We’re readers. When we moved a couple years ago Shapiro Keats did a quick count of our books; it was something like 1,700 and since then we’ve bought more. Gohan is quickly amassing collection to rival ours, though. At least they don’t take up as much space because they tend to be very short.

Here are the Asian-themed picture books he has:

	This little kid goes with his grandpa to a library in the middle of the woods. He takes along his red fish in a bowl (no small feat considering they are riding a bicycle). The fish hops out of its bowl and into a book. A trippy sequence ensues as the kid chases his fish through the book. It’s all very surreal. This book is gorgeous. Best of all, I got it for free from my friend who picked it up at a librarians’ conference.
	Yoko is an anthropomorphic cat who likes to chill with her grandparents in their ultra-traditional Japanese garden. But when Yoko’s family moves to America, can she keep in touch with her roots? Of course she can, it’s a kids’ book. The cool thing about this book is that the drawings of Japan reselmble Hiroshige paintings, and a lot of the clothes and stuff are made with cutouts of patterned origami paper.
	This is pretty much “Beauty and the Beast” but in China and with a dragon. The heroine is so virtuous you kind of want to puke, but I guess it’s good for kids to emulate good people. There’s a lot of text so wiggly older kids probably won’t sit still for it all, but Gohan is still immobile so he’s hostage to my whims. The illustrations are really vivid and realistic (except for, you know, the dragon and the people flying on clouds and all).
	Nara is a famous artist known for his sullen-looking, creepy-ass little girl drawings. So it’s no surprise there is a sullen-looking, creepy-ass little gitl in this book. Poor puppy. No one ever notices him. Not because he is tiny, but because he’s huge- like, front paws in New York, hind paws in Russian huge. Then the little girl sees him and climbs up his leg and they play and go flying in space and shit. What I want to know is, if that thing is a puppy, how big will he be when he grows up?
	This is pretty much the saddest story ever, packaged with elegant illustrations. In this version, the husband is kind of an ass. The Decembrists did a good album based on this story. Again, there’s a lot of text and the pictures aren’t quite primary-colored enough to keep Gohan’s attention right now, but maybe someday if I think he’s too happy I will read this to him.
	Like “The Crane Wife” isn’t depressing enough. Here is the story of a dog who waits in a train station for his dead master for ten years because he doesn’t realize his master is dead. When we went to Japan I made Shapiro Keats go to Shibuya Station with me just to get a picture of the Hachiko statue there. I can’t read this to Gohan without crying. So Shapiro Keats will have to read it to him. Same thing with “The Mightiest Heart”, “Black Beauty” and the chapter where the White Witch kills Aslan.
	I have no idea why I bought this. Wait, yes I do. It was on remainder and I had some idea about not shielding kids from difficult subjects because they are smrter and tougher than adults think. I still have that idea but even I find this book disturbing. It’s about a little girl and her parents who manage to flee Hiroshima with radioactive fire on their heels and the horrible things they see on their way out of town. And escaping doesn’t even save them because they all get radiation poisoning. It’s going to be a long time before Gohan gets to look at this one.
	Again, lots of text but nice illustrations. I think Gohan needs to learn that girls kick ass as soon as possible. Because I heard cootie immunizations cause autism and I don’t want him to do that. ** I don’t believe vaccinations cause autism and I think Jenny Mccarthy is talking out her ass. The only study that ever showed a link was recently discredited. Gohan has gotten his shots and will continue to get them. **
	This book is awesome. An old lady obsessed wtih cooking rice balls falls down a crack into the underground world of the oni, who make her cook rice balls for them until she launches a daring esscape. This book rocks because when you read it you can give the old woman a really high voice and make all the oni have weird accents. Also the oni kind of look like this really evil math teacher I had in high school. Mr. R, if you’re reading this, you can suck it. I have never had to use algebra in my adult life so there.

I feel like I should have one more to make a round number but we only have nine. I’ll get on finding that tenth Asian-themed book right away.