger, and an umeboshi heart. He runs away from a little old
Japanese-American woman and nearly gets eaten by a tanned surfer,
but this version has a surprise happy ending. "Run, run, fast as you
can! You no can catch me, I’m one musubi man!" Again, this is not
technically a Thanksgiving book, but the fastest food book you’ll
find.
Do you have a favorite Thanksgiving
or harvest festival book to recommend? Write us!
Related Readings by Frances Kai-Hwa Wang
The Chinese Mid-Autumn Festival
The Chinese Mid-Autumn
Festival is a harvest festival celebrated on the night of the
full moon with moon cakes, lanterns, and the Story of Chang-E,
the Moon Lady.
Creating Our Own Thanksgiving
Thanksgiving always felt
foreign and stiff with terrible American food until Japanese
American neighbors showed us how to create our own Asian
American Thanksgiving with delicious Asian food worth eating. No
more frozen turkey meat loaf for this family!
Thanksgiving and Other Harvest
Season Books for Kids
By Frances Kai-Hwa Wang, AAV
Contributing Editor
APA books that share themes of giving
thanks, family, and food
Thanksgiving and
Other Harvest Season Books for Asian-American Kids
