Booklist for SEA unit
Books offer so many great resources for learning. Whether they are a non-fictional book sharing facts or fictional books walking us through ideas and experiences. Here are some of the books targeting early elementary age that we used to explore and study South East Asian countries and culture. These are the books that we read, but there are many more out there. Some we chose not to read because they had themes that were too old for my girls now. For example, I pre-read many of the traditional story collections because many were pleasant, but some were too creepy or cruel. I have also included several of the book lists that I used to find these books since there are others out there that we have not yet read.
We bought a few of these books but I found most of them through our public library. I usually had to request them from nearby library branches. If you cannot find them in person, many of them are available as story times on youtube.
[List in progress, I will be adding to it throughout the study]
Not Country Specific
The Travel Book, by Lonely Planet Kids
This book highlights every country in the world and was fun to flip through and see interesting cultural facts about each country we were studying.
A Year Full of Celebrations and Festivals, Compiled by Christopher Corr and Claire Grace.
3 of the pages cover celebrations specifically celebrated in South East Asia.
Books by Country
Thailand
All About Thailand, by Elaine Russell
Thai Children’s Favorite Stories, by Marian D. Toth
A collection of traditional stories from Thailand
Hush! A Thai lullaby, by Minfong Ho
A sweet lyrical journey of a mother to shush all the noisy animals around her house so her baby can sleep. This one was fun to talk about how animal sounds can be interpreted differently in different cultures.
The Girl Who Wore Too Much, A Folk Tale From Thailand
A Tale of humility and learning not to be vain.
A story about a girl growing up in a village where they make traditional umbrella’s and a celebration of a little girl’s personal creativity.
Cambodia
The Cambodian Dancer, by Daryn Reicherter
The Caged Birds of Phnom Penh, by Fredrick Lipp
A young girl living in poor conditions in Phnom Penh learns patience and discernment as she wishes for a better life for her family on the wings of a little bird.
The Elephant’s New Shoe, By Laurel Neme
The retelling of a true story about rescuing a baby Elephant whose foot was cut off in a trap. Then, how they worked to build him a prosthetic leg.
Vietnam
10 Cents a Pound, by Nhung N. Tran-Davies and Josée Bisaillon
A lyrical conversation between a mother wishing for an education and a better life for her daughter and her daughter wishing to help the mother through the difficult rural life that she leads in her Vietnamese village.
Water Buffalo Days, by Huynh Quang Nhuong
I read this one out loud with my 5 and 2 yo. It was a beautiful walk through life based on the author’s life growing up in rural Vietnam with rice farming and a water buffalo. My daughter and I were both drawn in by the stories of about catching wild fighting fish or pretending the water buffalo was a bus. There were 3 tense sections that included animal fights with a some gore, but I glossed over those rather than reading all the details (ie. and then the wild boar dies).
My First Day, by Phung Nguyen Quang and Huynh Kim Lien
A young Vietnamese boy navigates his boat on his own through the colorful and challenging Mekong Delta to reach his first day of school (ages 3-8).
Other helpful booklists:
https://diversebookfinder.org/setting/vietnam/
https://worldkidlit.wordpress.com/2021/06/23/vietnamese-childrens-books/
https://www.pragmaticmom.com/2021/06/vietnamese-american-childrens-books/
Laos
The Most Beautiful Thing, by Kao Kalia Yang and illustrated by Khoa Le
A who girl helps care for her grandmother and hears her stories of coming from the difficult far away land learns that you don’t need material things to find beauty. (Ages 5-9)
Mommy Eats Fried Grasshoppers, by Vilayvanh Bender
The author compares many aspects of the life she had growing up in Lao to her daughter’s life in the US, including how her daughter eats potato chips and she eats fried grasshoppers (Ages 3-8).
