Perseverance in Children and Young
Adult Books Around the World


Photo by Manjari Singh

While taking walks in early spring, I always look for surprises and for evidence of new life springing from the recently departed winter. Animal's footprints deeply engraved in the white snow reveal activity we often miss; cardinals with berries in their beaks perched on a deep, green pine tree are a startling splash of activity and color; and young children in colorful jackets run, yell, and jump as they play in the parks. However, there is nothing more exciting to me in spring than seeing crocuses, normally the first flowers to appear each year. Often first seen poking their heads out of a blanket of snow, these lovely flowers are ablaze in shades of purple, yellow, blue! But to me they are more than merely beautiful flowers: I have always considered them as symbols of perseverance and hope, for they not only survive the harsh winter but also serve as harbingers of spring, reassuring us that warmth and color and all the sweet fragrances of nature will soon return. Crocuses also remind me of people, both real and fictional, who have suffered through many ordeals and obstacles, yet have kept an optimistic and joyful attitude toward their lives and the opportunities which the world provides.

In this issue, I would like to share with you some children's and young adult books in which the main characters overcome adversities in their life and go on to bloom gorgeously, just like crocuses we see poking through the snow. These books by no means constitute a comprehensive reading list, but are merely a few that my colleagues -- Manjari Singh and Chia-Hui Lin -- and myself believe best exemplify the character trait of perseverance. They are hand picked out of more than 250 award winning books published in the past 10 years, portraying heroes and heroines in different parts of the world. It is our hope that while reading these books children will recognize that people often develop great strength of character through encountering and overcoming personal challenges, in this way rising above negative traits or weaknesses they may have possessed. In addition, we also want to highlight that it is important to recognize that these heroes and heroines are best understood and appreciated when they are viewed within the larger social contexts in which the events of their lives were played out.

Happy reading and learning with heroes and heroines!


Mei-Yu

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BIBLIOGRAPHY ARRANGED BY GEOGRAPHICAL LOCATION

AFRICA

ASARE, Meshack. (1997). Sosu's Call. Kane/Miller Book Publishers. ISBN 1929132212. When a great storm threatens, Sosu, an African boy who is unable to walk, joins his dog Fusa in helping save their village. (Preschool-Grade 3) COLFER, Eoin. (1998). Benny and Omar. O'Brien Press, ISBN: 0862785677. Benny, a young sports fanatic, is forced to leave his home in Ireland and move with his family to Tunisia. He wonders how he will survive in such an unfamiliar place. Then he teams up with wild and resourceful Omar, and a madcap friendship between the two boys leads to trouble, escapades, a unique way of communicating, and ultimately a heartbreaking challenge. (Grade 5+)

Used by permission of Kane/Miller Book Publisher

KURTZ, Jane. (1998). The Storyteller's Beads. Harcourt Brace. ISBN 0152010742. During the political strife and famine of the 1980's, two Ethiopian girls, one Christian and the other Jewish and blind, struggle to overcome many difficulties, including their prejudices about each other, as they make the dangerous journey out of Ethiopia. (Grade 5-8)

Used by permission of Walker & Co.

LONDON, Jonathan and LEWIN, Ted. (1997). Ali, Child of the Desert. Lothrop, Lee & Shepard Books. ISBN 0688125603. On a trip to the Moroccan market town of Rissani, Ali becomes separated from his father during a sandstorm. (Preschool-Grade 3) QUINTANA, Anton and NIEUWENHUIZEN, John. (1999). The Baboon King. Walker and Co. ISBN 0802787118. Son of a Kikuyu mother and a Masai herdsman father, Morengáru the hunter lives on the edges of tribal society until an actual banishment forces him to make a life for himself among a troop of baboons. (Grade 8+)

AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND

CREW, Gary and SPUDIVILAS, Anne. (1997). Bright Star. Kane/Miller Book Publishers. ISBN 0916291758. When she meets the famous Australian astronomer John Tebbutt, Alicia realizes that she is no longer doomed to a life of needlework and milking cows but that her future is as limitless as the stars. (Preschool-Grade 3) DISHER, Garry. (2002). The Divine Wind: A Love Story. A.A. Levine Books. ISBN 0439369150. On the eve of World War II, Hart, an Australian boy and Mitsy, a Japanese-Australian girl, fall in love but are driven apart. (Grade 8+)

Used by permission of Kane/Miller Book Publishers

Used by permission of Kane/Miller Book Publishers

WHEATLEY, Nadia and OTTLEY, Matt. (1999). Luke's Way of Looking. Kane/Miller Book Publishers. ISBN 1929132182. Luke is frustrated by his conservative and overbearing art teacher, until he visits a museum and finds validation for his own special way of looking at the world. (Preschool-Grade 2) FOX, Mem and ROSENTHAL, Marc. (1996). The Straight Line Wonder. Mondo, ISBN 1572552050. Despite the admonitions of his friends, a straight line enjoys expressing himself by twirling in whirls, pointing his joints, and creeping in heaps. (Preschool-Grade 5)

