Recommended Reading
Some stories that include themes of tea, pottery, East Asian herbal medicine, food and seasonal celebrations -
The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane (Fiction)
by Lisa See
In their remote mountain village, Li-yan and her family align their lives around the seasons and the farming of tea. For the Akha people, ensconced in ritual and routine, life goes on as it has for generations — until a stranger appears at the village gate in a jeep, the first automobile any of the villagers has ever seen.
As Li-yan comes into herself, leaving her insular village for an education, a business, and city life, her daughter, Haley, is raised in California by loving adoptive parents. Despite her privileged childhood, Haley wonders about her origins. Across the ocean Li-yan longs for her lost daughter. Over the course of years, each searches for meaning in the study of Pu’er, the tea that has shaped their family’s destiny for centuries.
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A Hundred Flowers (Historical Fiction)
by Gail Tsukiyama
China, 1957. Chairman Mao has declared a new openness in society: "Let a hundred flowers bloom; let a hundred schools of thought contend." ... Kai Ying is a Chinese herbalist, adept at helping keep her clients’ energies balanced so they can maintain their health. She came to Guangzhou in 1947, when she was 19, to study herbalism with a family friend and met her husband Sheng at Herbalist Chu’s shop, She married him instead of returning home at the end of her apprenticeship. Tao was born the following year. After Sheng’s arrest for writing a letter critical of Mao and the Communist Party, she returned to her work as an herbalist to support the family.
As Kai Ying struggles to hold her small family together in the face of this shattering reminder of her husband's absence, other members of the household must face their own guilty secrets and strive to find peace in a world where the old sense of order is falling. Once again, Tsukiyama brings us a powerfully moving story of ordinary people facing extraordinary circumstances with grace and courage.
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Fourth Uncle in the Mountain
by Quang Van Nguyen & Marjorie Pivar
Set during the French and American wars, Fourth Uncle in the Mountain is a true story about an orphan, Quang Van Nguyen, who is adopted by a sixty-four year old monk, Thau, who carries great responsibility for his people as a barefoot doctor. Thau manages, against all odds to raise his son to follow in his footsteps and in doing so, saves his son, as well as a part of Vietnam's esoteric knowledge from the Vietnam holocaust.
Thau is wanted by the French regime, and occasionally must flee into the jungle, where he is perfectly at home living among the animals. Thau is not the average monk; he practices an ancient lineage of Chinese medicine and uses magic to protect animals and help people.
As wise and resourceful as Thau is, he meets his match in his mischievous son. Quang is more interested in learning Cambodian sorcery and martial arts than in developing his skills and wisdom according to his father's plan.
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Lady Tan's Circle of Women (Historical Fiction)
by Lisa See
From a young age, Yunxian learns about women's illnesses, many of which relate to childbearing, alongside a young midwife-in-training, Meiling. The two girls find fast friendship and a mutual purpose - despite the prohibition that a doctor should never touch blood while a midwife comes in frequent contact with it — and they vow to be forever friends, sharing in each other's joys and struggles. No mud, no lotus, they tell themselves: from adversity beauty can bloom.
But when Yunxian is sent into an arranged marriage, her mother-in-law forbids her from seeing Meiling and from helping the women and girls in the household. Yunxian is to act like a proper wife — embroider bound-foot slippers, recite poetry, give birth to sons, and stay forever within the walls of the family compound, the Garden of Fragrant Delights.
How might a woman like Yunxian break free of these traditions and lead a life of such importance that many of her remedies are still used five centuries later? How might the power of friendship support or complicate these efforts? A captivating story of women helping each other, Lady Tan's Circle of Women is a triumphant reimagining of the life of one person who was remarkable in the Ming dynasty and would be considered remarkable today.
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The Tea Duology (YA Asian fantasy)
A Magic Steeped in Poison &
A Venom Dark and Sweet
by Judy I. Lin
For Ning, the only thing worse than losing her mother is knowing that it's her own fault. She was the one who unknowingly brewed the poison tea that killed her — the poison tea that now threatens to also take her
sister, Shu. When Ning hears of a competition to find the kingdom's greatest shennong-shi — masters of the ancient and magical art of tea-making — she travels to the imperial city to compete.The winner will receive a favor from the princess, which may be Ning's only chance to save her sister's life.
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Where the Mountain Meets the Moon
(Asian fantasy for young readers)
by Grace Lin
A Newbery Honor Winner - In the valley of Fruitless mountain, a young girl named Minli lives in a ramshackle hut with her parents. In the evenings, her father regales her with old folktales of the Jade Dragon and the Old Man on the Moon, who knows the answers to all of life's questions. Inspired by these stories, Minli sets off on an extraordinary journey to find the Old Man on the Moon to ask him how she can change her family's fortune. She encounters an assorted cast of characters and magical creatures along the way, including a dragon who accompanies her on her quest for the ultimate answer. Grace Lin's beautiful illustrations, printed in full-color, accompany the text throughout.
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A Single Shard (Historical Fiction for young readers)
by Linda Sue Park
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The Ugly Vegetables
by Grace Lin
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