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A Content Analysis of Chinese
American Contemporary Realistic
Fiction Books
Yang Wang, Wenyu Guo, Xiaoling Sui
Find out what contemporary realistic fiction picturebooks with Chinese American
main characters are available to children and instructional possibilities with these
texts.
The increasing population of culturally and linguis-
tically diverse students in K– 12 schools poses sig-
nificant challenges for literacy teachers. Students
with different family traditions and cultural backgrounds
need diverse literature to reflect their unique experiences
and help define themselves and understand their identi-
ties (Rodriguez & Kim, 2 018; Yokota, 2009). Multicultural
literature transforms students’ lived experiences and day-
to- day lives as a part of the broader human experience
(Bishop, 2012). Thus, multicultural children’s literature
serves as windows, mirrors, and sliding doors for stu-
dents from all backgrounds (Bishop, 1990).
Asian American is the fastest- growing minority group,
and Chinese Americans are the largest Asian group in the
United States (Budiman & Ruiz, 2021). It was not until the
late 1980s that stories portraying Asian American peo-
ple’s actual experiences of growing up in America were
published (Yokota, 1993). Asian American characters
were rare in children’s books published four decades ago
(Masuda & Ebersole, 2010). In addition, they were full of
stereotypes in early published books (Pang et al., 19 9 2).
The Cooperative Children’s Book Center Report (2021)
for 2018– 2020 shows that out of approximately 3,400
children’s picturebooks reviewed annually, an average of
9% or 312 of those contains significant Asian or Asian
American content. Although the number of picturebooks
featuring children of color increases, the lack of diversity
in children’s literature continues for readers of color who
barely see themselves reflected in those picturebooks
(Short, 2018).
Asian American children are historically underserved
in the American educational system (Chang, 2017 ). Asian
Americans are barely represented in school textbooks
(An, 2016 ). As the largest Asian American group, Chinese
Americans were still underrepresented in children’s lit-
erature, especially realistic fiction (Cai, 2002). Given the
scarcity of picturebooks about Chinese Americans, the
tendency to position Chinese Americans in fantasy and
folklore genres, and the need for culturally accurate and
authentic representations, we sought to understand the
prevalent themes and representations in contemporary
realistic fiction picturebooks featuring Chinese American
protagonists. We share our findings to help teachers
understand what culturally authentic picturebooks are
available and how they can position them in their class-
rooms and student’s lives.
Background
Multicultural children’s literature refers to “literature by and
about people who are members of groups considered to be
outside the socio- political mainstream of the United States”
(Bishop, 1992, p. 39). Multicultural literature allows minori-
tized groups to deliver authentic representations of them-
selves and their experiences and demonstrate perspectives,
beliefs, and experiences previously silenced by mainstream
society (Bishop, 2012). Multicultural literature helps read-
ers “identify cultural heritages, understand sociological
TEACHING AND LEARNING IN ACTION
The Reading Teacher Vol. 76 No. 2 pp. 159–168 doi:10.1002/trtr.2119 © 2022 International Literacy Association.
Yang Wang is an Associate Professor in Language and
Literacy Education in the Department of Instruction and
Teacher Education at the University of South Carolina,
Columbia, SC; email wangy@sc.edu.
Wenyu Guo is a Ph.D. candidate in Teaching and Learning
in the Department of Instruction and Teacher Education
at the University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC;
email wguo@email.sc.edu.
Xiaoling Sui is an English Instructor in the Depar tment
of World Languages at Dalian University of Foreign
Languagesand a Ph.D. candidate at Dalian University
ofTechnology, Liaoning, China;
email suixiaoling@dlufl.edu.cn.
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change, respect the values of minority groups, raise aspira-
tions, and expand imagination and creativity” (Norton, 2013,
p.2) and allows children with diverse descents to relate to
the characters’ lives and expand possibilities beyond their
realities (Iwai, 2015).
