International Focus Reading List

Cameron Heights Library

Novels - Intermediate Level

Africa	Asia	The Baltics	Caribbean Islands	Germany
India	Jewish Experience	Latin America	Middle East	North American Native Experience

Novels - Senior Level

Africa	China	Japan / Japanese Experience	Korea	Caribbean Islands	Europe
India	Jewish Experience	Latin America	Middle East	North American Native Experience

Short Stories

Africa	Asia	Europe	India
Latin America	Middle East	Multinational	North American Native Experience

Poetry

Africa	Asia	Europe
Multinational	North American Native Experience

Mythology / Folktales

World Resources		Classical Mythology
Africa	Asia	North American Native Experience

Novels - Intermediate Level

Africa
1. Eskapa, Shirley Blood Fugue - a novel of a bored Jewish girl living in South Africa who finds out firsthand about racism when she falls in love with an East Indian man. F/ESK
2. Gordon, Sheila Waiting for the Rain - a novel of childhood friends - one black, one white; one a hired boy, one the future landowner, who share a friendship that is tested as they grow older and tension mounts in South Africa. F/GOR
3. Silver, Norman No Tigers in Africa - a novel about a young man who emigrates from South Africa to England with his parents and who must face there the prejudices he has learned from living under the regime of apartheid. F/SIL
4. Williams, Michael Crocodile Burning - a novel about a teenager, growing up in South Africa during political upheaval, who has a chance to escape to America when the play he is in travels to Broadway, New York. F/WIL

Asia
1. Baillie, Allan China Coin - a novel of a young girl who follows her father's obsession with an ancient coin into China, where she tries to find her family and stumbles across the bloody events of Tiananmen Square. F/BAI
2. Ballard, J.G. Empire of the Sun - a novel of a young British schoolboy in Shanghai who is separated from his parents during the Japanese invasion and must struggle on his own to survive. F/BAL
3. Bell, William Forbidden City - a novel of a 17-year-old Canadian boy who is taken by his journalist father to Beijing, China, during the Tiananmen Square massacre. F/BEL - 2 copies
4. Crew, Linda Children of the River - a novel of a young girl who flees Cambodia to America to escape the Khmer Rouge army, but must find a way to remain faithful to her own people and their customs as she learns to become an American. F/CRE
5. Garland, Sherry Shadow of the Dragon - a novel of a young boy, Danny Vo, who tries to bring peace between a Vietnamese gang and his girlfriend's brother, a skinhead. He is caught between two worlds - America and Vietnam. F/GAR
6. Houston, Jeanne Wakatsuki Farewell to Manzanar - a true story, told in diary form by a young Japanese-American girl whose family is placed in an internment camp during World War II. 940.54/HOU
7. Kawabata, Yasunari Thousand Cranes is a novel of Kikuji, a young Japanese bachelor who is trapped in the ugly shadow of his father's past by the women his father loved. 895.63/KAW
8. Paterson, Katherine Of Nightingales That Weep - a novel about the daughter of a dead samurai warrior who leaves her miserable home to accept a position in the imperial Japanese court where she falls in love and ultimately must choose between her love and her samurai honour. F/PAT
9. Paterson, Katherine The Sign of the Chrysanthemum - a novel about a young man who, after his mother dies, travels to the capital of twelfth century Japan where he works as the servant of a swordsmith and then sets out to find his missing samurai father. F/PAT
10. Strachan, Ian Journey of 1000 Miles - a novel of a Vietnamese family's incredible journey to freedom against enormous odds on a rickety fishing boat beset by patrols, pirates, and treacherous seas. F/STR (2 copies)
11. Wartski, Maureen Crane A Boat to Nowhere - a novel of a Vietnamese family and their courageous flight to freedom on a fishing boat. F/WAR
12. Wartski, Maureen Crane A Long Way From Home - a novel of a teenage Vietnamese refugee who comes to America and encounters numerous obstacles in his struggle to adjust to his new life. F/WAR

The Baltics
1. Filipovic, Zlata Zlata's Diary - Through her diary, Zlata Filipovic recounts the mounting horror as her country, formerly Yugoslavia, dissolves into ethnic conflict. - Non-Fiction / 949.1/FIL (2 copies)

Caribbean Islands
1. Taylor, TheodoreThe Cay a novel of a young white boy who is washed up on the shore of a Caribbean island and left blind but is cared for by a wise and loving man who turns out to be Black, the kind of person the boy had always been taught to look down upon. F/TAY

Germany
1. Baer, Edith A Frost In the Night - A Girlhood on the Eve of the Third Reich - a novel based on the memories of a young Jewish girl living in Germany who witnessed the rise of Hitler and the Third Reich. 940.53/BAE
2. Greene, Bette Summer of my German Soldier - a novel of a twelve year old Jewish girl living in Arkansas during WWII when her small hometown becomes the site of a camp housing German soldiers. She forms a relationship with one of the soldiers and learns a great deal about racism. F/GRE
3. Richter, Hans Peter I Was There - a novel set in the turmoil and terror of Nazi Germany that tells of the experiences of a young German boy who joins the Hitler Youth movement. 940.5482/RIC
4. Remarque, Erich Maria All Quiet On The Western Front - a novel about a young man who, with his classmates, enlists in the German army of World War I with youthful enthusiasm. Through the years of horror, he vows to fight against the hate that pits young men of the same generation, but different uniforms, against each other. F/REM

India
1. Gavin, Jamila The Wheel of Surya - a novel that tells of a family's flight from the war in the newly-independent India to the safety of England. F/GAV
2. Rana, Indi Roller Birds of Rampur - a novel about a young seventeen year old girl caught between two worlds who must choose between the West she knows and the India she loves. She learns about herself, her people and the incredible challenge of growing up proud of her heritage. F/RAN
3. Staples, Suzanne Fisher Haveli - a novel Shabanu submitted to the customs of her people in Pakistan and married the rich older man to whom she was pledged against her will. But now Shabanu becomes the victim of his family's blood feud and the malice of his other wives. Sequel to Shabanu: Daughter of the Wind. F/STA
4. Staples, Suzanne Fisher Shabanu: Daughter of the Wind - a novel about an eleven year old girl who is given in marriage by her father to an older man to bring prestige to her Pakistani family. She must decide whether to accept the decision or risk the consequences of going against her family and culture. F/STA

