Antidotes to Earnestness

This list grew from my Lunar New Year query: why are many Asian-inspired children’s books so very Earnest and Moralistic? Are there any fun ones out there? Sarah Prineas, Sayantani DasGupta, Niranjana Iyer, Deva Fagan, MrsFridayNext, and Reading in Color all came to my rescue. Thank you so much! If anyone has other suggestions, by all means email me. I’ll update this list on a regular basis.

Picture Books

Krishnaswamy, Uma. Out of the Way! Out of the Way!

Yashima, Taro. Umbrella.

Yee, Herbert Wong. Tracks in the Snow.

Middle-Grade Fiction

Bradford, Chris. Young Samurai (series).

Fussell, Sandy. White Crane.

Higgins, Simon. Moonshadow: Rise of the Ninja.

Lin, Grace. Where the Mountain Meets the Moon.

—. Year of the Dog.

—. Year of the Rabbit.

Liu, Cynthea. Paris Pan Takes the Dare.

Look, Lenore. Alvin Ho: Allergic to Girls, School, and Other Scary Things.

—. Ruby Lu, Brave and True.

Sakai, Stan. Usagi Yojimbo (comics, series).

Uehashi, Nahoko. Moribito: Guardian of the Spirit.

—. Moribito II: Guardian of Darkness.

Yee, Lisa. Millicent Min, Girl Genius.

—. Stanford Wong Flunks Big-Time.

Web Resources

Mitali Perkins’s List of Funny Books Featuring Multicultural Protagonists

Paper Tigers (a book-review blog)

Brown Paper’s Multicultural Kidlit Goodness

Tulika Books (Indian publisher of children’s lit)

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