Novels/short stories by Asian-Americans

[Rob_Hugo@PortNW]

I teach English 10 and 12. I must admit that my familiarity with Asian-American authors is rather limited. So, does anyone have any suggestions of novels/short stories appropriate for high school? (No Amy Tan, Maxine Hong Kingston or Jeanne Wakatsuki Houston)

[Anonymous]

John Heresy wrote a factual novel called Hiroshima. He isn't Asian American, but the accounts he includes in his novel are from Japanese people who were there when the bomb was dropped on Hiroshima. The book is divided into different essays (articles) so you can pick and choose which ones to teach if you wanted.

Also, there's an anthology called Only What We Could Carry that works well with Farewell to Manzanar because it has a large collection of letters, documents, art, and even propaganda about the Japanese American internment during WWII. It's good to use as supplemental material when teaching about the Japanese internment and/or Farewell to Manzanar.

[Anonymous]

Still Life With Rice by Helie Lee. Her narritive about the generation disconnect she experienced with her grandmother and how she went back to Korea to reconnect with her heritage.

[Anonymous]

I have used Hiroshima with my 11th & 12th graders. I might also recommend Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse. Although the authors are not Asian, these books provide some insight into this part of the world. Also, just do a general search on lapl.org-Asian-American anthology and you can find a wealth of resources. I too am at a loss with literature.

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