To Grandmother’s House: A Visit to Old-Town Beijing by Douglas Keister is a photographed journey of two girls as they head to laolao’s house for a meal.  Written in both mandarin and English it depicts some aspects of daily life in Beijing.  Bear requested it daily.  It included a recipe for dumplings, but it seemed a little daunting to me.  It mixes in mandarin words within the story and I liked sharing those with Bear. 

I Lost My Tooth In Africa by Penda Diakite is about a little girl from Portland who travels to Mali to visit her relatives.  After losing her tooth there, the tooth fairy brings her a chicken, as is the way in Mali.  This book was also requested daily.  It also depicts a bit of life inside a small village and the illustrations are done in a folklorish manner.  This book is special because the author/illustrator team is a daughter/father one.

 With both books, we talked about the countries portrayed in the books and we found the countries on the map.  Bear looked through her Africa box.  I have yet to make her an Asia one.  I’m hoping to pick up my mementos from my high school trip to Japan when we visit my parents in a few days.