Corpses, Coffins, and Crypts: A History of Burial by Penny Colman (New York: Henry Holt and Company, 1997 (illus., 212 pp with index)

If you or your students are interested in cemetery and gravestone lore, this is one to add to your library. Solidly researched and grounded with "extensive historical and anthropological research, personal accounts, and interviews with people who work in the funeral industry," (dust cover), this is a book to enrich your knowledge and pique your curiosity. Chapters include information on defining death, legal disposition of bones and ashes, cemeteries and other burial sites, burial customs, ceremonies, and celebrations. I read this book on an airplane and before reaching my travel destination, everyone in my row had looked through it. A little morbid now and then, it is the kind of reading (and gazing) young adult (and adult) readers seem to find fascinating.

Hats for the Jizos: A Kamishibai Play from Japan (In English and Japanese)
The sets are available for various ages from Kamishibai for Kids, Cathedral Station, P.O. Box 629, New York, NY, 10025. The price is about $40.00 per set.

Kamishibai is a form of storytelling that originated in Japan, and it is part of an ancient picture-storytelling tradition. In Japanese, the name literally means "paper drama." Each story consists of 12 to 16 beautifully illustrated, and sturdy, oak tag cards. Printed on the back of the cards are the original Japanese texts and an English translation. The story is sequenced, and the teller simply moves the cards gently to the right as the story is read. Middle school students know video games and cartoons from Japan, but the Kamishibai stories give them an introduction to authentic artistic, literary, and folktale traditions. The cards promote reading skills, cultural diversity, and character education. Hats for the Jizos, only one of many sets available, is a story of sacrifice and reward.

A Single Shard by Linda Sue Park (New York: Clarion Books, 2001). A John Newbery Medal Award Winner. (152 pp.)

"This account of a creative spirit on its journey toward fulfillment is set in twelfth-century Korea, where the course of human destiny could be determined by a single celadon shard" (dust cover). This is an absorbing book rich with the folklife of Korean villagers. It also reveals the delicate art of creating celadon pottery and the complexities of life for a peasant boy named Tree-ear who aspires to be a potter. I would recommend it for middle school to adult readers. Linda Sue Park has documented her research for the text in an informative "Author’s Note" at the end of the story.