Jewish Experience
1. Appleman-Jurman, Alicia Alicia, My Story - the memoir of a young Jewish girl who helped to free thousands of Jews from the Nazis and eventually, after the war, led Polish Jews on an underground route to freedom in Palestine. 940.53/APP
2. Boas, Jacob We Are Witnesses - Five Diaries of Teenagers Who Died in the Holocaust - the memoirs of five Jewish teens who died during the holocaust. 940.53/BOA
3. Epstein, Helen Children of the Holocaust - a collection of memoirs written by the children of the holocaust that tells of the atrocities, hardships, heroism, and triumphs of the Jewish people in WWII. 940.53/EPS
4. Frank, Anne The Diary of a Young Girl - a memoir written by a thirteen year old Jewish girl and discovered in the attic in which she had spent the last years of her life hiding from the Nazis. It documents the last years of the life of this brave young woman. 940.5481/FRA
5. Holm, Anne I am David - the novel of a young man who escapes from a concentration camp and tramps across Europe, knowing that at any moment the Nazis might catch up with him. F/HOL
6. Kerr, Judith When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit -a novel of a young girl whose father suddenly disappeared, forcing her family to flee from Germany in secret. F/KER
7. Kohner, Hanna and Walter Hanna and Walter - a memoir that tells of the struggle of two lovers who dream of being together but are separated by an ocean and the circumstances of WWII as Walter fights to bring Hanna to America from Holland while she struggles with the ongoing threat of the concentration camps. 940.53/KOH
8. Kuchler-Silberman, Lena My Hundred Children - the true and courageous account of the woman who led Jewish children from Poland to Israel. 940.54/KUC
9. Kuper, Jack Child of the Holocaust - a memoir of a young nine year old Jewish boy who comes home one day to find his family gone, forcing him to hide alone in the streets as the Nazi terror spreads. 940.53/KUP
10. Laird, Christa Beyond the Wall - a novel of a young boy who runs away from a Nazi concentration camp and is forced to play a deadly game in order to survive. F/LAI
11. Laird, Christa Shadow of the Wall - a novel of a teen, living in a concentration camp in 1942, who is forced to risk her own life to save her family. F/LAI
12. Levitin, Sonia The Return - a novel that tells of Ethiopian Jews, suffering discrimination, who flee their country and attempt a dangerous journey to freedom in Israel. F/LEV
13. Matas, Carol After the War - a novel about fifteen-year-old Ruth who risks her life to lead a group of children on a daring journey over half a continent, after World War II. F/MAT
14. Matas, Carol Daniel's Story - a novel that tells of Daniel and his family who must find the courage to survive the horror of the Halocaust "for all those who couldn't." This book was published in conjunction with the exhibit, "Daniel's Story: Remembering the Children" at the United States Halocaust Museum in Washington, D. C. F/MAT (2 copies)
15. Matas, Carol Greater Than Angels - a novel of Anna and her family and friends who are rounded up by the Nazis and deported to a refugee camp in the south of France. In constant fear that they will eventually be sent to a death camp, the children are sent to a tiny village where the citizens have agreed to look after them. F/MAT
16. Matas, Carol Jesper - a novel of Jesper who was just a boy when the Nazis destroyed his childhood and his family. He is now a member of the Danish resistance and has become a dangerous fighter for freedom. F/MAT (2 copies)
17. Matas, Carol Lisa a novel that tells the story of Lisa and her family who join the Danish resistance against the Nazis. Lisa desperately wants to prevent them from sending all of Denmark's Jews to concentration camps. F/MAT
18. Matas, Carol The Garden - a novel of a woman who survived the concentration camps to live in a kibbutz in Palestine where she tries to find tranquility in her gardening but is forced into a violent confrontation with the hatred between Arabs and the Jews. F/MAT
19. Moskin, Marietta D. I Am Rosemarie - a novel that tells of the experiences of a young Jewish girl growing up in a Nazi concentration camp. F/MOS
20. Potok, Chaim Davita's Harp - a novel set in the 30's and 40's in New York City that deals with Davita's reawakening to his Jewish faith to help him through the aftermath of the War and the Depression. 813/POT
21. Potok, Chaim The Gift Of Asher Gev - a second novel dealing with Asher Lev, a young Jewish man, that takes place twenty years later when Asher is a world-renowned artist living with his young family in Paris until his uncle's death when he is called back to Brooklyn and must confront his past and his future. 813/POT
22. Orlev, Uri The Island on Bird Street - a memoir of a Jewish child in a Polish ghetto hiding from the Nazis and waiting for his father's return. 940.5481/ORL
23. Reiss, Johanna The Journey Back - a novel set in Holland that is the sequel to "The Upstairs Room" tells of the return of Annie to her family with her mother dead and her sisters all seeking in different ways to heal their wounds from the Nazi terror. 940.53/REI
24. Reiss, Johanna Upstairs Room - a true account of the life of a Jewish family through the eyes of their daughter, who seek refuge from the Germans in a Gentile family. 940.5481/REI
25. Richter, Hans Peter Friedrich - a novel about a young Jewish boy whose family's fortunes change drastically when the Nazis rise to power in Germany. F/RIC
26. Sender, Ruth Minsky Cage - the true account of sixteen-year-old Riva who is first separated from her mother, and though frightened, hungry and sick, must somehow find the strength to protect her younger brothers in the Lodz ghetto. Despite all her efforts however, she and her brothers are rounded up, deported to Auschwitz and separated. 940.5481/SEN, 940.53/SEN
27. Senesh, Hannah Hannah Senesh - Her Life and Diary - a diary by a woman who, though safe in Palestine during World War II, volunteers for a mission to help rescue Jews in her native Hungary. She was captured by the Nazis, stood up to imprisonment and torture and was executed at the age of twenty-three. 940.54/SEN
28. Siegal, Aranka Grace in the Wilderness - the true account of fifteen-year-old Piri and her sister who miraculously survive the horror of the death camps only to learn that they have no home. They search for any surviving family and try to trace their American relatives. 940.5481/SIE (2 copies)
29. Zeller, Frederic When Time Ran Out - Coming of Age in the Third Reich - a memoir of a young Jewish boy in Berlin whose friends have joined the Hitler Youth and who realizes that he must escape from Germany in order to survive. 940.53/ZEL