Cultural authenticity examines how authentic and accu-
rate people of color are represented and portrayed in texts
(Bishop, 2003). Bishop (2003) stated
that cultural authenticity was hard to
be adequately defined universally, but
“you know it when you see it” as a cul-
tural insider (p.15). Yoo- Lee et al. (2014)
suggested that cultural authenticity
comprises accurate details and per-
spectives of an ethnic group in text and
illustrations without stereotypes. Other
researchers (Adam, 2021; Southard
et al., 2014) maintained that culturally
authentic literature should also develop
a sense of identity, self- esteem, and
openness for cultural diversity. Wee
et al. (2014) contended that “the key to
accurately representing Asian American
cultures in children’s literature is to first recognize the diver-
sity of Asian peoples” (p. 72). However, the continuing cul-
tural inaccuracies and stereotypes still prevail in Chinese
American and other Asian American children’s literature
(Yoo- Lee et al., 2 014).
Some scholars have demonstrated persistent inaccu-
racies and inauthenticities of Asian American children’s
literature in the previous studies (Rodriguez & Kim, 2018;
Yoo- Lee et al., 2014). However, a limited number of schol-
ars have focused on Chinese American picturebooks.
Cai (1994) underscored the cultural authenticity issue and
advocated for more contemporary Chinese American pic-
turebooks to promote cultural understanding in a survey of
73 picturebooks. Similarly, Louie (2014) conducted a sys-
tematic analysis of 1,034 Chinese juvenile literature in the
Chinese language available in North America. Louie stated
that the collection covered various genres, many books
were intended for language learners, the readability of the
books was high for language learners, even heritage learn-
ers hardly understood the stories and demonstrated resis-
tance toward the sentiments in the stories.
In addition, Chen and Wang (2014) examined how
Chinese had been portrayed in 46 titles of award- winning
picturebooks from 1993 to 2009. They found that most pic-
turebooks were folktales, legends, and fantasy stories, while
non- Chinese authors created many fantasy picturebooks.
Additionally, inaccuracies and problematic representa-
tions occurred in many picturebooks. Moreover, Cai (2002)
argued the need to examine Asian American picturebooks
through critical perspectives because it would challenge
the mainstream culture by portraying marginalized cultures
and disrupt texts through questions about who is repre-
sented, underrepresented, misrepresented, or invisible, and
how power is exercised.
Contemporary realistic fiction describes actual
people and events that could happen in the real world
in different aspects (Galda
et al., 2014). Good contemporary
realistic fiction “illuminates life,
presenting social and personal
concerns in a fully human con-
text as it is experienced today or
in the very recent past” (Galda
et al., 2014 , p. 221). The Chinese
American contemporary realistic
fiction is important to discuss
because it provides authentic
representations to the readers to
understand this cultural commu-
nity. We focus on picturebooks
due to our interests and profes-
sional experiences.
What We Did
Our institution locates in a southeastern city in the United
States with a population of 136,632 as of 2020– 53% White,
40% African American, 2.7% Asian American, and 5.5%
Latinos (U.S. Census Bureau, 2021). This city is home to
more than 10 universities/colleges and three Chinese–
English dual language immersion elementary schools. We
searched the university library system, the literacy educa-
tion program library, the county public library, and one bilin-
gual elementary school library. We know our list may not
be a complete list of published Chinese American picture-
books in the United States; however, our selection process
included picturebooks accessible to children and families
through local schools and libraries.
The Chinese American literature books referenced
here are those picturebooks featuring Chinese American
people’s lives or created by Chinese American authors
and/or illustrators. Chinese Americans in this article
include Chinese immigrants and American- born Chinese
residing in the United States. All individuals from
Mainland China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan are considered
Chinese in this article.
Our team members grew up in Mainland China and
speak both Mandarin and English. Wang, a literacy fac-
ulty member, has lived in the United States for more than
a decade and raises a Chinese American child. Guo, a
doctoral candidate teaches Chinese American children
at a heritage language school. Sui, an English language
PAUSE AND PONDER
■ What picturebooks with Chinese
American main characters are
available to you?