Jouanah: A Hmong Cinderella Story, by Jewell Reinhard Coburn
A westernized version of the tradition story of a Laotian Hmong girl who’s mother is turned into a cow and her new step-mother and step-sister don’t want her to succeed. The spirit of her mother from some leather in her old sewing basket still helps her become the most beautiful girl at a local celebration to win the heart of a handsome, influential young man from the village and escape her step-mother’s wrath. This story shows traditional clothing and includes some of the animist religious views that believe someone could be turned into a cow at a whim and that you could seek out wisdom from the spirit of an old dead tree (Ages 8 -12)
Other helpful booklists:
https://www.pragmaticmom.com/2017/11/lao-and-hmong-childrens-books/
https://kidstravelbooks.com/product-category/asia/laos/
Myanmar/Burma
Burma Superstar is a cookbook that I found helpful when I was looking for recipes. It also has a significant portion about Burmese culture included that I found useful for learning about Myanmar as an adult.
Our library did not have any living books about Myanmar but this list had some options:
https://www.pragmaticmom.com/2018/03/childrens-books-burma/
Malaysia
Mommy Sayang, by Rosana Sullivan
A mother and daughter do many things together in her Malaysian village, until the mother get’s sick. The daughter misses her mother. With care and her daughter’s encouragement, the mother returns to health.
There are some beautiful books by Jainal Amambing about traditional life and tales from Malaysia. However, I could not find them for sale in the US without paying >$50 in shipping. Instead, I did find one of the books available on youtube that someone reads.
Longhouse Days by Jainal Amambing
Other helpful booklists:
https://www.expatgo.com/my/2018/09/07/learn-about-malaysia-through-malaysian-childrens-books/
https://www.oyezbookstore.com/blog/20-malaysian-childrens-books-you-absolutely-must-have
Indonesia
Rice is life, by Rita Golden Gelman
Page after page of poems and facts about the life cycle of rice and the farmer’s life working in rice paddies in Bali, Indonesia.
My Night in the Planetarium, By Innosanto Nagara
A true story about the son of a play write who was involved in Indonesia’s political revolution and activism. This story also includes a little bit of Indonesian history.
Good night gecko
Bali’s Children’s stories
All About Indonesia
Fire Islands Cookbook
Other book lists:
https://diversebookfinder.org/setting/indonesia/
Philippines
Cora Cooks Pancit, by Dorina K. Lazo Gilmore
While her older siblings are away, Cora gets to do the big kid jobs and help her mother prepare the traditional Filipino dish pancit. It also highlights other filipino foods, has a pancit recipe in the back, and had my daughter wanting to help me in the kitchen all that day too (Ages 4-8).
Pan de Sal
Willie Wins
Other helpful book lists:
https://www.pragmaticmom.com/2017/07/filipino-filipinoamerican-childrens-books/
Countries nearby but with related cultural references
Monsoon, by Uma Krishnaswami
This book describes the anticipation of the Monsoon rainy season and the joy that comes with the much needed rain. It is set in India.
Heart of a Tiger, by Jamichael Henterly and Marsha Diane Arnold
Despite being the smallest cat in his litter, little 4 heads off into the jungle to learn the ways of the bengal tiger so that it can have a tiger’s name on naming day. The cat learns to ignore others that scoff at his goal and uses its bravery to ultimately save a friend (Set in India).
The Story of Kites: Amazing Chinese Inventions, by Ying Chang Compestine
A fictional retelling of the traditional tale of how three boys invented kites to help keep the birds away from their crops. Kites are a popular hobby across South East Asia and a traditional craft in Malaysia so we included this story in our reading. (Ages 3-8)
Ramayana: The divine loop hole , by Sanjay Patel
This Hindu mythology epic “tells the story of Rama, a god-turned-prince, and his quest to rescue his wife Sita after she is kidnapped by a demon king.” There are demons and beheadings and things that were too heavy for my children, but we used an excerpt from the book when Haunman a monkey warrior and god goes to find Rama’s wife Sita in the Demon King’s castle. This provided great context for learning about Thai Khon (“Cone”) performances, Cambodian dances, or Indonesian Wayang Kulit puppetry because versions of the Ramayana are popular stories portrayed through these performing arts.