China Unit: Books, Books! A Huge List of Children’s Books
When we delve into a new unit, I search high and low for a wide variety of books. Not only do I want non-fiction books, but I also want books that bring the topic alive… and stories and novels are a wonderful way to do that. This is a long (and probably incomplete!) list of the books we’ve used and are using in our China unit.
We’ve read a number of wonderful children’s books. My kids (even my 10 year old) enjoys listening to picture books. I usually read them before hand and tie them into whatever topics we are studying. So for example, when we were reading and learning about the Shang dynasty and the Oracle bones, we read several picture books that were about Chinese calligraphy. Then we looked at how Chinese script evolved – and practiced writing some Chinese characters.
We read a novel together called Bound, (affiliate link), which is a Chinese Cinderella story (Did you know that the Cinderella stories of China pre-date the European stories by more than a thousand years?!!). We all loved, loved, loved that… and it touches on some great themes that we’ve come back to again and again… living in a cave home, ancestor worship, Chinese medicine, foot-binding and more.
We also read a Newbery Award winning novel called Where the Mountain Meets the Moon aloud together. (Actually, Grams finished reading it with the kids when I became so incredibly sensitive to sound/my own voice.) The kids absolutely loved it (and so did my friend’s two kids who read it on their own). DD said it was awesome, awesome! (Yes, two awesomes!!)
Shang, Zhou, Qin Dynasties (Note: The links below are affiliate links)
- The Story of Ancient China by Suzanne Strauss Art (comprehensive history of China through the Tang Dynasty. Great spine for grades 4-8) This book is a wonderful, rich and full of details about Chinese history. Great read-aloud for my 3rd and 5th grade. Would be great for Middle School/early High School independently.
- The Story of the World: History for the Classical Child: Volume 1: Ancient Times has a few relevant chapters, but we use it because we have it on hand. I wouldn’t recommend getting the book JUST for a unit on China.
- The Kingfisher History Encyclopedia Good, but not a great source of history.
- Myths and Civilization of the Ancient Chinese
- The Gods and Goddesses of Ancient China
- Long Is a Dragon: Chinese Writing for Children Terrific introduction to calligraphy.
- Liu and the Bird: A Journey in Chinese Calligraphy Introduces Chinese characters
- Chinese Brush Painting
- Liang and the Magic Paintbrush (Old folktale by Demi)
- Brush of the Gods (picture book about the legendary painter Daozi, China’s greatest painter)
- The Dragon’s Robe (tale about invading armies at the Great Wall of China. Gorgeous Illustrations)
- Confucius books (Zhou Dynasty – from the library)
Other Books in our Unit (Note: The links below are affiliate links)
- A Grain of Rice – Set in China, a clever peasant tries to win the hand of the princess. Gr 3-4 The kids read this independently.
- Bound: A Chinese Cinderella Novel (We read this book aloud together. It is about a girl whose foot is bound and her step sister who is forced to serve her. A novel that we read aloud together. Highly recommended.
- Yeh-Shen: A Cinderella Story from China. – This is a similar story to Bound. If you have the time, I recommend reading Bound, but this is terrific picture book.
- Where the Mountain Meets the Moon – ( -Novel. We read this novel together. Highly recommended. DD says, “It’s awesome, awesome!!”
Download this Free Here: China Unit-Book List — Ancient Chinese Dynasties
Other Books in our Unit (Note: The links below are affiliate links)
- The Magical Monkey King: Mischief in Heaven
- Chin Yu Min and the Ginger Cat – Picture book
- Lon Po Po– A Red Riding Hood story from China
- Chinese Fables: The Dragon Slayer and Other Timeless Tales of Wisdom – 19 Stories, some from Ancient China.
- The Seven Chinese Sisters – Picture book
- Little Monk and the Mantis: A Bug, A Boy, and the Birth of a Kung Fu Legend
- The Dragon’s Tale: and Other Animal Fables of the Chinese Zodiac
Song, Yuan, Ming, Qing Dynasties (Note: The links below are affiliate links)
- Early Times: China’s Later Dynasties by Suzanne Strauss Art (comprehensive history of China through the Song, Yuan, Ming, Qing Dynasties. Great spine for grades 4-8)
- Legend of Mu Lan: A Heroine of Ancient China (Song Dynasty)
- Marco Polo Books (Yuan Dynasty)
- Marco Polo (by Demi)
- Marco Polo: A Journey Through China (Expedition) (Fiona MacDonald)
- The Adventures of Marco Polo (Russell Freedman)
You can print out these lists by clicking on the link below:
Disclosure: Please note that some of the links above are affiliate links, and at no additional cost to you, I will earn a commission if you decide to make a purchase.
For more links about our China Unit see below. See you again soon here or over at our Homeschool Den Facebook Page!
Have a great day!
~Liesl
You might also be interested in these posts from our China Unit:
- Buddhism Learning Pack
- Genghis Khan and Kublai Khan — Free Notebook Pages, Books and Resources
- Marco Polo — Free Notebook Pages
- China Lapbook — A project we did when the kids were younger
- Country Box Exchange, China — Over the years, we’ve done a number of country box exchanges. This one with a family in China was wonderful!!
- China Unit: Books, Books A Huge List of Children’s Books and Novels
Other History Notebook Pages and Learning Packs I’ve made:
These are such great resources! Thank you. 🙂 I love your Chinese Brush Painting lesson, and I found several books from your list that I want to find.
Glad they are helpful! We sure had fun with the Chinese Brush Painting! ~Liesl