Latin America
1. Paulsen, Gary The Crossing a novel that describes the life of a Mexican orphan, surviving on the streets, who tries to escape across the Rio Grande in the hopes of a better life. F/PAU
2. Cisneros, SandraThe House on Mango Street a novel that is told in a series of vignettes of a young girl growing up in the Chicano section of Chicago.F/CIS

Middle East
1. Freeman, Suzanne The Cuckoo's Child - a novel of a girl living in Beirut who longs to live in America until she is sent to Tennessee and begins to appreciate more and more the culture she left behind. F/FRE
2. Laird, Elizabeth Kiss the Dust - a novel about thirteen year old Tara who, in order to escape Iraqi forces, flees with her family over the border into Iran. There they face an uncertain future because of her father's involvement with the Kurdish resistance movement. F/LAI
3. Matas, Carol The Garden -a novel of a woman who survived the concentration camps to live in a kibbutz in Palestine where she tries to find tranquility in her gardening but is forced into a violent confrontation with the hatred between Arabs and the Jews. F/MAT

North American Native Experience
1. Aubry, Claude Agouhanna - the novel of a young man determined to become a man without violence or warfare. 819.3/AUD
2. Robinson, Margaret A. A Woman of Her Tribe - a novel of fifteen year old Annette who makes a physical, cultural and psychological journey from her rural Nootka community on Vancouver Island to the city of Victoria to discover her cultural heritage. F/ROB

Novels - Senior Level

Africa
1. Achebe, Chinua Arrow Of God - a novel about the struggle of an African village chief against rivals within his own tribe, district officers, and Christian missionaries. 896.3/ACH
2. Achebe, Chinua No Longer At Ease - a novel of an African man who is educated in foreign lands that separate him from his roots and on his return make him part of a ruling elite that he finds corrupt and distasteful. It documents the turmoil of choosing between traditional ways and the demands of a changing world. 896.3/ACH
3. Achebe, Chinua Things Fall Apart - a novel of a Nigerian strong man whose life is dominated by fear and anger. It dramatizes traditional Ibo life in its first encounter with colonialism and Christianity at the turn of the 20th century. 896.3/ACH
4. Aluko, T. M. One Man, One Wife - a novel that tells of the difficulty of one African village in accepting the missionary concept of one man, one wife so the people turn away from Christianity and return to worshipping their old gods. 896.3/ALU
5. Amadi, Elechi The Great Ponds - a novel that tells of the ruinous feud between two villages in Eastern Nigeria in the days before the white man appeared. 896.3/AMA
6. Coetzee, J.M. Life and Times of Michael K - a novel set in South Africa that tells of the quest of a young man who sets out to take his ailing mother back to her rural home but is captured by brutal roving armies and must struggle for freedom. 896.3/COE
7. Dangor, Achmat Kafka's Curse - a novel of two South African brothers, one who is devoted to apartheid-era assimilation and the other to Islam and tradition, who are both faced with racism when they are forced to accept their past. 896.3/DAN
8. Haley, Alex Roots - a stirring chronicle that begins in an African village in 1750 and traces seven generations of the author's family to the funeral of his father, an Arkansas professor in the late 20th century. F/HAL
9. Mahfouz, Naguib Midaq Alley - a novel that explores the lives of the residents of the back alleys of Cairo. 892.7/MAH
10. Naipaul, V.S. A Bend In The River - a novel set in Central Africa about a man who travels into the heart of the continent to become a trader in a town on a bend in the river. 813/NAI
11. Nwankwo, Nkem Danda - a humorous novel about a young man who travels from African village to village in search of good times while his father pesters him to settle down and produce some grandchildren. 896.3/NWA
12. Paton, Alan Cry, the Beloved Country - a novel set in South Africa that tells of a Zulu parson's journey, retracing the steps of his wayward son until he finds him in prison for the murder of an Englishman, the son of the very owner of the plantation from which he has come. 896.3/PAT
13. Saro-Wiwa, Ken Lemona's Tale - a novel of a young woman who, on the last day of her life before her execution in a Nigerian prison for the murder of two people, talks to the daughter of the victims and learns more about herself and her crime. 896.3/SAR
14. Vassanji, M.G. No New Land - a novel of Asian immigrants from Africa who move to Toronto only to discover that the old world and its values pursue them, especially as the main character who is an orderly in a hospital is accused of sexually assaulting a girl. 819.3/VAS
15. Vassanji, M.G. The Book of Secrets - a novel that deals with the Asian community in East Africa through the eyes of a man who finds a 1913 diary and rediscovers his history and himself. 819.3/VAS