■ How do contemporary realistic fiction
picturebooks represent Chinese
American children’s lives and
identities?
■ How do you choose and embed
Chinese American picturebooks to
build intercultural awareness?
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instructor in China, visited for collaborative projects dur-
ing this study. We worked closely with early childhood and
elementary mainstream teachers, bilingual teachers, and
local Chinese American families recommending picture-
books to emergent bilingual children. Our insider position-
alities helped with assessing the picturebooks for cultural
and linguistic accuracy and authenticity.
The criteria that we adopted to select picturebooks
are as follows: (1) picturebooks with Chinese American
human main characters, (2) picturebooks published in
the United States in the past two decades including early
2021, (3) contemporary realistic fiction books reflecting
Chinese American people’s contemporary life, and (4) less
than 40 pages in length. We excluded folktales, legends,
and fantasy stories, even though there are many titles. We
also excluded eBooks and self- published picturebooks.
We identified whether the main characters are Chinese
Americans relying on a combination of multiple aspects
such as the heritage of the author/illustrator, the setting
of the picturebook, the visual images, the verbal text, and
anticipated audience. We located 42 titles.
We borrowed Norton’s multicultural literature study
approach (2013). Norton suggested analyzing the
inclusion of beliefs and values, contemporary charac-
terization and conflicts, and themes across the litera-
ture when studying contemporary literature. Following
Norton’s suggestion, we first coded independently for
themes, beliefs and values, tension/conflicts, and cul-
tural authenticities reflecting in the texts and pictures.
We then verified each other’s coding, visited the data
multiple times, and collectively made decisions. Four
major themes emerged: adjusting to American culture,
celebrating heritage culture, bridging two cultures,
and connecting to home country. Some titles could fit
more than one theme; however, we chose to focus on
their main themes. Two titles were exempted due to
lacking emphasis on any of the themes despite being
created by a Chinese American author and illustrating
Chinese- looking children. The themes from 40 titles
suggested our discussion on cultural representation,
language use, overall values, and tensions.
Our Picturebook Corpus
Table 1 provides an overview of our picturebook corpus. A
total of 25 authors and 25 illustrators contributed to the con-
temporary realistic picturebooks. The majority are female
authors/illustrators. Many authors/illustrators are cultural
insiders with authentic experiences, such as Chinese immi-
grants (e.g., Yong Chen, Belle Yang, Ed Young) or American-
born Chinese (e.g., Grace Lin, Ginnie and Beth Lo, Lenore
Look). A few authors/ illustrators root in other Asian American
groups (e.g., Korea- born Yangsook Choi, Singapore- born
Charlene Chua). Some non- Chinese American authors vis-
ited China (e.g., Andrea Cheng), spent time immersing them-
selves in Chinese culture (e.g., Roseanne Thong), or adopted
children from China (e.g., Rose Lewis). These cultural insid-
ers contributed to 38 titles.
