The Dragon's Pearl, by Julie Lawson and Paul Morin.

This is one of those lavishly illustrated children's books that you, as a parent, kind of want to frame and hang on a wall, but your kids sort of shrug at until they reach just the right age, at which time they become magical grimoires.

At least that's what I'm hoping.

Daughter sort of shrugged off this story and fell asleep halfway through our reading, but I was utterly captivated by the bittersweet adventures of Xiao... more

Book Review: Made in China by Deborah Nash

You know what kids need to learn as soon as they're reading? They need to learn about footnotes.

This is the book that teaches them about footnotes.

It tells, as most children's books do, a pretty simple story: a paper butterfly, left by a child in a park, is trying to get home. The butterfly asks a big paper dragon in the sky for help, and the dragon says, in essence, I'll give you a hand as soon as you answer this question: "What was made in China... more

Fulingkids.org (the website for and by parents of kids from Fuling 1st Social Welfare Institute) has an interesting collection of film reviews.

Or rather, a film review with one (1) link to a prior review, and then a list of many (lots) of links to other "recommended" Chinese films written up on various other sites (like Time magazine, or rottentomatoes.com).

I've seen a few of the ones on the list, and yeah, they're good. And some of the ones I haven't seen yet are already resting comfortably in my Netflix queue, waiting for me to finish with Takashi... more

Book Review: Kite Flying by Grace Lin We've become big fans of Grace Lin over at our house -- admittedly because someone at the local children's library seems to be a big fan, too.

This is an ideal follow-up to Lin's Dim Sum for Everyone, which was a bedtime favorite for Daughter and I for a while, except it kept making me really hungry.

Just like that book, Kite Flying has... more

Just found this kind of interesting triple book review that has made my brain get eager in the way that I know is going to eat up more time.

A decidedly opinionated writer for New Statesman has given us three book reviews detailing, among other things, The Eastern Origins of Western Civilization. Or rather, The Eastern Origins of Western Civilization by James Hobson.

The key point for those of us interested in China stuff:

Each major turning point in Europe's development, he argues, was driven by assimilating eastern ideas and innovations. Printing was invented by Pi... more

Saving Face, directed by Alice Wu, starring Michelle Krusiec, Lynn Chen and Joan Chen.

I can't understand how this movie got made. I mean, I thought it was brilliant -- funny, insightful, sharp -- but still. It's a lesbian comedy of manners filmed half in Mandarin. Apparently, Will "Fresh Prince of I, Robot" Smith anted up the money after reading the script because it was just that good.

This is not one for those of you with little kids to be watching before bedtime, unless you really like answering awkward questions about... more

Our family really likes food, and we like books (in fact, for certain diminutive family members, the difference between food and books is, uh, academic). So this Chinese-American children's book is a shoo-in for popularity.

This is a book about food. Lots of different kinds of food, that all arrives on little dishes so everyone can share whatever they like best.

I have a weakness for Grace Lin's "folk art" style, and for anything that has pictures of dim sum in it. There aren't a lot... more

Ling Ling:The Most Beautiful Panda in the World, by Bernadette Shih and Dionysia Available at Amazon here.

Bernadette Shih seems like a nice lady, and her book was one of the winners in this week's library lottery. (That is, set the three-year-old loose in the shelves and see what she brings back -- will it win? Won't know until we read it!)

So. This story's about a classic Chinese animal, but even better, it's... more

Miss Spider's Sunny Patch Kids directed by Mike Fallows, starring Brooke Shields, Rick Moranis & Tony Jay (voices), based on David Kirk's books.

I like bugs. David Kirk, he likes bugs, too. And my daughter, it turns out she's kind of partial to them, too.

We checked this DVD out from the library, and in the week it was in our house, it probably got played (by request) around umpty bajillion times. The scene where Wiggle, the baby spider, swiftly paralyzes his newfound insect friends before draining out their... no, no, no, that doesn't actually... more

Children and Youth in Adoption, Orphanages and Foster Care: A Historical Handbook and Guide by Lori Askeland (ed.)

This book, available on Amazon here, is part of the Children and Youth: History and Culture series. It's basically an authoritative guide, a textbook, really, for the cultural issues surrounding adoption. (Full disclosure: the editor, who also wrote some sections, is a friend of mine. She's super-smart, and an adoptive parent herself.)

Askeland's intro explains what the book is better than I can:

This book provides a historical and multicultural overview... more