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look for authentic representation. ln tact,eliminating books that are not cultur-ally authentic from 1ibrary collections andclassroom use is paramount, except in cases

where those books are used as negativeexamples. ln school and public librariesaround the country, there are still booksthat present stereotypical images of Asians.

For example, I know the characters in theFive Chinese Brothers (tgge) have to lookidentical for the story to work, but whyis everyone else in the country, as repre-sented by the book, identical in physicalappearance, attire, and even the angle atwhich they lean in a group scene? lt is

not just older books that have problems ofappropriate representation. Books are stillbeing published that perpetuate misguidedbeliefs about cultural assimilation-clearlyrepresenting the idea that we should beproud lvhen we can "blend in" withothers. Representation need not always bepositive, but should be truthful in depic-tion and include respectful ways of devel-oping attitudes about diversity.

BALANCED PERSPECTIVE

Representation does not mean looking forthe ideally authentic book to representa culture; no one book can be "the bestbook" for representing Asiatr Americanliterature. ln fact, it takes many booksto create a multidimensional look a t a

culture. 1n seeking a balonced perspective,even within one culture, it is importantto include a variety of genres, a variety ofperspectives, and a variety of voices. Forexample, a set of books depicting Japanmight include the well-known Caldecottwinnin g G ro ndfoth er's.lou rney 11 993, 2008J

by Allen Say. Although the book has an"every immigrant theme," the story andillustrations are set in Japan and the UnitedStates, and explore what it means to callboth places home. Ghost in the Tokoido lnn(2005) by Dorothy and Thomas Hoobler isa page-turning mystery that is set in a truehistorical time in Japan. The Friends (1996)by Kazumi Yumoto shows the intergenera-tional friendship that ensues when childrenin conte mporary Japan become curiousabout the concept of death. A wide rangeof books about other Asian cultures will

help build a more diverse understandingof what books accurately represent AsianAmerican literature.

#Htril*Fe g g'*{} TF-{ ffi F\/T ffi S ef\; ffiLff,]f *## $ r'd &sEp"F; l4turE ffi F1$#Jar\jf*ETffifl14"T1-f ffiH

Over the years, some themes have beenexplored repeatedly in Asian Americanliterature, while others remain under repre-sented. Stories exploring generationalconflicts, particularly those that address

differences in language and in lifestylebetween the older generation directly fromthe root country in Asia and an AsianAmericatr child, abound. Celebrations fromAsian cultures such as New Year's that are

equivalent to celebrations in the mainstreamculture are better known; yet other celebra-tions deeply rooted in the Asian culture,often based on religious beliefs, that haveno equivalence in mainstream culture are

relatively unknown. There are numerousbooks about Chinese New Year, but whatabout Obon (http://www.buddhistchurch.com/events/Obon.htm), in which theJapanese celebrate the spirits of theirdeceased ancestors?

There are a number ofbooks set in histor-ically well-documented Asian Americancommon history, such as the Yoshiko Uchidastories about the Japanese in internmentcamps. A1so, Lautence Yep has writtenextensively about the Chinese building thetranscontinental railroad, as well as otherhistorical stories ol Chinese immigration,most recently relating immigration throughAngel lsland. Although the fresh ways

of conceptualizing those stories shouldcontinue to be recommended (e.9., CynthiaKadohata's Weedflower,2006), at the same

time, we should be aware of the need forstories that have not yet been told. Forexample, consider the myriad adoptionstories about bringing home Asian babiesto America that are told from the perspec-tive of the welcoming family. Such storiesas The White Swan Express: A Story aboutAdoption (Okimoto & Aoki, 2002) or I Love

You Like Crazy Cakes (Lewis, 2000), come tomind. What about the perspective of theadoptees, now adults, telling their stories?Years ago, Marie Lee wrote /f /t Hodn't Been

forYoon Jun', while the story was sensitivelywritten in the voice of a Korean American,it was not the voice of a trans-racialadoptee. ln a recent study, Park (2009)found that only one of the 46 books shereviewed featured an adopted Korean andwas written from the perspective of theadoptee. The book Park found was a "self-published" book by a child. Likewise thereare a few books that introduce the Hmongsand their concept of telling stories throughstitched cloths. Where are the stories oftheir immigration to the United Statesand their cultural conflict in settling in a

place with very different laws and lifestylesthan they left behind at home? The listof "untold stories" of Asians and AsianAmericans could go on and on.

Lumping Asians together in one homog-enous group, rather than giving themcuJturally specific voices can have negativeconsequences. So can generalizations across

cultures or incJuding some cultures and notothers. Yet, there are some experietrces thatare shared by East Asian people, many ofwhich are unknown to people outside Asiancultures.