Asia
- China
  1. Chang, Eileen The Rice-Sprout Song - a novel about rural life in the early period of the People's Republic of China. 813/CHA
  2. Chai, May-Lee My Lucky Face - a novel that explores the changing face of China from the perspective of dissidents and their families. 813/CHA
  3. Chen, Ying Ingratitude - a novel of a daughter who fights against her Chinese mother's old ways and the guilt this causes her until she sees suicide as her only escape. 819.3/CHE
  4. Chong, Denise The Concubine's Children - a historical account of the experiences of a Chinese man and his concubine's first arrival in British Columbia in the early 20th Century. 819.3/CHO
  5. Choy, Wayson The Jade Peony - a novel set in Chinatown, Vancouver during WW II, that tells of a Chinese immigrant family's first years in Canada. 819.3/CHO
  6. Jen, Gish Typical American - a novel that traces the lives of a Chinese brother and sister as they immigrate to the United States and try to pursue the American dream. 813/JEN
  7. Mah, Adeline Yen Falling Leaves - a true story of an abused young girl in China who suffers at the hands of her step-mother and her disapproving father. 895.13/MAH
  8. Nieh, Hualing Mulberry and Peach - a novel told through the eyes of a young refugee woman that offers a rare perspective of immigrant experience and the upheavals of contemporary China. 895.13/NIE
  9. Tan, Amy The Joy Luck Club - a novel that traces the lives of four Chinese women who have fled China to live in California. Their stories are linked by a series of vignettes cataloguing their lives in China and their current relationships with their Americanized daughters. F/TAN
  10. Tan, Amy The Kitchen God's Wife - a novel in which a mother tells her daughter of her life in China and her subsequent life in America, revealing many insights, as well as, long held family secrets. F/TAN
  11. Yan, Mo Red Sorghum - a novel that spans three generations of a Chinese family as China battles both Japanese invaders and each other in the turbulent 1930's. 895.13/YAN
  12. Ying, Hong Daughter of the River - an autobiography of a young girl born in China during the Great Famine of the early 60's and raised in the slums of Chongqing. 895.13/YIN
- Japan / Japanese Experience
  1. Guterson, David Snow Falling On Cedars - a novel set in Puget Sound, Alaska that tells the story of a local fisherman who is found drowned and the subsequent trial of the Japanese American who is charged with his murder. The story also explores the experience of the Japanese Americans who were exiled during World War II. 813/GUT
  2. Ibuse, Masuji Black Rain - a novel based on real diaries and interviews with survivors of the bombing of Hiroshima, it reconstructs the impact on real people and their families of the first nuclear attack. 895.63/IBU
  3. Kawabata, Yasunari Thousand Cranes - a true account of Kikuji, a young Japanese bachelor who is trapped in the ugly shadow of his father's past by the women his father loved. - Non-Fiction / 895.63/KAW
  4. Kawabata, Yasunari Snow Country - a novel set amid the desolate beauty of Western Japan, the snowiest region on Earth, that tells of the love between a wealthy man and a geisha. 895.63/KAW
  5. Kogawa, Joy Itsuka - a poetic novel that deals with the aftermath of Canada's betrayal of Japanese Canadians during World War II. Naomi's journey is traced from the Prairies to Toronto and delves deep into the heart and soul of Canada. 819.3/KOG
  6. Oliva, Peter The City of Yes - a novel that journeys through old and present-day Japan, as the Canadian narrator moves there to teach English. 819.3/OLI
  7. Sakamoto, Kerri The Electrical Field - a novel that captures the Japanese experience in the New World when the beautiful Chisako and her lover are found murdered in a park in a small Ontario community and subsequent investigation reaches back to the internment of Japanese-Canadians during WWII. 819.3/SAK
  8. Shimazaki, Aki Tsubaki - a novel of betrayal and vengeance set against the nuclear blast that destroyed Nagasaki, Japan on August 9, 1945. 819.3/SHI
  9. Tsukiyama, Gail The Samauri's Garden -a novel about a young Chinese man with tuberculosis who is sent to Japan to recover but meets a young Japanese girl and three older people who change his life forever.813/TSU
  10. Yoshimoto, Banana Kitchen - a novel by one of Japan's top young bestselling writers that simply tells a charming tale of loss, loneliness, and what it's like to be young. 895.63/YOS
- Korea
  1. Potok, Chaim I Am The Clay - a novel that deals with an old peasant farmer and his wife who flee their farm in Korea when the Chinese and the North Koreans sweep south. In their flight they find a wounded and unconscious boy in a ditch and they decide to take him and care for him. The boy survives and changes their lives forever. 813/POT

Caribbean Islands
1. Bissoondath, Neil A Casual Brutality - a dark novel about the failure of a decent man to come to terms with the moral disintegration of the Caribbean island of his birth. 819.3/BIS
2. Conde, Maryse Land of Many Colours and Nanna-ya - this book contains two novellas, the first takes place in a fictional city in the French Caribbean as the narrator, a doctor who is confronted with the deaths of a mother and her liberation activist son, reconstructs the lives of the victims. The second novella is set in Jamaica and explores the relationship between a man, his wife, and his lover, touching on issues of race and gender with insight and subtlety. 843/CON
3. Danticat, Edwidge Breath, Eyes, Memory - a novel set in both New York City and Haiti, it chronicles the journey of a young woman into her family's dark secrets. 813/DAN
4. Danticat, Edwidge The Farming of Bones - a novel that describes the lives of Haitian laborers living in the Dominican Republic where rumours surface of their persecution until nationalism madness erupts and terror engulfs them. 813/DAN
5. Kincaid, Jamaica Annie John - a novel of a young girl coming of age in Antigua. 813/KIN
6. Kincaid, Jamaica My Brother - an autobiography that chronicles the death by A.I.D.S. of her brother in 1996 and her experiences growing up on the island of Antigua. 813/KIN
7. Kincaid, Jamaica The Autobiography of My Mother - a novel of the life of Xuela, a young woman, who grows up on the island of Dominica in the Caribbean that takes us from her childhood home where she could hear the music of the sea to her marriage home where she lives with her English doctor husband. 813/KIN
8. Marquez, Gabriel Garcia The Autumn of the Patriarch - a novel that traces the life of a monstrous Caribbean dictator and his sometimes miserable existence written by one of the masters. 863/MAR
9. Marquez, Gabriel Garcia Chronicle of a Death Foretold - a novel that tells of the circumstances in a small Caribbean town that lead up to the commission of a brutal murder by two young men who actually had not wanted to commit it. 863/MAR
10. Mootoo, Shanti Cereus Blooms At Night - a multi-generational novel that reveals the shifting faces of Mala who is an adventurer and protector, recluse and madwoman whose story is told by the vivacious caretaker in the Paradise Alms House in the Caribbean where she lives. 819.3/MOO
11. Naipaul, V.S. A House for Mr. Biswas - a novel of the struggle of a man who is not naturally rebellious but who takes a solitary stand against injustice. The novel paints a comprehensive picture of colonial Trinidad. 823/NAI
12. Naipaul, V.S. Miguel Street - a colourful and expressive novel that explores the lives of the people of Trinidad living in various Port of Spain neighbourhoods. 823/NAI
13. Naipaul, V. S. The Middle Passage - a nonfictional look at five countries, including Trinidad, British Guiana, Surinam, Martinique, and Jamaica from the early days of slavery and colonialism to the present. 823/NAI
14. Naipaul, V. S. The Mimic Men - a novel of a disgraced colonial minister who is exiled from the Caribbean island of his birth and moves into a hotel in a run-down London suburb to write his autobiography. 823/NAI
15. Naipaul, V.S. The Suffrage of Elvira - a novel of the election in the district of Elvira in Trinidad where Surujpat Harbans, the protagonist, must contend with vote buying, apathy, and the Fates. 823/NAI