This section shares the four major themes that we dis-
covered, and more titles are provided in Table 2. Teachers
could create text sets about each theme and use them
in literature circles or reading workshops, for instance,
a text set of Chinese immigrants connecting to their
home countries and a text set of celebrating heritage cul-
ture or bridging cultures for first- generation or second-
generation immigrant children for their sense of identity
and self- esteem. Teachers may need to be aware that the
first- generation, second- generation, or third- generation
Table 1
Book Overview of Our Picturebook Corpus
Category Item Number
Publication Time 2000– 2010 19
2011– early 2021 21
Setting In the United States 35
Between the United States and China 5
Main characters Female 35
Male 5
Author Female 21
Male 4
Illustrator Female 19
Male 6
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Table 2
Chinese American Contemporary Realistic Fiction Books under Each Theme
Theme Number Title Year Author Illustrator
Adjusting to American
culture
2My Chinatown- One Year in Poems 2016 Mak, Kam
Hannah is my Name 2004 Yang, Belle
Celebrating heritage
culture and family
tradition
21 Crouching Tiger 2012 Compestine, Ying Chang Nascimbene, Yan
Happy Belly, Happy Smile 2009 Isadora, Rachel
My First Chinese New Year 2011 Katz, Karen
A Big Mookcake for Little Star 2018 Lin, Grace
Dim Sum for Everyone 2014
Round is a Mooncake 2014
Bringing in the New Year 2013
Thanking the Moon 2010
Fortune Cookie Fortunes 2004
Kite Flying 2004
Auntie Yang’s Great Soybean Picnic 2012 Lo, Ginnie Lo, Beth
Mahjong All Day Long 2005
Uncle Peter’s Amazing Chinese Wedding 2006 Look, Lenore Heo, Yumi
Henry’s First- Moon Birthday 2001
One is a Drummer 2013 Thong, Roseanne Lin, Grace
Red is a Dragon 2008
Gai See- What You Can See in Chinatown 2007 Thong, Roseanne Choi, Yangsook
Watercress 2021 Wang, Andrea Chin, Jason
Maggie’s Chopsticks 2012 Woo, Alan Malenfant, Isabelle
My Day with Gong Gong 2021 Yee, Sennah Chen, Elaine
Amy Wu and the Perfect Bao 2019 Zhang, Kat Chua, Charlene
(continued)
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Table 2
Chinese American Contemporary Realistic Fiction Books under Each Theme (continued)
Theme Number Title Year Author Illustrator
Bridging two cultures 6Grandfather Counts 2003 Cheng, Andrea Zhang, Ange
Dumplings for Lili 2021 Iwai, Melissa
The Ugly Vegetables 2001 Lin, Grace
Morning with Grandpa 20 16 Liu, Sylvia Forshay, Christina
Apple Pie 4th of July 2006 Wong, Janet S. Chodos- Irvine,
Margaret
Amy Wu and the Patchwork Dragon 2020 Zhang, Kat Chua, Charlene
8
Adoption Mei- Mei’s Lucky Birthday Noodles 2014 Chen, Shan- shan Goodman, Heidi
爱达
Three names of Me 2006 Cummings, Mary Wang, Lin
Star of the Week 2009 Friedman, Darlene Roth, Roger
Every Year on Your Birthday 2007 Lewis, Rose Dyer, Jane
I Love You Like Crazy Cakes 2000
The Red Blanket 2014 Thomas, Eliza Cepeda, Joe
My Mei Mei 2006 Young, Ed
Motherbridge of Love 2013 Xinran Masse, Josee
Connecting with home
country
3I dream of Popo 2021 Blackburne, Livia Kuo, Julia
A Gift 20 11 Chen, Yong
Shanghai Messenger 2005 Cheng, Andrea Young, Ed
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Chinese American children may respond differently to
the same picturebooks.
Adjusting to American Culture
Two titles illustrate the first- generation immigrants adjust-
ing to American culture, overcoming the language barriers,
and gaining their new identities. For example, Hannah is
My Name tells that Hannah’s family emigrate to America
and anxiously wait for their green cards (status of perma-
nent residents) based on the author’s real experience. My
Chinatown depicts a boy’s first year in the United States
after moving from Hong Kong. While he misses his home-
town, he grows to love his new home in Chinatown through
food, games, and people surrounding him as time goes by.
Although these authors created their books based on their
childhood experiences, some immigrant children nowa-
days may still relate to them.
Celebrating Heritage Culture
About half the picturebooks in the corpus portray Chinese
Americans celebrating their heritage cultures, suc h as holi-
days, customs, food, and family traditions. Chinese New
Year and Moon Festival are two major holidays celebrated
in those picturebooks. Bringing in the New Year and My First
Chinese New Year introduce the traditions of red envelops
of cash, house sweeping, new clothes, dragon dance, and
other spring festival celebrations. Grace Lin’s Thanking the
Moon, Round is a Mooncake, and A Big Mooncake for Little
Star introduce the Mid- Autumn Festival, also known as
Moon Festival. The Caldecott Honor book A Big Mooncake
for Little Star illustrates the moon phases while a little girl
gradually eats the big mooncake that she and her mother
baked. The readers could learn about the phases of the
moon in the illustrations while enjoying this clever story of
celebrating the festival.
