Jet Black And The Ninja Wind

**Winner of the 2013-2014 Asian/Pacific American Award for Young Adult Literature** **2015 Sakura Medal Nominee** **Shortlisted for the 2014 SCBWI Crystal Kite Award** **Nominated for the Cybils Young Adult Bloggers Literary Award** Seventeen-year-old Jet Black is a ninja. There's only one problem—she doesn't know it. Jet has never lived a so-called normal life. Raised by her single Japanese mother on a Navajo reservation in the Southwest, Jet's life was a constant litany of mysterious physical and mental training. For as long as Jet can remember, every Saturday night she and her mother played "the game" on the local mountain. But this time, Jet is fighting for her life. And at the end of the night, her mother dies and Jet finds herself an orphan—and in mortal danger. Fulfilling her mother's dying wish, Jet flies to Japan to live with her grandfather, where she discovers she is the only one who can protect a family treasure hidden in her ancestral land. She's terrified, but if Jet won't fight to protect her world, who will? Stalked by bounty hunters and desperately attracted with the man who's been sent to kill her, Jet must be strong enough to protect the treasure, preserve an ancient culture and save a sacred mountain from destruction. In Jet Black and the Ninja Wind, multiple award-winning author, poet and translator team Leza Lowitz and Shogo Oketani make their first foray into young adult fiction with a compulsively readable tale whose teenage heroine must discover if she can put the blade above the heart—or die trying.

The stories that shape our children's lives are too important to be left to chance. With The Story Cure, bibliotherapists Ella Berthoud and Susan Elderkin have put together the perfect manual for grown-ups who want to initiate young readers into one of life's greatest pleasures. There's a remedy for every hiccup and heartache, whether it's between the covers of a picture book, a pop-up book, or a YA novel. You'll find old favourites like The Borrowers and The Secret Garden alongside modern soon-to-be classics by Michael Morpurgo, Malorie Blackman and Frank Cottrell-Boyce, as well as helpful lists of the right reads to fuel any obsession - from dogs or dinosaurs, space or spies. Wise and witty, The Story Cure will help any small person you know through the trials and tribulations of growing up, and help you fill their bookshelves with adventure, insight and a lifetime of fun.

Organized sex in Japan has always been big business, and nowhere was it more politely offered than in the Yoshiwara Yukwaku (red light district) of Tokyo. The appeal of the Yoshiwara was its women, all the surroundings being a frame for display of their charms. The Nightless City provides us with a fascinating picture of a "floating world" that was as transient as a butterfly. Today its teahouses, establishments of assignation, geisha, courtesans, customers, pimps, love magic, laws, sayings, loves, and hates have vanished. This book, however, is a substantial monument to this remarkable place and its remarkable people. This fabulous book, containing fifty revealing maps and illustrations, is a pioneer social study of a Meiji community which lived close to traditional ways and according to the rules of the profession of pleasure. It is rich in folklore, magical charms, ceremonial, social rules, standards of dress, class stratification, and the rewards and punishments of the Yoshiwara. Yoshiwara had such an honored place in Japanese tradition, that its passing, in 1957, was regretted and lamented by many--Japanese and foreigners alike.

Words cannot explain to an outsider the sight and feel of the Japanese stage. And definitions and descriptions do not convey an exact image to people brought up on a concept of the theatre that differs so greatly from the Japanese as ours. In seeing something foreign, too, our eyes must be guided carefully, so that we know what we are seeing and how to look at it profitably. All of us are to be grateful for this book, because now, without leaving our countries, or for that matter our armchairs, we can peer at leisure into expertly selected, edited and glossed highlights of the three great classical theatre arts of Japan-Noh, Bunraku and Kabuki. The Fifty-four ensuing photographs, with their textual commentary, are the equivalent, in my mind, of fifty-four choice seats at some of the best performances in modern Japan and intimate visits backstage.

A powerful novel-in-verse about how one teen boy survives the March 2011 tsunami that devastates his coastal Japanese village. “Successfully captures the raw emotions of loss, grief, and what it means to move forward.” —BuzzFeed On the day the tsunami strikes, Kai loses nearly everyone and everything he cares about. But a trip to New York to meet kids whose lives were changed by 9/11 gives him new hope and the chance to look for his estranged American father. Visiting Ground Zero on its tenth anniversary, Kai learns that the only way to make something good come out of disaster is to return and rebuild. Heartrending yet hopeful, Up from the Sea is a story about loss, survival, and starting anew. Fans of Jewell Parker Rhodes’s Ninth Ward and Karen Hesse’s Out of the Dust will embrace this moving story. An author’s note includes numerous sources detailing actual events portrayed in the story. A BOOKRIOT 100 MUST-READ YA BOOKS WRITTEN IN VERSE A NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY BEST BOOK FOR TEENS, 2016 “Up From the Sea touched me deeply with its beautiful message of hope and the resilience of humanity. Bravo.” —Ellen Oh, author of the Prophecy series “It is a moving story of the rebirth of hope in a teen who has lost almost everything. . . . Kai will resonate with teens on a simple human level, just as 3/11 resonates with 9/11.” —VOYA

In this collection, twenty-six women reveal the truth about expatriate life in modern East Asia through original works of memoir and creative non-fiction. Their experiences are varied and unique, demonstrating that expat women's lives go far beyond the stereotypical. The writers hail from a dozen different countries and walks of life. Some are well-known; others are fresh voices adding nuance to the expat conversation. Through deeply personal accounts, they explore what they have learned about themselves and the world through their lives abroad. Together, they create a portrait of the modern expatriate experience that will both resonate and inspire.

JACK FLETCHER IS BATTLING THE HIGH SEAS Ambushed by the Shogun's samurai, Jack and his friends have only one hope of escape - the Seto Sea. But with ferocious storms, man-eating sharks and ninja pirates at every turn, their chosen route is fraught with danger. A treacherous crew only adds to their problems as they flee south from a ruthless samurai sea lord. Unless Jack can harness the Ring of Wind, he and his friends are destined for a watery grave . . . Book 7 in the blockbuster Young Samurai series by Chris Bradford. Visit www.youngsamurai.com for competitions and FREE teacher resources. 'A fantastic adventure that floors the reader on page one and keeps them there until the end' - Eoin Colfer

One year after the tsunami, this benefit fiction anthology helps teens learn about Japan and contribute to long-term relief efforts.