Europe
1. Dostoyevsky, Fyodor The Brothers Karamazov - a novel set in turbulent Russian society of 1870's that traces the lives of a disreputable landowner and his three sons. 891.73/DOS
2. Dostoyevsky, Fyodor Crime and Punishment - a novel set in late 19th century Russia that explores the story of a murder and its consequences by exposing the sometimes honourable and sometimes unscrupulous lives of many people in different social classes. 891.73/DOS
3. Ignatieff, Michael Asya - a novel set in early 20th century Russia that chronicles the love of a deposed princess and her dashing officer lover during and after the Russian Civil War. 819.3/IGN
4. Konwicki, Tadeusz The Polish Complex - a novel that takes place on Christmas Eve as a line of people stand in front of a jewelry store in Warsaw. 891.8/KON
5. Makine, Andrei Once Upon The River Love - a novel set in the remote forests of Eastern Siberia that traces the story of three young boys on the verge of manhood to the men they become twenty years later. 843/MAK
6. Pasternak, Boris Doctor Zhivago - a novel set at the time of the Russian revolution that tells of the monumental love affair between two people torn apart by the social and material upheaval around them. 891.73/PAS
7. Tolstoy, Leo Anna Karenin - a novel set in Russia at the turn of the 20th century that chronicles the life and love of a sophisticated woman who abandons her empty life and turns to Count Vronsky to fulfill her passionate nature. 891.73/TOL
8. Tryzna, Tomek Girl Nobody - a novel of a young teenager who moves with her family from the flatlands of grey, rural Poland to the city where she meets two glamorous girls who play a cruel game against her. 891.8/TRY
9. Turgenev, Ivan Fathers and Sons - a classic Russian novel that deals with the difficulties with communication between fathers and sons as one tries to maintain old traditions and the other looks forward to a brand new order. 891.73/TOL

India
1. Desai, Anita In Custody - a novel about a professor who goes to Delhi to interview the greatest living Urdu poet, but is astonished with what he finds. 891.4/DES
2. Divakaruni, Chitra Banerjee The Mistress of Spices - a novel about a young woman who is trained in the ancient art of spices and ordained as a mistress charged with special powers. 813/DIV
3. Divakaruni, Chitra Banerjee Sister of My Heart - a novel of two closely linked cousins who are separated by arranged marriages and their subsequent emigration to America 813/DIV
4. Misra, Jaishree Ancient Promises - a novel that traces the journey of a young woman through her arranged marriage, her divorce, motherhood, and her emigration to England. 891.4/MIS
5. Mistry, Rohinton Such A Long Journey - a novel set in Bombay that chronicles a year in the life of a naive bank clerk and his fumbling initiation into politics. 819.3/ROH
6. Mukherjee, Bharati Wife - the novel of a young Indian woman who is married against her will to an ambitious engineer and whisked to New York City where she has a great deal of difficulty dealing with the drastic changes in her life. 813/MUK
7. Nigam, Sanjay The Snake Charmer - a novel about a luckless man who tries to make a living in India with his "been" pipe and his beloved cobra that eventually bites him and changes his life forever. 813/NIG
8. Narayan, R. K. Talkative Man - a novel set in the invented city of Malgudi in South India where a stranger arrives on a Delhi train and takes up residence in the station's waiting room, refusing to move. 891.4/NAR
9. Narayan, R. K. The Man-Eater of Malgudi - a comic novel that takes place in an invented city in South India where the owner of a small printing press allows a taxidermist to move into his attic and eventually comes to battle with him when he decides to stuff the temple elephant. 891.4/NAR
10. Narayan, R.K. The Painter of Signs - a novel about an Indian man who gives up sign painting after meeting a high-minded and thrillingly independent woman who seeks to be modern in her outlook and empowering in her influence. 891.4/NAR
11. Ondaatje, Michael Running In The Family - a memoir of Ondaatje's return to Sri Lanka after settling in Canada for many years. He reconstructs his family history against the exotic background of a colonial empire in decline. 819.3/OND
12. Rushdie, Salman The Ground Beneath Her Feet - a novel that retells the story of Orpheus through the characters of a pop star and a musician who captivate and change the world through their music and romance. It begins in Bombay in the 50's, moves to London in the 60's, and finally to New York for the last quarter century. 823/RUS
13. Rushdie, Salman The Moor's Last Sigh - a novel set in Bombay that traces the fortune of a volatile family divided by greed and secrets. 823/RUS
14. Selvadurai, Shyam Cinnamon Gardens - a novel set in Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) that chronicles the life of a wealthy girl who is faced with the political upheaval of the 20's as well as the emotional upheaval of a family with dark secrets. 819.3/SEL
15. Selvadurai, Shyam Funny Boy - a novel that tells the story of a Tamil boy growing up in Sri Lanka at the turn of the century during political upheaval. 819.3/SEL
16. Sidhwa, Bapsi Cracking India - a novel that chronicles the life of a Pakistani family in the 1940's just around the time of the bloody partitioning of India. 891.4/SID