Furthermore, several titles introduce various traditions
and customs such as weddings, first- moon birthdays,
and playing Tai- chi and mahjong. Uncle Peter’s Amazing
Chinese Wedding depicts traditional Chinese wedding
ceremony, such as tea ceremony and exchanging lucky
money. Henry’s First- Moon Birthday introduces the tradi-
tional celebration of welcoming a newborn baby when he
turns a month old. Crouching Tigers illustrates a Chinese
American boy learning Tai- chi and developing a relation-
ship with his grandfather. Mahjong All Day Long depicts
a family tradition of playing mahjong generation after
generation.
A few picturebooks highlight traditional food of soy-
bean, dim sum, and steamed bun. Auntie Yang’s Great
Soybean Picnic describes one family discovering a com-
mon Chinese vegetable in Illinois, Maodou (soybean), and
inviting their relatives and Chinese American friends for
an annual soybean picnic which eventually turns into a
community event. They even invite and reunite with their
Chinese families. Dim Sum for Everyone introduces the tra-
ditional and still popular Cantonese dish. Amy Wu and the
Perfect Bao illustrates that a girl makes the steamed bun
with fillings, bao with her grandmother’s help after many
attempts. Fortune cookie is considered an icon of Chinese
American culture; therefore, Grace Lin shares its origin in
her Fortune Cookie Fortunes. In Andrea Wang’s Watercress,
a family in Ohio makes a new memory of picking water-
cress from aside of the road and cooking it in a cold salad.
The child learns that her mother’s family thrived through
the great famine, and she starts appreciating fresh food
serving on the dinner table.
Moreover, children explore their heritage culture in
Chinatown in a few picturebooks. Gai See- What You Can
See in Chinatown depicts that a curious boy walks and
shops with his family in California during different sea-
sons exploring special Chinese treasures and customs.
Happy Belly, Happy Smile and My Day with Gong Gong both
tell that the little girls visit their grandfathers and explore
Chinatown.
Bridging Two Cultures
A total of 14 titles illustrates the cohesive bridging of two
different cultures. The characters celebrate both Chinese
and American cultures and languages in six picturebooks.
For example, The Ugly Vegetables tells a story about a girl
and her mother plant vegetables in their garden, while her
neighbors only plant flowers. The girl and her mother make
delicious vegetable soup when they have a harvest from
their garden. Then, their neighbors come to trade vegetable
soup with flowers. Finally, the girl’s family grows flowers,
and her neighbors plant some vegetables in their gardens
the following year. Apple Pie 4th of July describes a girl who
fears that no one would want Chinese food in her parents’
restaurant on the Fourth of July. However, many customers
visit. She finally enjoys the apple pie and the fireworks on
the roof after the restaurant is closed. Grandfather Counts
portrays a multigeneration story of a girl and her grand-
father’s struggle with language differences. The girl who
speaks only English copes with the communication dif-
ficulties and picks up Chinese from her grandfather while
he learns English from her. Similarly, Morning with Grandpa
illustrates a girl and her grandpa teaching each other yoga
and Taichi in their garden.
Two recent picturebooks highlight Chinese American
children’s mixed identity and the coexistence of diverse
cultures. In Amy Wu and the Patchwork Dragon, when
asked to make a dragon at school, Amy is stuck with
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creating her own one because she prefers neither western
dragon nor eastern dragon. With her grandma and fam-
ily’s help, she makes her unique dragon with a Chinese
dragon head and American dragon wings. Dumplings for
Lili depicts cultures beyond a mixture of two. Starting
from a girl cooking bao with her grandma, this girl helps
all the grandmothers living in their apartment building
borrow ingredients for various dumplings like ravioli,
fatayer, and more across multiple cultures. This picture-
book celebrates the cultural diversity through this thread
of dumplings origin from different cultures.