LATIN AMERICA AND THE CARIBEAN BANG, Molly. (2001). Tiger's Fall. Henry Holt & Co. ISBN 0805066896. After eleven-year-old Lupe is partially paralyzed in an accident in her Mexican village, other handicapped people help her realize that her life can still have purpose. (Grade 3-8) CAMERON, Sara. (2001). Out of War: True Stories from the Front Lines of the Children's Movement for Peace in Colombia. Scholastic Press. ISBN 0439297214. Stories of nine articulate teenagers who describe the long and diffuse internal war raging in Columbia for over 40 years, in which various armed groups vie for control of land and power. (Grade 7+) JOSEPH, Lynn. (2000). The Color of My Words. Joanna Cotler Books. ISBN 0060282320. When life gets difficult for Ana Rosa, a twelve-year-old would-be writer living in a small village in the Dominican Republic, she can depend on her older brother to make her feel better-until the life-changing events on her thirteenth birthday. (Grade 6+) WILLIAMS, Karen Lynn and STOCK, Catherine. (1998). Painted Dreams. Lothrop, Lee & Shepard. ISBN: 0688139019. Because her Haitian family is too poor to be able to buy paints for her, eight-year-old Ti Marie finds her own way to create pictures that make the heart sing. Painted Dream (Preschool-Grade 3)

EUROPE AND CENTRAL ASIA

CUSHMAN, Karen. (1995). The Midwife's Apprentice. Clarion Books. ISBN 0395692296. In medieval England, a nameless, homeless girl is taken in by a sharp-tempered midwife, and in spite of obstacles and hardship, eventually gains the three things she most wants: a full belly, a contented heart, and a place in this world. (Grade 4+) MOCHIZUKI, Ken and LEE, Dom. (1997). Passage to Freedom: The Sugihara Story. Lee & Low Books. ISBN 1880000490. A portrait of Chiune Sugihara, a Japanese diplomat in Lithuania in 1940, explains how he assisted thousands of Jews escape the Holocaust. (Grade K-3) Used by permission of Clarion Books

MORGENSTERN, Susie Hoch, BLOCH, Serge, and ROSNER, Gill. (2001). A Book of Coupons. Viking. ISBN 0670899704. Elderly Monsieur Noel, the very unconventional new fifth-grade teacher, gives coupon books for such things as dancing in class and sleeping late, which are bound to get him in trouble with the military discipline of Principal Incarnation Perez. (Grade 3-8) NAIDOO, Beverley. (2001). The Other Side of Truth. HarperCollins. ISBN 0060296283. Smuggled out of Nigeria after their mother's murder, Sade and her younger brother are abandoned in London when their uncle fails to meet them at the airport and they are fearful of their new surroundings and of what may have happened to their journalist father back in Nigeria. (Grade 5+) SAY, Allen. (1990). El Chino. Houghton Mifflin Co. ISBN 0395520231. A biography of Bill Wong, a Chinese American who became a famous bullfighter in Spain. SCHUCH, Steve and SYLVADA, Peter. (1999). A Symphony of Whales. Harcourt Brace. ISBN 0152016708. Young Glashka's dream of the singing of whales, accompanied by a special kind of music, leads to the rescue of thousands of whales stranded in a freezing Siberian bay. (Preschool- Grade 3)

MIDDLE EAST BEN-'EZER, Ehud and SHULEVITZ, Ur. (1997). Hosni the Dreamer: An Arabian Tale. Farrar Straus Giroux. Hosni, a shepherd living in the desert, finally realizes his dream of traveling to the city where he spends his gold dinar in a way which changes his life forever. (Grade K-3) ELLIS, Deborah. (2001). The Breadwinner. Douglas & McIntyre. ISBN 0888994192. Because the Taliban rulers of Kabul, Afghanistan, impose strict limitations on women's freedom and behavior, eleven-year-old Parvana must disguise herself as a boy so that her family can survive after her father's arrest. (Grade 4-8) SCHAMI, Rafik. (1990). A Hand Full of Stars. Dutton Children's Book. ISBN 0525445358. A teenager who wants to be a journalist in a suppressed society describes to his diary his daily life in his hometown of Damascus, Syria. (Grade 8+) STOLZ, Mary and LATTIMORE, Deborah (1988). Zekmet, the Stone Carver: A Tale of Ancient Egypt. Harcourt Brace Jovanovich. ISBN 0152999612. Chosen to design a magnificent monument for a vain and demanding Pharoah, an Egyptian stone carver conceives of and begins work on the Sphinx which still stands in the Egyptian desert today. (Grade K-3)

SOUTH AND EAST ASIA DEMI. (2001). Gandhi. Margaret McElderry Books. ISBN 0689841493. A beautifully illustrated biography of Gandhi about the milestones in his life, including his early childhood, education in England, an apprenticeship in South Africa, his leadership in India, and his tragic death. (Grade K-5) JIANG, Ji-Li. (1997). Red Scarf Girl: A Memoir of the Cultural Revolution. HarperCollins. ISBN 0060275855. An outstanding student and much admired leader of her class and school, Ji-Li Jiang was poised for a shining future in the Communist party in China until the Cultural Revolution of 1966. (Grade 5+)

Used by permission of Clarion Books PARK, Linda Sue. (2001). A Single Shard. Clarion Books. ISBN 0395978270. Tree-ear, a thirteen-year-old orphan in medieval Korea, lives under a bridge in a potters' village, and longs to learn how to throw the delicate celadon ceramics himself. (Grade 5+) SHEPARD, Aaron and ROSENBERRY, Vera. (1992). Savitri: A Tale of Ancient India. A. Whitman. ISBN 0807572519. In this tale from the "Mahabharata," India's national epic, Princess Savitri outwits the god of death to save her husband. (Grade 2-4)

WHELAN, Gloria. (2000). Homeless Bird. HarperCollinsPublishers. ISBN 0060284544. When thirteen-year-old Koly enters into an ill-fated arranged marriage, she must either suffer a destiny dictated by India's tradition or find the courage to oppose it. (Grade 5+)