Jewish Experience
1. Keneally, Thomas Schindler's List - a novel based on the true story of how German war profiteer and prison camp director Oskar Schindler came to save more Jews from the gas chambers than any other single person during WWII. F/KEN
2. Kosinski, Jerzy The Painted Bird - a novel about a young Jewish boy who wanders alone from one Slav village to the next, hounded and tortured, in order to escape from the Nazi Holocaust. F/KOS
3. Levi, Primo If Not Now, When? - a novel of the final days of WWII as a courageous band of Jewish partisans makes its way through Russia to Italy on a quest for the Holy Land. The band wages its own personal revenge on the Nazis by blowing up trains, rescuing victims in the concentration camps, and scoring victories in the face of mass devastation. F/LEV
4. Potok, Chaim Davita's Harp - a novel set in the 30's and 40's in New York City deals with Davita's reawakening to his Jewish faith to help him through the aftermath of the War and the Depression. 813/POT
5. Potok, Chaim The Gift Of Asher Gev - a second novel dealing with Asher Lev, a young Jewish man, that takes place twenty years later when Asher is a world-renowned artist living with his young family in Paris until his uncle's death when he is called back to Brooklyn and must confront his past and his future. 813/POT
6. Potok, Chaim My Name Is Asher Lev - the first novel of Asher Lev that tells of his extraordinary talent which leads him away from his family and his Jewish faith into painful maturity and a perilous success. 813/POT
7. Singer, Isaac Bashevis The Penitent - a novel that tells the story of Joseph Shapiro's escape from Nazi terror to America where he becomes a rich businessman but still searches for salvation until he returns to the Jewish faith to find answers. 813/SIN
8. Yehoshua, A. B. Mr. Mani - a novel that traces six generations of the Mani family as it moves from Greece and Poland, to Palestine and Crete, and ultimately to modern Isreal. 892.4/YEH
9. Wiesel, Elie Night - a terrifying account of the Nazi death camp horror that turns a young Jewish boy into an agonized witness to the death of his family and his innocence. 940.54/WIE

Latin America
1. Allende, Isabel Of Love and Shadows - a novel set in a Latin American country in the grip of a military dictatorship where a journalist and a photographer discover a hideous crime. 863/ALL
2. Alvarez, Julie How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents - a novel that chronicles the lives of four sisters who emigrate from the Dominican Republic to New York City in the 60's. 813/ALV
3. Alvarez, Julia In the Time of the Butterflies - a novel set in the Dominican Republic which traces the lives of three women who fight for freedom under the harsh rule of a dictator. 813/ALV
4. Benitez, Sandra Bitter Grounds - a novel set in El Salvador that traces three generations of a wealthy coffee merchant's family seen through the eyes of the women. 813/BEN
5. Dorfman, Ariel Widows - a novel that explores the lives of the women who are left behind in Chile after their men are "disappeared" and their relentless search to find out who are alive and who are dead. 863/DOR
6. Jimenez, Juan Ramon Platero and I - a classic novel set in a remote Andalusian village that tells lyrically and touchingly of the life of a man and his beloved donkey. 861/JIM
7. Llosa, Mario Vargas Death in the Andes - a novel of an army corporal and his deputy who are assigned to dangerous guard duty in an isolated mining community in the mountains of Peru and who become entangled in the investigation of a series of mysterious. disappearances. 863/LLO
8. Rushdie, Salman The Jaguar Smile - a non-fiction account of life in Nicaragua, where Rushdie lived for a year observing the people, the politics, the land, and the poetry of a country in the midst of a revolution. 823/RUS
9. Sepulveda, Luis The Old Man Who Read Love Stories - a novel of an aging widower who lives by a river in the Ecuadoran jungle and is forced to use his hunting skills to kill a mother ocelot that is on a bloody rampage after tourism destroys her habitat. 863/SEP
10. Spark, Debra Coconuts For The Saint - a novel about a young woman who faints on the doorstep of a bakery in Puerto Rico and falls headlong into the lives of a widower and his identical triplet daughters.

Middle East
1. Kemal, Yashar Salman the Solitary - a novel set in a small village about an adopted orphan boy who experiences jealousy when his adoptive parents have a son of their own. 894.35/KEM
2. al-Shaykh, Hanan Women of Sand And Myrrh - a novel about four women living in a desert state who struggle to cope in a society where they are treated to every luxury but freedom. 892.7/ALS
3. >Schami, Rafik A Hand Full of Stars - a novel of a young teenager living in Modern Damascus in Syria whose observations about his life and the government inspire him to start an underground newspaper which lands him in major trouble. 819.3/SCH

North American Native Experience
1. Hubert, Cam Dreamspeaker - a novel about a troubled runaway who is adopted by two British Columbian Natives who nurse him back to physical and spiritual health. 819.3/HUB
2. McLean,Don Time of the Seventh Fire - a novel that follows the career of a Cree mystic and prophet who preaches peace to his people and is banished. Canadian history, as well as, Native culture flows through the book. 819.3/MCL
3. Slipperjack, Ruby Honour The Sun - a novel told through the eyes of a young Native girl in Northern Ontario who returns home from her distant school to see her community in a whole new light. 819.3/SLI
4. Theriault, Yves Agaguk, Shadow of the Wolf - a novel set in the high Arctic in the 30's, it tells the story of a young Inuit hunter and his pregnant wife as they struggle to overcome the treacheries of their tribe and the perils of nature. 819.3/AGA
5. Theriault, Yves Agoak, The Legacy of Agaguk - a novel about an Inuit man who has worked hard to fit into the white man's world only to be cast into the perils of nature and the perils of his own animal nature. 819.3/AGA