Eight titles address international adoption by shar-
ing the process from different family members’ per-
spectives and helping the adopted children seek and
keep their heritage culture and identities. For instance,
The Red Blanket depicts a journey of forming a new
family from an American mother’s perspective— the
author Eliza Thomas. She went to China in 1994 and
adopted her daughter, a 5- month- old girl. Ed Young
illustrated his real story in My Mei Mei of adopting a
Chinese- born girl and his daughter’s new relationship
with the adopted sister.
Six of the adoption titles highlight the adopted children
seeking their mixed identities. For example, Mei- Mei’s
Lucky Birthday Noodles depicts Mei- Mei’s family cele-
brate her birthday following Chinese traditions: making
birthday noodles and giving red envelopes. Additionally,
Rose Lewis wrote I love You Like Crazy Cakes and Every
Year on Your Birthday to share her adoption of a Chinese
baby girl and celebration of her adopted daughter’s birth-
days every year. In the story of Three Names of Me, an
adopted girl from China, Ada Lorane Bennett, seeks her
whole identity and builds connections with her heritage
culture by learning the Chinese language and honoring
Chinese cultural elements such as Chinese chess, paint-
ing, and red silk outfit. Only one title mentions the child’s
biological parents. The adopted Chinese girl Cassidy Li in
Star of the Week makes a poster with photos sharing her
unforgettable memories. She draws a picture of her birth
parents with her parents’ help.
Connecting with Home Country
Three titles describe Chinese American’s connection with
their home country. Their ways of communicating and con-
necting to their extended families change along with time. In
Shanghai Messenger, a girl from America visits her relatives
in Shanghai, China during summer. She brings a letter to the
new relatives from her grandma who immigrated to America
a long time ago. When the girl returns, she takes her rela-
tives’ letter to her grandma. Similarly, A Gift describes Amy
in the United States and her aunt and uncle in China keep
a transnational family relationship through exchanging let-
ters and sending gifts. Finally, a recently published I Dream
of Popo depicts a connection through video chat and fam-
ily visit between a girl whose family emigrant to the United
States and her Popo living in Taiwan.
Teachers could embed Banks’ multicultural curricu-
lum (2019) and guide students to read Chinese American
literature books moving from the contributions approach
to the social action approach. Teachers need to move
conversations beyond heroes, holidays, and superficial
cultural elements (see Take Action). In addition to adding
the concepts, themes, and perspectives, teachers could
help students view them from different perspectives, be
open for cultural diversity, and invite students to make
decisions on social issues and take action.
Reflection
When Cai reviewed Chinese American picturebooks in
1994, there were only six contemporary fiction books. Half
of the picturebooks in his review described the continua-
tion of the cultural traditions on repeated subjects rather
than the confrontation with everyday reality. The number
of Chinese American realistic children’s picturebooks
published from 2000 to early 2021 that are available in our
community has increased to 40 titles.
Cultural Representation
The picturebooks in our corpus authentically reflect the
Chinese American’s lived experiences since all titles illus-
trate the realistic experiences of being Chinese A mericans
in the United States and represent their “nuances of day
to day living” (Bishop, 1992, p.43). The reason could be
that the genre is contemporary realistic fiction. It could
also be that most authors and illustrators are either iden-
tified as Chinese or Chinese Americans. Some authors/
illustrators embedded their own experiences in the pic-
turebooks (e.g., Rose Lewis, Grace Lin, Ginnie and Beth
Lo, Kam Mak, Andrea Wang, Ed Young). Some American
authors share authentic experiences of immersing in
Chinese culture. Therefore, those picturebooks are writ-
ten and illustrated by cultural insiders, which contributes
to their authenticity.
Themes and depictions of Chinese food, holidays, and
traditions are still repeated in many titles in the catego-
ries of celebrating heritage culture, bridging two cultures,
and cultural identities in adoption. Some cultural icons
in Chinese American culture may not represent Chinese
culture of people living in China. For example, the origin
of fortune cookies is not from China but started in the
U.S. Chinatown (Fortune Cookie Fortunes).
