Children’s Literature from Asia in Today’s Classrooms

This new volume, Children’s Literature from Asia in Today’s Classrooms: Towards Culturally Authentic Interpretations, aims to provide readers with interpretation guides and practical ideas when they endeavor to make use of Asian international children’s literature in the classroom. It attempts to help readers interpret stories from Asia more authentically, and focuses both on international children’s literature and also on international literature read by young adults. In an increasingly interconnected world, understanding Asian international children’s literature and effectively using it are worthy goals for PK-16 classrooms and teacher education programs. The book is divided into two parts. Part I discusses how to authentically read children’s literature from four countries: India, Thailand, China, and Japan. These chapters provide guides for meaningful interpretations of cultural aspects of children’s stories from these countries.Part II consists of annotated bibliographies of international children’s literature from selected Asian societies: China, Taiwan, Indonesia, Japan, Philippines, South Korea, and Thailand. The editors believe that readers will find each author’s cultural insights fascinating and useful as they attempt to read with cultural authenticity.

This book is part of two volumes on the theory and practice of integrating international children’s literature from Asia into the teaching curriculum. The multiple authors who are themselves international in scope, provide intellectual and practical foundations that move beyond the normative cultural diversity arguments for integrating Asian literature in the curriculum. There is a focus on how to practically attain cultural empathy for students by intentional practice, along with the cultural reasoning. In a world where we want students to engage beyond their classroom to a wider world, these essays provide pragmatic and detailed ideas and materials for teachers at all levels of training or practice to use in their pedagogy. The book empowers us with informed suggestions, cultural aids, and grounded theories., Surprisingly, the topic of cultural sensitivity in children's literature has not been adequately addressed. More than ever, teaching misinterpreted cultural text has repercussions for our young global learners. Teacher interpretations affect how students perceive themselves and those around them. In particular, international students are most vulnerable to the viewpoints expressed by their teachers. As a curriculum director of an international school, I found International children’s literature from Asia in classrooms: Towards culturally authentic interpretations to be an asset when working with international teachers. The essays provide meaningful discussions on how we can tackle cultural issues found in much of our global literature. Indeed for the experienced and inexperienced international teacher, this book is a must read.

Yukari Takimoto Amos is a full professor at Central Washington University. She teaches a wide range of subjects including Asian Studies, linguistics, and multicultural education. With graduate training at both Japanese and U.S. universities, she has been a professor or an instructor in Japan, Singapore, the United States, and Hong Kong. Daniel Miles Amos was the first U.S. graduate student to successfully complete ethnographic research in the People’s Republic of China. He has held academic positions at several universities, including the Chinese University of Hong Kong and Beijing Normal University in greater China, and Clark Atlanta University in the United States.