One specific example comes to mind:the belief in the beauty of having double-eyelids. The Dalton School librarian,Roxanne Hsu Feldman, who is also Asian

fshe is Chinese; I am Japanese), commentedon my "double eyelids" as we prepared toattend a publisher dinner. When I was muchyounger and growing up in Japan, 1 wasoften told that I was lucky to have "tutae-mabuta", which means a "double-eyelid."Roxanne then told me an experience she

had as a young child. Her mother took herto have eyelid surgery to correct ingrowneyelashes, and in the process, a fortunateresult was the creation of a crease in theupper eyelid. She recounted the bleedingand swelling she suffered as a 9-year-old.She explained that her older sister taped hereyes every day to create that fold, and years

later her eyes permanently had creases so

she no longer had to tape them.We were seated at different tables

for dinner in a large ballroom when thepublisher began describing Korean authorAn Na's newest book, The Fold, which is

about the very thing we had just beendiscussing-eyeiid surgery. There was a

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TEXTBOX 1

Featured Pairings of Related Books:"Duck families in the Boston Public Gardens / Tokyo lmperial Moat"Make Way for Duckllngs. Fobert McC oskey. Viking, 1941.974 1591127314ahbi: ATrue Story fron Japan, Barbara Brenner and Julia Takaya, I L June Ctani

C arion, 1996 978-0395720482

"Friendships (in which mortality is faced . . .)"Bridge to Terablthia Katherine Paterson, HarperOollins, 1977 978 006073401 5The Friends. Kazuml Yumoto, Trans Cathv Hirano. Tarrar, Straus Giroux, 1996

978-4374424419

though many Asian countries are noIrepresented through published iiterature,lnternet resources may add support anda cccss.

lnvite speokers: Hearing the explana-tions of people who havc nrore first-handexperiences in Asian culture may enrichvicarious understanding.

There are choices for teacher-librarianswho want to provide more inclusive collections in their libraries and classrootns, butdo not know where to turn for help. Onechoice, which requires only a computer withan lntemet connection, is the lnternationalChildren's Digital Library (tclt-), trttp://en.childrenslibrary.orgl. The ICDL has over3000 books in 49 languages that have beenscanned llorr cover to cover. Readers canfind books in the original languages fromArabic to books from Mongolia. However,because the ICDL rclies on the donationof book rights, thc collection is unevenin representation; but the availability oforiginal books from countries around theworld is certainly to be celebrated andenjoyed.

Teacher-librarians can also choose fiomthe award-winning authors and illustratorsin order to identifu culturally authenticbooks. Although Asian heritage booksare eligible for a wide array of existingawards, the Asian Pacific American LibraryAssociaLion IAPALA) awards high qualityliterature, paying particular attention tocultural authenticity ofAsian Pacific expcri-ences. The APALA web site http://www.apala web.org/award s/a ward s.htm h a s

infornration on winners and honor bookssince the inception of its awards programir 2003.

i]{.iiri iiir;iiI:'i{,1 T:"-ii-.1t";i";'ra7'ri . . .

Although there has been considerabieprogrcss in ternrs of the diversity of countriesrepresented, the genres publishcd, and thethones addressed, there is always room fornrore, because so much of the Asian worldis still underrepresented. What worrics manyof us of Asian heritage is that as publishingcompanies merge to become larger corpora-tions and decisions are made based mostlyon the bottonr line, what is likely to surviveare the books that are guaranteed to sell(c.9., mass market titles and those from themajor award winners), and the books thatare rroTe culturally specific by lcsser-knownauthors will be ignored.

For all the children we te ach in ourschools and libraries, it is my sincere hopethat high quality literaturc depicting Asiansand Asian Americans will be readilv avail-able, accessible, and recommended. lnorder for that to happen, wc must all make

an effort to support the books in such a

way that authors and illustrators can affordto keep creating, publishers will continueto publish them, libraries will continue toorder them, and book stores will continueto nrake them available (buy, borrow, circu-late). Most of all, it is my hope that thisliteralure will inspire us all to understandAsian and Asian American heritage in ourworld-to experience livcs and worlds vicar-iously through literatr-rre while cngaging ingood reading. After all, books are powerfulin helping us to begin to know our world.

ii{ i{lit',a.!:, ;\iii: N{ i,:.,:i,.Jtr'i- :

Chinn, K. 11997). Som and the lucky money.lll. C. Van Wright & Y. Hu. New York: Leeft Low.

Hooblet D. ft T. [1 999). Ghost in theTokoido/nn. New York: Philomel.

Kadohata, C. [2006). Weedflower. New York:Atheneum.

Lee, M. (1993). lf it hodn't been forYoon Jun.Boslon: Hough ton Mifflir..

Lewis, R. [2000). / love you like crozy cokes.111. J. Dyer. New York: Littlc Brown.

Na, A. (2008). The Fold. NY: Putnam.

Okimoto, J. D. ft Aoki, E. (2002). The WhiteSwon express: A story of odoption. lll. M. So.

New York: Clarion.

Sharing the Asian PacificAmerican Heritage Experienceln celebratng Asian Pacfic American Heritage month ln May, lt ls impodantto remember that teachers and teacher-librarians play a critical role in howchildren beneflt from thls focus, What we display and feature, what we readaloud to chilclren, how we engage them in the discuss on of books, and howor when we follow up learning experiences, wj L cletermine the effect books willhave on chilclren. As aclults who lnfluence children, we must continue to reacl

-rr i. a<--aca ^a o-rde IL et-ltulr a dlmenotonsO' ^evvlu-Ly, l= rllul lrllqr)>u--l.,--- L u u J

iterature, and make meanlngful connections to our own lives in order to he pchlldren also make connections, But most of aLl, we must make a commitmentto seek goocl books, enjoy readlng, and share that delight with the children andadults around us.-Junko Yokota, from Sharlng the Asian Amerlcan HeritageExperlence.

18 TEAC!EB L BRAF AN 36 3

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