Tag: Japan

Aug 01

EL本棚紹介(104) Long-ago Stories of Japan, vol. 1, by Carla Valentine

[Welcome to the EL Book Introductions series. These posts are all short (<180 words) introductions/reviews of books in the EL library. They focus on telling you what we think will be interesting for you, a college student and English learner, so use them to help you find the right book for you. You can also use the tags to find books about topics you might be interested in.] _______ “Momotaro,” “the Crane Gives Back,” “Kachi Kachi Mountain”…these are the first three stories in Long-ago Stories of Japan. Each of these folktales is very short, just 15-20 pages including pictures. Long-ago Stories of Japan is an excellent book for your Extensive Reading …

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Dec 15

EL本棚紹介(86) Kiki’s Delivery Service, by Eiko Kadono

[Welcome to the EL Book Introductions series. These posts are all short (<180 words) introductions/reviews of books in the EL library. They focus on telling you what we think will be interesting for you, a college student and English learner, so use them to help you find the right book for you. You can also use the tags to find books about topics you might be interested in.] _______ Like the My Neighbor Totoro and Castle in the Sky comic books I introduced before, Kiki’s Delivery Service is a great way to “learn what you already know.” In other words, it is much easier to read a book you already …

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Dec 05

EL本棚紹介(84) Extensive Reading (多読) Series from I Talk You Talk Press

[Welcome to the EL Book Introductions series. These posts are all short (<180 words) introductions/reviews of books in the EL library. They focus on telling you what we think will be interesting for you, a college student and English learner, so use them to help you find the right book for you. You can also use the tags to find books about topics you might be interested in.] _______ I Talk You Talk Press is a small company that makes books for Extensive Reading (多読). Their books are not classic literature or non-fiction. Instead, they are mostly new stories about young people, mostly in Japan. Here are a few of …

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Oct 19

EL本棚紹介(81) The Big Wave, by Pearl S. Buck

[Welcome to the EL Book Introductions series. These posts are all short (<180 words) introductions/reviews of books in the EL library. They focus on telling you what we think will be interesting for you, a college student and English learner, so use them to help you find the right book for you. You can also use the tags to find books about topics you might be interested in.] _______ The Big Wave is a very, very short book that I think is worth your time. It was written by Pearl S. Buck, a woman who lived in Japan and China before World War 2 and wrote stories about East Asian …

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Apr 08

EL本棚紹介(33) Lone Wolf and Cub, Vol. 1, by Kazuo Koike and Goseki Kojima

[Welcome to the EL Book Introductions series. These posts are all short (<180 words) introductions/reviews of books in the EL library. They focus on telling you what we think will be interesting for you, a college student and English learner, so use them to help you find the right book for you. You can also use the tags to find books about topics you might be interested in.] _______ Do you like Tokugawa history? Do you like crazy violence? Do you like…little babies? If so, you may be interested in Lone Wolf and Cub (子連れ狼). It is the story of Ōgami Ittō, the former executioner or the Shogun, now an …

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Jan 27

EL本棚紹介(23) My Brother’s Husband, by Gengoroh Tagame

[Welcome to the EL Book Introductions series. These posts are all short (<180 words) introductions/reviews of books in the EL library. They focus on telling you what we think will be interesting for you, a college student and English learner, so use them to help you find the right book for you. You can also use the tags to find books about topics you might be interested in.] _______ Yaichi is a single parent living with his daughter Kana. His twin brother moved to Canada and married a man there, Mike. Now, the brother is dead, and Mike is coming to visit Yaichi for the first time. The story plays …

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Nov 12

EL本棚紹介(19)The Sandman: The Dream Hunters, by Neil Gaiman, adapted by P. Craig Russel

[Welcome to the EL Book Introductions series. These posts are all short (

Oct 29

EL本棚紹介(16)Shortcomings, by Adrian Tomine

[Welcome to the EL Book Introductions series. These posts are all short (<180 words) introductions/reviews of books in the EL library. They focus on telling you what we think will be interesting for you, a college student and English learner, so use them to help you find the right book for you. You can also use the tags to find books about topics you might be interested in.] _______ What do you think of when you hear the word “prejudice”? The first thing I (an American) think of is racism against black people, or maybe prejudice against LGBTQ minorities. However, prejudice exists in many different forms. Prejudice is more complicated …

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Oct 08

EL本棚紹介(11)They Called Us Enemy, by George Takei, Justin Eisinger, Steven Scott, and Harmony Becker

[Welcome to the EL Book Introductions series. These posts are all short (<180 words) introductions/reviews of books in the EL library. They focus on telling you what we think will be interesting for you, a college student and English learner, so use them to help you find the right book for you. You can also use the tags to find books about topics you might be interested in.] _______ There is a famous saying that “history is shaped by the winners.” That’s not exactly true: I think that “history is shaped by the strong.” And so, when powerful people or institutions don’t want a story told, it can be silenced. …

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