Historical Fiction: Asia (1 CE to Present)

[Part of an ongoing series of historical fiction book lists for students and teachers. For the full list and to see more info, click here.]

 

Multiple Countries

Middle Grades (4-8)

1. Between the Dragon and the Eagle-Schneider (4.8/4) (100 CE)
2. Chengli and the Silk Road Caravan-Kang (5.4/6) (630 A.D.)
3. Daughter of the Mountains-Rankin (6.1/8)
4. Goodbye, Vietnam-Whelan (5.2/4)

Bali

 Lower Grades (K-3)

1. Go to Sleep, Gecko! A Balinese Folktale-MacDonald (2.3/0.5)

Borneo

 Lower Grades (K-3)

1. Operation Orangutan-Lumry (4.6/0.5)
2. The Mystery of the Monkey’s Maze-Cushman (3.7/0.5)

 Middle Grades (4-8)

1. Other Echoes-Geras (4.6/5)
2. Rainforest Rescue-Burchett (4.2/2)

 Upper Grades (9-12)

1. Deep Dream of the Rain Forest-Bosse (7.2/9)

 Burma

 Middle Grades (4-8)

1. Adoniram Judson: God’s Man in Burma-Hambrick (4.0/3)
2. Elephant Run-Smith (5.0/10)
3. Imprisoned in the Golden City-Jackson (5.2/5)

 Upper Grades (9-12)

1. Incident at Badamya-Gilman (6.6/9)
2. Saving Fish from Drowning-Tan (6.9/26)
3. They Called Me Red-Kilbourne (4.7/8)

 Cambodia

 Lower Grades (K-3)

1. The Caged Birds of Phnom Penh-Lipp (3.9/0.5)
2. Little Sap and the Monsieur Rodin-Lord (5.2/0.5)
3. Running Shoes-Lipp (3.2/0.5)
4. The Secret of the Sacred Temple: Cambodia-Hunt (5.5/2)
5. The Two Brothers-Ho (4.6/0.5)

 Middle Grades (4-8)

1. Angkat: The Cambodian Cinderella-Coburn (5.1/0.5)
2. The Clay Marble-Ho (5.4/6)
3. Half Spoon of Rice: A Survival Story of the Cambodian Genocide-Smith (5.1/0.5)
4. Little Brother-Baillie (4.8/5)

 Middle Grades+ (6+)

1. The Stone Goddess-Ho (6.3/7)

 Upper Grades (9-12)

1. Never Fall Down-McCormick (4.5/7)

 China

 Lower Grades (K-3)

1. Beautiful Warrior: The Legend of the Nun’s Kung Fu-McCully (4.0/0.5)
2. Best Mom Ever-Yang (4.6/2)
3. A Grain of Rice-Pittman (4.9/0.5)
4. The House Baba Built: An Artist’s Childhood in China-Young (5.6/10) NF
5. Mei Fuh: Memories of China-Schaeffer (5.2/2)
6. Red Butterfly: How a Princess Smuggled the Secret of Silk Out of China-Noyes (4.4/0.5)
7. Peril in the Palace-Hering (3.0/1) (13^th century)
8. The Warlord’s Beads-Pilegard (3.6/0.5)
9. Yeh-Shen: A Cinderella Story from China-Louie (5.1/0.5)

 Middle Grades (4-8)

1. Along the River: A Chinese Cinderella Novel-Mah (5.7/7)
2. Chinese Cinderella and the Secret Dragon Society–Mah (5.4/8)
3. Daughter of the Mountains-Rankin (6.1/8)
4. Deep in the Mountains: An Encounter with Zhu Qizhan-Cheng (6.00/9) (1992)
5. Dragons of Silk-Yep (5.7/11)
6. Drawn by a China Moon: Lottie Moon-Jackson (5.4/5) (late 19^th century, early 20^th)
7. Ho Yi and the Archer and Other Classic Chinese Tales-Fu (6.3/6) NF
8. The House of Sixty Fathers-Dejong* (5.5/6)
9. The Kite Rider-McCaughrean (6.5/10) (13^th century)
10. Lady of Ch’iao Kuo:  Red Bird of the South-Yep (5.3/8) (531AD)
11. Little White Duck: A Childhood in China-Martinez (3.2/0.5) (1970’s)
12. Mei Fuh: Memories from China-Schaeffer (5.2/2) (1914)
13. Nomad King-Booth (3.3/0.5) (Genghis Khan)
14. Revolution Is Not a Dinner Party-Compestine (4.7/6) (1972)
15. The Silk Route:  7,000 Miles of History-Major (6.7/0.5) NF (Tang Dynasty)
16. A Singing Bird Will Come-Schreyer (5.4/8)
17. Spilled Water-Grindley (5.7/7)
18. Water Ghost-Russell (3.9/3)

