Reading Roundup - China

We are using the Five in a Row book list  and some recommended children's authors to add some spice to our children's literature readings. WOW! Have we had a wonderful time so far on this adventure! Here is our children's literature book list, a collection of authors and titles we are making our way through (though I liberally add in my own books/findings as you see!).

These books have a "China" theme to them.  The kids liked them all immensely. We did a fairly large unit on China back a couple years ago. We pulled out our China lapbook.  DD did a couple of the lapbook activities about China (you can find lots at homeschoolshare.com--The Story of Ping)  and we made Mooncakes--here is a similar recipe.

Oh my goodness, we all LOVED these two books by Demi.  We read them over and over at the table.  The Empty Pot has a lovely message to it and The Boy Who Painted Dragons has gorgeous illustrations.  Highly recommend these two books! *10

This has a  been a favorite of our for years!  Another highly recommended book. *10

This is a chapter book I also read to DD (80pages).  It is about a boy who lives with his grandfather in Chinatown.The grandfather gives him a paintbrush that is magic and brings things to life.  DD and I enjoyed it.  *7.5

 We all enjoyed this version of the Magic Paintbrush. The illustrations once are beautiful (sorry I sound like a broken record in this post!). I loved the message in this tale. We would all recommend this book. *9

This is a folk tale about five brothers who have various abilities. A very cute story.  ED especially loved this book. For some reason this book is harder for me to rate maybe 8* or 9*

I wondered if this would be too "heavy" for DD.  But I liked her other books so we gave it a try anyway. The kids liked the first part, but it's definitely geared towards an older audience -- say 5th grade, middle school or higher. The pictures (as always) are gorgeous, but I wouldn't recommend this for early elementary.