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The family traditions in some picturebooks may rep-
resent groups of Chinese people from certain regions
in China. For example, dim sum (Dim Sum for Everyone)
is a Cantonese cuisine and, Gai See (Gai See- What You
Can See in Chinatown) is Cantonese, a regional dialect
spoken in Guangdong province and some surrounding
areas. Gong Gong and Po Po are southern dialects in
China for grandpa and grandma on the mother’s side
(e.g., My Day with Gong Gong, I Dream of Popo). Nai Nai
means grandma on the father’s side (e.g., Dumplings
for Lili). In addition, watercress is a popular vegetable
grown in the South of China; thus, children and families
from other areas may not have it on their dining table.
Therefore, Chinese American children may share differ-
ent family traditions depending on their ancestors’ resi-
dence places or ethnic groups in China.
Language Use
Hanzi— Chinese language characters— appear in the bilin-
gual or English glossaries and illustrations in many picture-
books. For insta nce, Ginnie Lo provided a bil ingual glossary
in Auntie Yang’s Great Soybean Picnic. One example is
“欢迎 huan ying (whan ying): welcome,” which indicates
Chinese written characters, Chinese sounding system—
pinyin, English pronunciation, and English translation.
In addition, some illustrators painted Chinese characters
in the pictures. For example, Three Names of Me pictures an
adoptive girl’s memory of navigating between China and the
U.S. spaces. The Chinese words “开发 幼儿智力” meaning
“developing children’s intelligence” appear in the illustration
of a nursery room at a Chinese orphanage. Moreover, sev-
eral picturebooks illustrated Chinatown sce nes with Chinese
words painted on the bulletin boards. Those embedded
Chinese words in illustrations echo the specific cultural set-
ting and reinforce the readers’ cross- cultural awareness.
Therefore, mainstream and English language
teachers can use Chinese American literature teach-
ing Mandarin- speaking children so they better relate
to these books and acquire the English language from
reading them. Similarly, bilingual teachers could use
Chinese American picturebooks to teach the target lan-
guage and culture.
Overall Values
All picturebooks value family and intergenerational relation-
ships between children and parents, grandparents, extended
relatives, and adopted families in a variety of contexts. Chinese
families value the intergenerational relationship, family pride, the
living- together of extended relatives, and respecting elders (Xu &
Xia, 2014). Thus, 10 titles depict th e intergenerational storie s about
the relationship and growing understanding between Chinese
American children and their grandparents (e.g., Grandfather
Counts, My Day with Gong Gong, and I Dream of Popo).
Children who grew up with first- generation parents and
immigrant grandparents may relate to the contemporary
life featured in many picturebooks. However, they may or
may not attract the second- generation or third- generation
Chinese American children who root in American cul-
ture. Therefore, we are pleased to see titles that show-
case mixed identities of Chinese American children (e.g.,
Amy Wu and the Patchwork Dragon) and feature Chinese
American’s daily life with other minority cultures (e.g.,
Dumplings for Lili).
Tension and Lack of Conflicts
The tension between different languages is the pri-
mary conflict reflected in this corpus. For instance, the
children struggle to learn English (e.g., My Chinatown,
Hannah is My Name), the adopted child learns Chinese
heritage language (e.g., Three Names of Me), and chil-
dren and their grandfathers overcome the communica-
tion issue and cultural barriers (e.g., Grandfather Counts,
My Day with Gong Gong).
A couple of titles share the immigrant life, family his-
tory, and poverty. Hannah is My Name depicts a family’s
undocumented life while waiting for their green cards—
permanent residency. Watercress shares a family’s dis-
tressing memory of surviving the great famine and losing
a family member, while it depicts an immigrant child’s
struggle of being different and seeking belonging.