 Middle Grades+ (6+)

1. Bound-Napoli (5.4/6)
2. Daughter of Xanadu-Yang (5.6/13)
3. The Serpent’s Children-Yep (5.2/8) (19^th century)

 Upper Grades (9-12)

1. Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress-Sijie (7.3/8)
2. Child Bride-Russell (4.7/4)
3. China’s Son: Growing up in the Cultural Revolution-Chen (6.1/9) NF
4. Chinese Cinderella-Mah (5.7/8) (20^th century) NF
5. Chu Ju’s House-Whelan (5.2/6)
6. Double Luck: Memoirs of a Chinese Orphan-Fa (5.2/7) NF
7. The Examination-Bosse (7.7/17) (Ming)
8. Genghis: Lords of the Bow-Iggulden (6.8/24)
9. The Good Women of China: Hidden Voices-Xinran (7.2/14) NF
10. Let One Hundred Flowers Bloom-Jicai (6.2/4) (1960’s)
11. Rebels of the Heavenly Kingdom-Paterson* (6.0/10) (China 1850)
12. Snow Flower and the Secret Fan: A Novel-See (6.5/16) (19^th century)
13. Spring Pearl: The Last Flower-Yep (5.3/5) (1857)
14. Subway Girl-Converse (3.5/5)
15. Throwaway Daughter-Ye (6.0/9) (setting: Canada, Chinese immigrant)
16. Tofu Quilt-Russell (5.0/1)

 Indonesia

 Lower Grades (K-3)

1. The Bird Who Cried Wolf-Richards (2.4/0.5)
2. The Gift of the Crocodile: A Cinderella Story-Sierra (4.4/0.5)
3. Komodo-Sis (1.8/0.5)
4. Roar!-Irwin (4.7/1)

 Middle Grades (4-8)

1. Into the Dragon’s Den-Walls (5.1/6)
2. The Killing Sea-Lewis (5.1/7)

 Upper Grades (9-12)

1. Overboard-Fama (5.1/6)
2. Sea-Kling (4.1/9)

 Japan

 Middle Grades (4-8)

1. Blue Fingers: A Ninja’s Tale-Whitesel (5.2/8) (16^th Century)
2. Kazunomiya: Prisoner of Heaven-Lasky* (6.2/5) (1858)
3. The Old Man Mad About Drawing: A Tale of Hokusai-Place (5.6/2)
4. Samaurai Shortstop-Gratz (4.9/9) (1890)
5. The Sign of the Chrysanthemum-Paterson* (5.6/5) (Japan 1000-1299)
6. The Way of the Warrior-Matthews (5.5/5)
7. When My Name Was Keoko-Park (4.6/8) (WWII)
8. You Wouldn’t Want to Be a Samurai!-Macdonald (5.2/1) NF

Middle Grades+ (6+)

1. The Sword that Cut the Burning Grass: A Samurai Mystery-Hoobler (18^th century)

 Upper Grades (9-12)

1. The Boy and the Samurai-Haugaard (5.1/9) (16^th century)
2. Cloud of Sparrows-Matsuoka (5.5/22) (1861)
3. Den of the White Fox-Namioka (5.9/7)
4. The Heavenward Path-Dalkey (5.4/9)
5. Little Sister-Dalkey (4.5/6) (12^th century)
6. Of Nightingales that Weep-Paterson* (6.2/7) (Japan 1000-1299)
7. The Revenge of the Forty-Seven Samurai-Haugaard (5.7/10)
8. The Samurai’s Tale-Haugaard* (6.3/10) (16^th century)
9. Samurai Spirit: Ancient Wisdom for Modern Life-Konzak (6.4/5)
10. Spirit’s Chosen-Friesner (no points)
11. Spirit’s Princess-Friesner (5.6/19) (200’s)

 Korea

Laos

 Lower Grades (K-3)

1. Thao Kham, the Pebble Shooter-Spagnoli (3.2/0.5)

 Middle Grades+ (6+)

1. Escaping the Tiger-Manivong  (4.8/6)
2. Little Cricket-Brown (6.0/7)

 Malaysia

 Lower Grades (K-3)

1. The Bee Tree-Buchmann (5.7/1)

 Middle Grades (4-8)

