7 Favorite Children’s Books

Jennifer has tagged me for a meme:  “List your (and your kids’) current seven favorite children’s books, along with their authors. Then, if you’re so inclined, tag seven fellow bloggers to do the same.”

So here goes:

1.  Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets by J.K. Rowling - I’m reading this to Jio at bedtime.  We’re almost finished.

2.  Lucy Loud and Clear by Laila Lavan, illustrated by Beatriz Igleias - My daughter loves this picture book about a deaf girl who gets what she wants.  In many books featuring deaf characters, there is nothing visual to indicate the deafness.  In this story, Lucy has a purple hearing aid.  My daughter loves that.

3.  Miki Falls by Mark Crilley This is a manga about a Japanese girl written by an American from Michigan, my home state.  My daughter loves this, too.

4.  The Wakame Gatherers by Holly Thompson, illustrated by Kazumi Wilds.   I love this book because it features a bicultural (American/Japanese) girl living in Japan and it has nothing to do with WWII, or the internment of Japanese citizens during the war, as most kids’ books concerning Japan tend to do.  It’s about a girl who goes seaweed gathering with her two grandmothers.

5.  The Chef’s Hat by Naomi Kojima  Both of my children love this simple, sweet story about a chef who is awarded a very tall hat by the emperor, but then can’t do the work that he loves. 

6.  Tea with Milk by Allen Say  This is a beautifully illustrated story about a girl caught between cultures. 

7.  A Chair for My Mother by Vera Williams  My son has always been very fond of this story about a girl who helps to save up for a new chair after her family’s furniture is destroyed in a fire.  My students like this story, too.

 I tag Scribbly Katia,  Expat Mama, Here and There Japan, Rehearsal Time’s Over, Musings of a Diva, Illahee, and Dreaming about Water.