Eager to do something her big sister has not done first, Jasmine Toguchi, eight, decides to pound mochi with the men and boys when her family gets together for New Year's.

"When a young Japanese girl moves into her new house, she is happy to see a girl her age playing in the snow just outside her window. The only problem is the Japanese girl doesn't speak English and the American girl doesn't speak Japanese. But each girl's love of the snow teaches them that they don't need to speak the same language to have fun!"--

Every year when Mayumi and her family visit Japan, she and her grandfather tend a garden made only of gravel and stones, but when her grandfather grows too old to care for the garden, Mayumi gives him a gift they both can cherish.

Presents the life of the influential illustrator and author, including her childhood, her love of drawing, her family's internment during World War II, and her groundbreaking work in children's literature.

"After the bombing of Pearl Harbor, Tama is sent to live in a War Relocation Center in the desert...Trying not to think of the life she once had, she works in the camp's tiny library...And she isn't the only one. George waits each morning by the door, his arms piled with books checked out the day before. As their friendship grows, Tama wonders: Can anyone possibly read so much? Is she the reason George comes to the library every day?"--

Jasmine makes a wish for a pet flamingo on the special daruma doll her grandmother sent from Japan, then sets out to prove herself responsibile enough for a pet.

"Gigi can't wait for her Ojiji--Japanese grandpa--to move in. Gigi plans lots of things to do with him, like playing tag, reading books, and teaching Roscoe, the family dog, new tricks. But her plans don't work out quite the way she'd hoped. And her grandpa doesn't seem to like Roscoe. Will Gigi find a way to connect with her Ojiji?"--

Jasmine worries that she will be the only one with no talent to share in the school talent show until her mother brings out her taiko drum.

"A biography of a powerhouse female Japanese chef and her rise to fame"--

A simple retelling of the travels of seventeenth-century Japanese poet, Basho, across his island homeland. Includes examples of the haiku verses he composed.