So Far from the Bamboo Grove by Yoko Kawashima Watkins

I liked this book a lot better of the two paired books but I can definitely see how it would be very uncomfortable to teach for some. I feel like i have mixed views on this topic because I fell that in certain situations, that this book would be inappropriate because of your class make up or the are you may be in teaching. When the school is right and there is a go ahead from everybody I would approach these books by sending home a note and explaining to the children about the mature content they will be en counting, and this way I would be able to cover all of my bases. This would be a great book to use during a WWII unit about a Japanese family forced to flee their home in Korea.

Year of Impossible Goodbyes

Year of Impossible Goodbyes by Sook Nyul Choi

I found this book to be very interesting and I learned a lot more than I thought I would. As ten-year-old Sookan and her family must endure the cruelties of the Japanese military occupying Korea, as they try and break everything her family has made of themselves. It takes much more of course though to bring them down as they search for their freedom and will do anything for it. Although it was a fantastically interesting book I feel that I would not use it in my own classroom

Chicken Friend

Chicken Friend by Nicola Morgan

This book is great for 8 to 11 years old and is about a chicken, friends and a crazy family. A little 12 year old girl named Becca narrates the weeks past events as she sits in her chicken coop. As she rants about her father abruptly taking her and her brothers out of school and moving them to their now very rural community. His biggest worry is making new friends as she has to deal with her boring personality, weird family and being diabetic. This humorous tale takes us through her troubles and tribulations as she learns about herself. This book would be great in a classroom because of how many students are dealing with their "weird" families, moving or even being diabetic.