1. Kampung Boy–Lat (5.1/1)
2. Town Boy-Lat (2.6/0.5)

 Mongolia

 Lower Grades (K-3)

1. The Khan’s Daughter-Yep (4.9/0.5)
2. My Little Round House-Mixter (2.9/0.5)

 Middle Grades (4-8)

1. Dinosaurs at the Ends of the Earth: The Story of the Central Asiatic Expeditions-Floca (5.8/0.5) NF
2. Dragon in the Desert-Dahl (3.3/0.5)
3. Nomad King-Booth (3.3/0.5)
4. Summer on the Steppe: A Family in Mongolia–Tremblay (4.5/0.5)
5. To Ride the Gods’ Own Stallion-Wilson (6.1/9)

 Middle Grades+ (6+)

1. The Blue Sky-Tschinag (6.1/7)
2. Daughter of Xanadu-Yang (5.6/13)

 Upper Grades (9-12)

1. Genghis: Birth of an Empire-Iggulden (6.5/24)
2. Genghis: Lords of the Bow-Iggulden (6.8/24)
3. I Rode a Horse of Milk White Jade-Wilson* (6.3/10)

 Nepal

 Lower Grades (K-3)

1. The Abominable Snowman: A Story from Nepal-Parnell (3.2/0.5)
2. Eric’s Travel Diary–Schofield (4.1/0.5)
3. I, Doko: The Tale of a Basket-Young (3.3/0.5)
4. Kami and the Yaks-Stryer (4.2/0.5)
5. Little Dog Moon-Trottier (4.0/0.5)
6. Pemba Sherpa-Cossi (3.6/0.5)
7. A Tiger Tale-Nagda (3.6/0.5)
8. Tiger Territory: A Story of the Chitwan Valley-Nagda (4.6/0.5)

 Middle Grades (4-8)

1. Close Encounters of a Third-World Kind-Stewart (4.3/4)
2. Himalaya-Neale (3.3/4)

 Philippines

 Lower Grades (K-3)

1. The Mats-Arcellana (3.3/0.5)\
2. Tuko and the Birds: A Tale from the Phillippines–Climo (3.5/0.5)

 Singapore

 Lower Grades (K-3)

1. Camouflage-Irwin (4.7/1)

 Taiwan

 Middle Grades (4-8)

1. The Abacus Contest: Stories from Taiwan and China-Wu (4.7/1)
2. Dumpling Days-Lin (4.4/7)

 Upper Grades (9-12)

1. His Banner Over Me-Little (4.9/7)

 Thailand

 Lower Grades (K-3)

1. The Girl Who Wore Too Much: A Folktale from Thailand-MacDonald (2.4/0.5)
2. Hush! A Thai Lullaby-Ho (2.0/0.5)
3. I Don’t Want to Go to Thailand-King (4.2/0.5)
4. Peek! A Thai Hide-and-Seek-Ho (1.8/0.5)
5. Tyger! Tyger!-Stanley (4.9/0.5)
6. The Umbrella Queen-Bridges (4.2/0.5)
7. The Whispering Cloth: A Refugee’s Story-Shea (3.9/0.5)

 Middle Grades (4-8)

1. Little Brother-Baillie (4.8/5)
2. Nowhere Girl-Paquette (5.3/8)
3. Silk Umbrellas-Marsden (5.4/2)
4. Tangled Threads: A Hmong Girl’s Story-Shea (4.4/7)
5. Wave-Walters (4.7/7) (2004)

 Middle Grades+ (6+)

1. Escaping the Tiger-Manivong  (4.8/6)

 Upper Grades (9-12)

1. Rice Without Rain-Ho (5.6/8)

Tibet

 Lower Grades (K-3)

1. All the Way to Lhasa: A Tale from Tibet–Berger (2.4/0.5)
2. Far Beyond the Garden Gate: Alexandra David-Neele’s Journey to Lhasa-Brown (5.4/0.5) NF
3. The Mountains of Tibet-Gerstein (3.6/0.5)

 Middle Grades (4-8)

1. Rebel: A Tibetan Odyssey-Whitesel (5.6/6)
2. Tibet: Through the Red Box-Sis (5.3/1)
3. We Are Not Eaten by Yaks-London (5.1/9)

 Vietnam

 Middle Grades (4-8)

1. Jungle Scout: A Vietnam War Story-Hoppey (3.4/0.5)

 Upper Grades (9-12)

1. The Tapestries-Nguyen (6.7/18) (early 20^th century)

 

Photo of Preah Khan (temple in Angkor, Cambodia) by Jeff DeMaria