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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) (13th 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 SocietyMah (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 19th century, early 20th)
  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) (13th 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) (19th 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) (20th 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) (19th 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) (16th 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 (18th century)

 Upper Grades (9-12)

  1. The Boy and the Samurai-Haugaard (5.1/9) (16th 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) (12th 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) (16th 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

 Lower Grades (K-3)

  1. Bee-Bim Bop-Park (2.6/0.5) (modern)
  2. Dear Juno-Pak (3.4/0.5) (modern)
  3. The Firekeeper’s Son-Park (3.0/0.5)
  4. Good-bye, 382 Shin Dang Dong-Park (3.2/0.5) (modern)
  5. Good Fortune in a Wrapping Cloth-Schoettler (4.0/0.5) (1700’s)
  6. Goyangi Means Cat-McDonnell (2.5/0.5) (modern)
  7. The Green Frogs: A Korean Folktale-Heo (3.2/0.5)
  8. Halmoni and the Picnic-Choi (3.5/0.5) (modern)
  9. Halmoni’s Day-Bercaw (4.7/0.5) (modern)
  10. Lady Hahn and Her Seven Friends-Heo (3.4/0.5) (modern)
  11. The Have a Good Day Cafe-Park (3.3/0.5) (modern)
  12. My Freedom Trip: A Child’s Escape from North Korea to South Korea-Park (3.3/0.5) 
  13. My Name Is Yoon-Recorvits (2.3/0.5) (modern)
  14. The Name Jar-Choi (3.1/0.5) (modern)
  15. New Clothes for New Year’s Day-Bae (2.2/0.5) (modern)
  16. A Piece of Home-Watts (3.6/0.5) (modern)
  17. The Royal Bee-Park (4.5/0.5)
  18. Tap Dancing on the Roof-Park (3.7/0.5) (poems) (modern)
  19. The Trip Back Home-Wong (4.5/0.5) (modern)
  20. Yoon and the Jade Bracelet-Recorvits (2.9/0.5)
  21. Yunmi and Halmoni’s Trip – Choi (no level) (modern)

 Middle Grades (4-8)

  1. Dunc and Amos on Thin Ice-Paulson (3.0/1) (modern)
  2. Echoes of the White Giraffe-Choi (5.7/5) (Korean War)
  3. Finding My Hat-Son (4.9/5) (modern)
  4. The Girl-Son-Neuberger (5.0/2) (early 20th century)
  5. The King’s Secret: The Legend it King Sejong-Farley (4.2/0.5)
  6. The Kite Fighters-Park (5.5/4)(1400’s)
  7. The Korean Cinderella-Climo (4.1/0.5)
  8. Linda Sue Park: An Author Kids Love-Parker-Love (6.1/1) (modern)
  9. Project Mulberry-Park (4.3/6)
  10. See-Saw Girl-Park (5.7/3) (1300’s)
  11. A Single Shard-Park (6.0/6) (1300’s)
  12. So Far from the Bamboo Grove-Watkins (4.7/6) (WWII)
  13. Sondok : Princess of the Moon and Stars, South Korea, 622, A.D.-Holman
  14. When My Name Was Keoko-Park (4.6/8) (WWII)
  15. Year of Impossible Goodbyes-Choi (5.6/7) (1940’s)

 Middle Grades+ (6-8)

  1. Gathering of Pearls-Choi (5.2/6) (modern)

Upper Grades (9-12)

  1. Finding My Voice-Lee (4.9/6) (modern)
  2. Somebody’s Daughter-Lee (6.3/15) (modern)
  3. A Step from Heaven-Na (4.2/6) (modern)
  4. Tales of a Korean Grandmother-Carpenter (6.1/8)

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 BoyLat (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 MongoliaTremblay (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 DiarySchofield (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 PhillippinesClimo (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 TibetBerger (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 20th century)

 

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

 

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