Youth Reading List for Ann Arbor/Ypsilanti Reads
Grades K-5
• Mindful Monkey, Happy Panda
by Lauren Alderfer
Monkey asks Panda what he does to seem so happy and peaceful all the time, and Panda replies that he brings his attention to whatever he is doing at a given time, whether eating, walking, or resting.
• A Handful of Quiet: Happiness in Four Parables
by Thich Nhat Hanh
A beautiful way to introduce the concepts of meditation to younger ones, pebble meditation is designed to involve children in a hands-on and creative way that touches on their interconnection with nature.
• Zen Shorts
by Jon J. Muth
When Stillwater the bear moves into the neighborhood, the stories he tells to three siblings teach them to look at the world in new ways.
• Sky Sweeper
by Phillis Gershator
Despite criticism for his lack of "accomplishments," Takiboki finds contentment sweeping flower blossoms and raking the sand and gravel in the monks' temple garden. Includes a note on the art and beauty of Japanese gardens.
• One Hand Clapping: Zen Stories for All Ages
by Rafe Martin
This thought-provoking collection, designed ``for the tender heart that children and adults naturally share,'' provides a window onto the contemplative nature of Buddhism.
• Becoming Buddha: the Story of Siddhartha
by Whitney Stewart
With gorgeous beadwork and paint illustrations, this book tells the traditional story of the life of Prince Siddhartha, beginning with the prophecies about his future greatness and the impact that the suffering of others will have on him.
• Buddha at Bedtime: Tales of Love and Wisdom for You to Read with Your Child to Enchant, Enlighten and Inspire
by Dhamachari Nagaraja
20 ancient tales are retold in this bedtime story collection, using Buddhism’s wisdom and focus on love, compassion, and peace to help children face modern challenges with inner confidence and calm.
• The Mouse & the Buddha
by Kathryn Price
This tale serves as a simple introduction to Buddhism in an easily digestible form, featuring a mouse that enters a temple looking for food, and learns the Buddha’s teachings from the temple’s statue.
• Barbed Wire Baseball
by Marissa Moss
Traces Japanese-American baseball pioneer Kenichi Zenimura’s childhood dream of playing professionally and his family's struggles in a World War II internment camp where he introduces baseball to raise hope.
• How My Parents Learned to Eat
by Ina R. Friedman
An American sailor courts a Japanese girl and each tries, in secret, to learn the other's way of eating.
• Suki’s Kimono
by Chieri Uegaki
A first-grader prefers to face scorn from her classmates rather than give up wearing her beloved kimono.
• Tree of Cranes
by Allen Say
A Japanese boy learns of Christmas when his mother decorates a pine tree with paper cranes.
• Drawing from Memory
by Allen Say
Say tells the story of how he became an artist through a vibrant blend of words and images.
• Hiromi’s Hands
by Lynne Barasch
This picture-book biography of one of the first female sushi chefs in New York City celebrates Hiromi Suzuki's Japanese American roots and her achievements in the U.S.
• The Way We Do It in Japan
by Geneva Cobb Iijima
Gregory experiences a new way of life when he moves to Japan with his American mother and his Japanese father.
• So Far From the Sea
by Eve Bunting
When seven-year-old Laura and her family visit Grandfather's grave at the Manzanar War Relocation Center, the Japanese American child leaves behind a special symbol.
• The Japanese American Family Album
by Dorothy Hoobler
This personal history tells us in – Japanese immigrants’ own words – what it was like to leave their beloved homeland for a life as different as could be imagined using diaries, letters, interviews, photographs, articles from newspapers and magazines, and personal reflections.
• This is My Faith: Buddhism
by Holly Wallace
This features true-life photographs and interviews with a child who talks about their faith and discusses beliefs, food, clothing, festivals, holy places and its role in the life of the family.
• Anh’s Anger
by Gail Silver
When Anh becomes angry and says hurtful things, his grandfather tells him to go to his room and sit with his anger, which allows Anh to feel better. This book is based on teachings about mindfulness and Buddhism by Thich Nhat Hanh, and includes a list of retreat communities that practice mindful living.
• Steps and Stones: An Anh’s Anger Story
by Gail Silver
Angry at his friends for choosing kickball over digging, Anh is revisited by Anger who demonstrates how mindful breathing can soothe and transform strong emotions.
Grades 6-8
• Film: The Buddha: The Story of Siddhartha
This documentary recounts the life of the Buddha and presents the tenets of Buddhism.