Short Stories

Africa
1. Achebe, Chinua Girls At War and Other Stories - a collection of short stories that explores the world of war and love in Nigeria. SC/ACH
2. Black, Ayanna, editor Fiery Spirits and Voices - a collection of Canadian Writers of African Descent that includes short fiction and poetry and deals with issues of feminism, racism, and displacement. SC/FIE
3. Bolden, Tonya Rites of Passage - a collection of short stories about growing up by Black writers from around the world. SC/RIT
4. Chinweizu Voices From Twentieth Century Africa - an anthology of African literature that includes short stories, novel exerpts, fables, parables, songs, satires, laments and epigrams. 808.8/CHI
5. Clarke, George Elliot ed. Eyeing the North Star - a superb anthology of writing by 21 African Canadians, which provides a kaleidoscope of the Black experience in Canada. 819.8/EYE
6. Gordimer, Nadine Six Feet of the Country - a collection of short stories from an award-winning author, that describes what has been happening in South Africa in recent history. SC/GOR
7. Major, Clarence ed. Calling the Wind - a collection of short stories that encompasses African-American experience from its earliest days to the present. SC/CAL

Asia
1. Carlson, Lori M. ed. American Eyes - Asian-American short stories SC/AME
2. Goossen, Theodore W. The Oxford Book Of Japanese Short Stories
3. Hunter, Dierdre and Neale We, The Chinese - Voices From China - an anthology of writing from China that includes exerpts from magazines, newspapers, speeches, poetry, radio broadcasts, and official government statements. 808.8/HUN
4. Jin, Ha Under the Flag - a collection of short stories by an award winning Chinese writer that paints haunting portraits of life in China during the Cultural Revolution in the 60's and 70's. SC/JIN
5. Thai, Ho Anh Behind the Red Mist - a collection of short stories that range from the whimsical to the serious, from the past to the present, from Vietnam to India, to England. SC/THA
6. Yamamoto, Michiko Betty-San - a collection of short stories that deals with the experiences of various Japanese immigrants to a strange new land called Australia SC/YAM
7. Yang, Gladys ed. Seven Contemporary Chinese Women Writers - a collection of short stories by contemporary Chinese women that showcases the works of China's most popular writers. SC/YAN

Europe
1. Singer, Isaac Bashevis The Spinoza Of Market Street - a collection of short stories that deals with sundry aspects of the Jewish experience in Europe and America. SC/SIN
  Raphael, Linda Schermer and Marc Lee Raphael, editors When Night Fell - an anthology of Holocaust short stories that chronicle the horror of the Nazi Final Solution and the impact it had on the victims and their descendants. SC/WHE
2. Tasic, Vladimir Herbarium of Souls - a collection of short stories by a Yugoslav-Canadian that explores some fairly heavy philosophical and mystical concepts. SC/TAS

India
1. Baldwin, Shauna Singh English Lessons and Other Stories - a collection of short stories of Indian women from 1919 to today SC/BAL
2. Divakaruni, Chitra Banerjee Arranged Marriage - a collection of short stories by the author that explores the pros and cons of arranged marriages. SC/DIV
3. Farrukhi, Asif, editor Fires in an Autumn Garden - a collection of short stories translated from Urdu and the Regional Languages of Pakistan that examines the last fifty years of Pakistan's independence. SC/FIR
4. Mistry, Rohinton Tales From Firozsha Baag - a collection of short stories that centers around the life of Firozsha Baag who lives in an apartment building in Bombay. 819.3/ROH
5. Mukherjee, Bharati Darkness - a collection of short stories that tells of the experiences of contemporary Indian immigrants painfully recreating their lives and selves in North America. SC/MUK
6. Narayan, R.K. Malgudi Days - a collection of short stories that delves into the lives of an astrologer, a snake-charmer, a postman, a vendor of chappatis, to mention only a few, revealing the essence of India and of all human experience. SC/NAR

Latin America
1. Borges, Jorge Luis Labyrinths - a collection of short stories by the great Argentinian writer that are intelligent, inventive, and tightly written. SC/BOR
2. Colchie, Thomas ed. A Hammock Beneath the Mangoes - Stories From Latin America SC/COL
3. Echevarria, Roberto Gonzalez The Oxford Book of Latin American Short Stories SC/ECH

Middle East
1. Mandelman, Avner Talking to the Enemy - a collection of short stories that explore the Jewish perspective through the eyes of an Israeli soldier coming to grips with brutality and hatred. SC/MAN

Multinational
1. Gallo, Donald R. Join In Multi-ethnic Short Stories - a collection of short stories that reflects young adult views on friendship and prejudice and many other topics. The countries represented are Puerto Rico, Vietnam, Cambodia, Japan, Cuba, Lebanon, China, Africa, Laos, and many others. SC/JOI
2. Holliday, Laurel Why Do They Hate Me? - Young Lives Caught in War and Conflict - a collection of memoirs of young people caught in the tensions of war from Northern Ireland to Nazi Germany to Isreal/Palestine. SC/HOL

North American Native Experience
1. Gooderham, Kent ed. I Am An Indian - an anthology of Native writing that provides a brief glimpse into the ever changing living patterns of Natives in Canada. SC/IAM
2. Maracle, Lee Sojourner's Tale and Other Stories - a collection of short stories told according to the principles of Native oratory that deal with unresolved human dilemmas. SC/MAR

Poetry

Africa
1. Samuel, Allen ed. Poems From Africa 896/POE

Asia
- China
  1. Quan, Andy and Wong-Chu, Jim Swallowing Clouds - An Anthology of Chinese-Canadian Poetry 819.3/SWA
- Japan
  1. Atwood, Ann My Own Rhythm - An Approach to Haiku 895.61/ATW
  2. Beilenson, Peter Japanese Haiku 895.61/JAP
  3. Henderson, Harold G. ed. An Introduction to Haiku 895.61/HEN
  4. Rexroth, Kenneth ed. One Hundred More Poems From the Japanese 895.61/ONE
  5. Ueda, Makoto Modern Japanese Haiku - An Anthology 895.61/UED

Europe
1. Fitzgerald, Edward trans. Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam - a lovely translation of the poetic opus by the eleventh century Persian poet 981.5/FIT
2. Ford, R.A.D., ed. Russian Poetry 891.7/RUS
3. Orfalea, Gregory and Elmusa, Sharif Grape Leaves - A Century of Arab-American Poetry 813/GRA