Other than immigrant life and language barriers, we
did not witness issues around social justice topics being
addressed, such as race, gender, and same- sex families,
even though racial inequality permeates every aspect of
social life (Bell, 2018). Like Braden and Rodriguez’s (2016 )
review of Latinx literature, the authors of the reviewed lit-
erature in our corpus situated picturebooks within a uto-
pian society. Dumplings for Lili celebrates the cultural
diversity in an apartment complex through the particular
food and ingredients in multiple cultures. Picturebooks
about Chinese American children’s school life (e.g., Amy
Wu and the Patchwork Dragon, Star of the Week) and their
response to the current political and social climate are
scarce. The reason of most picturebooks describing fam-
ily relationships and life in harmony could be Chinese
culture values harmonious social interaction between
different people influenced by Confucian harmony (Wei
& Li, 2013).
While most children’s literature books feature male main
characters (Cooperative Children’s Book Center [CCBC],
2021), our corpus reflects more picturebooks featuring
female main characters in Chinese American literature than
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The Reading Teacher Vol. 76 No. 2 September/October 2022 literacyworldwide.org
male main characters. The reason might be that there are
more female authors and illustrators creating those pic-
turebooks. Additionally, Chen and Wang (2014) called out
an absence of LGBTQ books in Chinese American literature.
Likewise, we did not observe any LGBTQ picturebooks in our
corpus of contemporary realistic fiction.
Implications
Like other multicultural picturebooks, Chinese
American picturebooks provide windows, mirrors, and
sliding doors for students (Bishop, 1990). Therefore,
teachers could embed contemporary Chinese American
realistic fiction books in teaching because those pic-
turebooks represent the lived experiences of Chinese
American children and families. In that way, the cul-
tures and experiences of Chinese American children
could be honored as they see themselves represented
in those picturebooks, and all students could learn
about Chinese American cultures through those pic-
turebooks and cultivate openness for cultural diversity.
In addition, teachers could select authentic picture-
books written or recommended by cultural insiders to
learn accurate cultural representation and use the glos-
sary to build up students’ schema.
While valuing Chinese American cultures, teachers
could encourage students to think critically on the issues
reflecting in realistic picturebooks and how (or if) the pic-
turebooks accurately and authentically represent their
lives. Teachers could invite cultural experts or insiders
to review the picturebooks before reading or sharing in
class or invite them as guest speakers.
Last, teachers could build an intercultural curriculum
(Short et al., 2016) by pairing multicultural picturebooks
with global picturebooks published in China or featuring
Chinese people and their lives in China (e.g., A New Year’s
Reunion, Home for Chinese New Year). Teachers could pair
the Chinese American picturebooks and Chinese global pic-
turebooks or create a virtual global book club with children
in China (Wang, 2017, 2020) to promote global citizenship
and cultural awareness (Kenyon & Christoff, 2020).
Hopefully, more authors and illustrators will create
more picturebooks representing the Chinese American
people’s contemporary life in the United States. We hope
publishers would consider manuscripts that feature
Chinese American’s daily life, social justice, children’s
school experiences, learning development, and cultural
identities. More importantly, American publishers could
import more global picturebooks created by Chinese
authors and illustrators as those picturebooks would help
children in the United States grow a basic understanding
of life outside and become globally competitive.
Conflict of Interest
None
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MORE TO EXPLORE
Websites to search Chinese American picturebooks:
■Chinese American Librarians Association https://www.
cala-web.org/
■Asian/Pacific American Librarians Association https://
www.apala web.org/
■We Need Diverse Books https://diversebooks.org
■Guide for Selecting Anti- Bias Children’s Books https://
socialjusticebooks.org/guide-for-selecting-antibias-
childrens-books/
LITERATURE CITED
Wei, J. (2014). Home for Chinese New Year. Better Link Press.
Yu, L. Q. (2012). A New Year’s Reunion. Candlewick Press.
*See other literature books in Table 2.
19362714, 2022, 2, Downloaded from https://ila.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/trtr.2119 by <shibboleth>-member@sc.edu, Wiley Online Library on [29/03/2023]. See the Terms and Conditions (https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/terms-and-conditions) on Wiley Online Library for rules of use; OA articles are governed by the applicable Creative Commons License