• Planting Seeds: Practicing Mindfulness with Children
by Thich Nhat Hanh
These contemplative and fun activities are designed to help relieve stress, increase concentration, nourish gratitude and confidence, deal with difficult emotions, touch our interconnection with nature, and improve communication.
• One Hand Clapping: Zen Stories for All Ages
by Rafe Martin
This thought-provoking collection, designed ``for the tender heart that children and adults naturally share,'' provides a window onto the contemplative nature of Buddhism.
• Dear Miss Breed: True Stories of the Japanese American Incarceration During World War II and the Librarian Who Made a Difference
by Joanne Oppenheim
Miss Clara Breed, the first children’s librarian in the city of San Diego, maintained pen-pal relationships with her young Japanese American patrons when they were taken away to internment camps, sending letters, books, and sometimes gifts through the mail. These letters, accounts, and memories provide a glimpse into the day-to-day life of imprisoned children.
• Unbroken: An Olympian’s Journey from Airman to Castaway to Captive
by Laura Hillenbrand
A Young Adult adaptation of Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption, chronicling Olympic athlete Louie Zamperini’s World War II service, including crashing into the Pacific Ocean, surviving on a life raft and being taken prisoner by the Japanese.
• Drawing from Memory
by Allen Say
Say tells the story of how he became an artist through a vibrant blend of words and images.
• The Japanese American Family Album
by Dorothy Hoobler
This personal history tells us – in Japanese immigrants’ own words – what it was like to leave their beloved homeland for a life as different as could be imagined using diaries, letters, interviews, photographs, articles from newspapers and magazines, and personal reflections.
• This is My Faith: Buddhism
by Holly Wallace
This features true-life photographs and interviews with a child who talks about their faith and discusses beliefs, food, clothing, festivals, holy places and its role in the life of the family.
• Buddha in Your Backpack: Everyday Buddhism for Teens
by Franz Metcalf
Buddha's life story is told in a fashion teens will relate to, describing Buddha as a young rebel not satisfied with the answers of his elders. The author presents thoughtful and spiritual insights on school, dating, hanging out, jobs, and other issues of special interest to teens - inviting readers to look inside themselves for answers.
• Buddhism
by Philip Wilkinson
This book explores the history and practice of Buddhism, beginning with the life of Buddha and continuing to the spread of Buddhism from Asia to the Western world. Beautiful photographs show the rituals, artifacts, and architecture that are important to the Buddhist tradition.
• A Pebble for Your Pocket: Mindful Stories for Children and Grown-Ups
by Thich Nhat Hanh
These stories and meditation practices elucidate principles of Buddhism and mindfulness practice, giving young readers and their parents concrete advice on handling difficult emotions like anger.
• Dust of Eden
by Mariko Nagai
Thirteen-year-old Mina Tagawa and her Japanese American family are forced to evacuate their Seattle home and are relocated to an internment camp in Idaho, where they live for three years.
• Flying the Dragon
by Natalie Dias Lorenzi
When Skye's cousin Hiroshi and his family move to Virginia from Japan, the cultural differences lead to misunderstandings and both children are unhappy at the changes in their lives - will flying the dragon kite finally bring them together?
• Heart of a Samurai: Based on the True Story of Nakahama Manjiro
by Margi Preus
In 1841, rescued by an American whaler after a terrible shipwreck leaves him and his four companions castaways on a remote island, fourteen-year-old Manjiro, who dreams of becoming a samurai, learns new laws and customs as he becomes the first Japanese person to set foot in the United States.
• When My Name Was Keoko
by Linda Sue Park
With national pride and occasional fear, a brother and sister face the increasingly oppressive occupation of Korea by Japan during World War II, which threatens to suppress Korean culture entirely.
• Home of the Brave
by Allen Say
In dreamlike sequences, a man symbolically confronts the trauma of his family's incarceration in the Japanese internment camps during World War II.
• Kira-Kira
by Cynthia Kadohata
Two very close sisters move from their Japanese community in Iowa to the Deep South of Georgia in the late 1950s. Lynn is the one who prepares her sister for life and their neighbors’ prejudices, until she becomes terminally ill.
• The Year of the Dog
by Grace Lin
Frustrated at her seeming lack of talent for anything, a young Taiwanese American girl sets out to apply the lessons of the Chinese Year of the Dog, those of making best friends and finding oneself, to her own life.
• Kindness: A Treasury of Buddhist Wisdom for Children and Adults
edited by Sarah Conover
Following the Buddha through his various transformations, these clarified and often humorous narrative journeys open the ancient master's profound and gentle teachings to persons of all ages, religions, races, and ideological persuasions.