Multinational
1. compiled by the Editors of Hippocrene Books Longing for a Kiss - Love Poems From Many Lands 808.81/LON

North American Native Experience
1. Maki, Joel T., editor Let the Drums Be Your Heart - a collection of Native writing including poetry, short stories and essays. 819.1/LET
2. Nungak, Zebedee and Eugene Arima Eskimo Stories 897/NUN

Mythology / Folktales

World Resources
1. Bailey, John Gods and Men - Myths and Legends From the World's Religions 291.1/GOD
2. Bulfinch, Thomas The Golden Age of Myth and Legend - an examination of mostly Classical mythology but includes Norse, Hindu, Buddhist and Druid. 292/BUL
3. Campbell, Joseph Primitive Mythology 291/CAM
4. Campbell, Joseph Occidental Mythology - The Masks of God - Volume III - a systematic and fascinating comparison of the themes that underlie the art, worship, and literature of the Western world 291.1/CAM
5. Campbell, Joseph The Hero With A Thousand Faces - explores the story of the hero's journey and transformation through virtually all the mythologies of the world 291.1/CAM
6. Campbell, Joseph Transformations of Myth Through Time - an illustrated collection of thirteen lectures covering mythological development around the world, from origins of myths to familiar European medieval legends 291.1/CAM
7. Cole, Joanna ed. Best-Loved Folktales of the World 398.2/BES
8. Colum, Padraic Myths of the World 291/COL
9. Frazer, Sir James George The Illustrated Golden Bough - A Study in Magic and Religion - a classic work that explores the central themes of magical and religious beliefs, practices, and symbols 291/FRA
10. Hamilton, Virginia In The Beginning - Creation Stories From Around The World 291.2/HAM
11. Horowitz, Anthony Myths and Legends - mostly Greek but does include some Norse, Chinese, English, and American Indian 396.2/HOR
12. Ions, Veronica The World's Mythology in Colour 291.1/ION
13. Larousse World Mythology 291/GRI
14. Mercatante, Anthony The Facts On File Encylopedia of World Mythology and Legends 398.2/MER
15. O'Hara, Gwydion Moon Love - Myths and Folklore From Around the World 292.2/OHA
16. Ragan, Kathleen Fearless Girls, Wise Women and Beloved Sisters - Heroines in Folktales From Around the World 398.2/RAG
17. Robinson, Herbert Spencer and Wilson, Knox Myths and Legends of All Nations 291.13/ROB
18. Shapiro, Max and Hendricks, Rhoda Mythologies of The World - A Concise Encyclopedia 291.13003/SHA
19. Wilkinson, Philip and Philip, Neil Illustrated Dictionary of Mythology - Heroes, Heroines, Gods and Goddesses From Around The World 291/WIL
20. Willis, Roy ed. World Mythology 291.1/WOR
21. Yolen, Jane ed. Favorite Folktales From Around The World 398.2/FAV
22. Yolen, Jane ed. Not One Damsel in Distress - World Folktales for Strong Girls 398.2/NOT

Classical Mythology
1. Cavendish, Richard and Ling, Trevor ed. Mythology - An Illustrated Encyclopedia 291.1/MYT
2. Cotterell, Arthur Myths and Legends 291.1/COT
3. Cuthbert, Anthony An Outline of Greek and Roman Mythology 291/CUT
4. Evslin, Bernard, Geryon - retells the story of how Hercules defeated the triple-bodied beast 292/EVS
5. Field, D. M. Greek and Roman Mythology 292/FIE
6. Fox, William Greek and Roman Mythology 292/FOX
7. Gallant, Roy The Constellations - How They Came To Be - a guide to identifying constellations and an explanation of the mythology that surrounds them 398/GAL
8. Grant, Michael and Hazel A. C. Gods and Mortals in Classical Mythology 292.03/GRA
9. Hamilton, Edith Mythology 291/HAM
10. Ingpen, Robert and Perham, Molly Heroes and Heroines 398.22/ING
11. Ingpen, Robert and Page, Michael Encyclopedia of Things That Never Were - Creatures, Places, and People 398.203/PAG
12. Kaster, Joseph and Redfield, Bessie Putnam's Concise Mythological Dictionary 291.1/KAS
13. Leeming, David Mythology 290/LEE
14. Lowrey, Janette In The Morning Of The World - The Story of The Greek Myths 292.08/LOW
15. Macpherson, Jay Four Ages Of Man - The Classical Myths 292/MACP
16. Man Myth and Magic - The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Mythology, Religion, and The Unknown R/133/MAN
17. New Larousse Encyclopedia of Mythology 291/NEW
18. Philip, Neil Myths and Legends 292.1/PHI
19. Reinhold, Meyer Past and Present - The Continuity of Classical Myths 292/REI
20. Rubens, Beaty and Taplin, Oliver An Odyssey Round Odysseus - The Man and His Story Traced Through Time and Place - the BBC examination of the actual route of Odysseus. 883/ODY
21. Sedgwick, Paulita Mythological Creatures - A Pictorial Dictionary 398.03/SED
22. Tripp, Edward Crowell's Handbook of Classical Mythology 292.03/TRI
23. Zimmerman, John Dictionary of Classical Mythology 292/ZIM

Africa
1. Courlander Harold A Treasury of African Folklore398.2/COU

Asia
1. Christie, Anthony Chinese Mythology 299.51/CHR
2. McAlpine Helen and William Japanese Tales and Legends 398.2/McA
3. Sanders, Tao Tao Liu and Pau, Johnny Dragons, Gods, and Spirits From Chinese Mythology 299.51/SAN

North American Native Experience
1. Bryant, Page The Aquarian Guide To Native American Mythology
2. Feldman, Susan The Storytelling Stone - Traditional Native American Myths and Tales
3. Fowke, Edith and Carole H. Carpenter Explorations In Canadian Folklore

J. Dixon,
April 2000
revised by R. Payette and J. Dixon,
June 2000
revised by R. Payette
October 2000

International Focus Reading List

Cameron Heights Library

Asia

China

Japan