Grade 5: Asian Historical Fiction

Jade never ventures beyond the walls of her family's Inner Court; in seventeenth-century Korea, a girl of good family does not leave home until she marries. She is enthralled by her older brother's stories about trips to the market and to the ancestral grave sites in the mountains, about reading and painting, about his conversations with their father about business and politics and adventures only boys can have. Jade accepts her destiny, and yet she is endlessly curious about what lies beyond the walls. A lively story with a vividly realized historical setting, "Seesaw Girl" recounts Jade Blossom's daring attempts to enlarge her world.

In the vein ofInside Out and Back Again and The War That Saved My Life comes a poignant, personal, and hopeful tale of India's partition, and of one girl's journey to find a new home in a divided country It's 1947, and India, newly independent of British rule, has been separated into two countries- Pakistan and India. The divide has created much tension between Hindus and Muslims, and hundreds of thousands are killed crossing borders. Half-Muslim, half-Hindu twelve-year-old Nisha doesn't know where she belongs, or what her country is anymore. When Papa decides it's too dangerous to stay in what is now Pakistan, Nisha and her family become refugees and embark first by train but later on foot to reach her new home. The journey is long, difficult, and dangerous, and after losing her mother as a baby, Nisha can't imagine losing her homeland, too. But even if her country has been ripped apart, Nisha still believes in the possibility of putting herself back together. Told through Nisha's letters to her mother, The Night Diaryis a heartfelt story of one girl's search for home, for her own identity...and for a hopeful future.

Winner of the YALSA Best Book AwardNot quite five years old in 1911 -- a time of revolution and transformation in China -- Third Sister Ailin rebels against the torturous tradition of foot binding. She feels no remorse when this causes the family of her intended husband to break the marriage agreement. But as she enters adolescence, Ailin realizes for the first time how powerless a girl of good family with no prospect of marriage is in Chinese society.For ages 12 and up.

A trip to India turns into a grand adventure in this contemporary novel about the Great Partition, from the award-winning author of Saving Kabul Corner and Shooting Kabul. A map, two train tickets, and a mission. These are things twelve-year-old Maya and her big sister Zara have when they set off on their own from Delhi to their grandmother's childhood home of Aminpur, a small town in Northern India. Their goal is to find a chest of family treasures that their grandmother's family left behind when they fled from India to Pakistan during the Great Partition. But soon the sisters become separated, and Maya is alone. Determined to find her grandmother's lost chest, she continues her trip, on the way enlisting help from an orphan by named Jai. Maya's grand adventure through India is as thrilling as it is warm: a journey through her family's history becomes a real coming-of-age quest.

Experience the sumptuous wealth and the unforgettable drama within the Moghul Dynasty of seventeenth-century India through Newbery Honor- author Kathryn Lasky's diary of Princess Jahanara. In the 1600s, the Moghul emperors of India were among the greatest and most superb rulers of the East. Jahanara is the daughter of one of these powerful figures, Shah Jahan, The Magnificent. A lover of refinement, his courts are of the finest architecture, priceless painting, unbelievable gardens, and ultra-fabulous wealth. Jahanara, the oldest and favorite of his children, is showered with emeralds and diamonds and rubies. She is attended by numerous servants and learned tutors. But her world is not one of complete

In 1942, when Mahatma Gandhi asks Indians to give one family member to the freedommovement, ten-year-old Anjali is devastated to think of her father risking his life for the freedomstruggle.But it turns out he isn't the one joining. Anjali's mother is. And with this change comesmany more adjustments designed to improve their country and use ?ahimsa'non-violentresistance'to stand up to the British government. First the family must trade in their fineforeign-made clothes for homespun cotton, so Anjali has to give up her prettiest belongings.Then her mother decides to reach out to the Dalit community, the ?untouchables? of society.Anjali is forced to get over her past prejudices as her family becomes increasingly involved inthe movement.When Anjali's mother is jailed, Anjali must step out of her comfort zone to take over hermother's work, ensuring that her little part of the independence movement is completed.Inspired by her great-grandmother's experience working with Gandhi, New Visions Awardwinner Supriya Kelkar shines a light on the Indian freedom movement in this poignant debut.

The summer of 1972, before I turned nine, danger began knocking on doors all over China. Nine-year-old Ling has a very happy life. Her parents are both dedicated surgeons at the best hospital in Wuhan, and her father teaches her English as they listen to Voice of America every evening on the radio. But when one of Mao's political officers moves into a room in their apartment, Ling begins to witness the gradual disintegration of her world. In an atmosphere of increasing mistrust and hatred, Ling fears for the safety of her neighbors, and soon, for herself and her family. For the next four years, Ling will suffer more horrors than many people face in a lifetime. Will she be able to grow and blossom under the oppressive rule of Chairman Mao? Or will fighting to survive destroy her spirit--and end her life? Revolution Is Not a Dinner Party is a 2008 Bank Street - Best Children's Book of the Year.

A riveting memoir of a girl's painful coming-of-age in a wealthy Chinese family during the 1940s. A Chinese proverb says, Falling leaves return to their roots. In Chinese Cinderella, Adeline Yen Mah returns to her roots to tell the story of her painful childhood and her ultimate triumph and courage in the face of despair. Adeline's affluent, powerful family considers her bad luck after her mother dies giving birth to her. Life does not get any easier when her father remarries. She and her siblings are subjected to the disdain of her stepmother, while her stepbrother and stepsister are spoiled. Although Adeline wins prizes at school, they are not enough to compensate for what she really yearns for -- the love and understanding of her family. Following the success of the critically acclaimed adult bestseller Falling Leaves, this memoir is a moving telling of the classic Cinderella story, with Adeline Yen Mah providing her own courageous voice.