The Best Kids’ Books About Japan
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This week, we are diving into books about Japan. When I was in middle school in California, the author of Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes visited my English class. She was so interesting to listen to, and I fell in love with the book after having met her. It isn’t an easy topic, but the way the book is written handles it gently, so it is just right for middle readers. The Easy Origami book is a nice companion to this book so kids can learn to make paper cranes like Sadako.
The books about Manjiro mesmerized my kids when we read them aloud. Born in the Year of Courage is one of our all-time favorites. And, The Master Puppeteer is kind of dense to read, but it is really good as a read-aloud. It’s a wonderful story, and Katherine Paterson is another favorite author of ours.
Introduce kids of all ages to Japan through these wonderful picture books:
Happy reading!
For older kids or to read aloud:
Our favorite Japan books for kids
- How My Parents Learned to Eat
- Grandfather’s Journey
- Erika-San
- Wabi Sabi
- Yoko’s Paper Cranes
- Yoko
- Crow Boy
- My Awesome Japan Adventure: A Diary about the Best 4 Months Ever!
- Three Samurai Cats: A Story from Japan
- Hi, Koo!: A Year of Seasons
- Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes
- Farewell to Manzanar
- Dragon of the Red Dawn (Magic Tree House (R) Merlin Mission)
- Flat Stanley’s Worldwide Adventures 3: The Japanese Ninja Surprise
- The Big Wave
- Heart of a Samurai
- Born in the Year of Courage
- The Master Puppeteer
- Easy Origami (Dover Origami Papercraft)over 30 simple projects
The most popular post from last week was:
- How Are You Feeling? Books About Emotions from Castle View Academy
And now for the link up!
Our hosts will still share a themed selection of our favorite books each week.
If you’d like to join us as a co-host for What to Read Wednesday, please contact Anne.
This list has our book themes, but you don’t have to stick to that to link up–any family-friendly posts are welcome. So, come on! Join in the fun!
If you’d like to link back to What to Read Wednesday, here is a pretty button for you!
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Grandfather’s Journey was a favorite here when my boys were littles. Just seeing the cover makes me smile.
I am so sentimental about our favorite books! 🙂
My middle son studied Japan for a good year and I’m not sure we read all that many of these on the list. Pinned.
Oh, I’m glad I could give you some new ideas! Thanks for pinning!
I hope you have a fabulous week — can you believe next week is June, already?
You, too, Lisa! No, I can’t believe the month is almost over–time just flies by!
I know a young family finishing up a mission commitment in Japan. They’ve shared so many wonderful things about the people there – looking forward to checking out some of these books.
How wonderful–what an interesting place to be stationed! Thanks for checking out my list. 🙂