02 Mar / Baba: A Return to China Upon My Father’s Shoulders by Belle Yang [in What Do I Read Next? Multicultural Literature]
The author returns to her ancestral homeland, guided by the stories her father – her “Baba” – has told her. There she begins a personal odyssey through northern China of the 1930s and ’40s, following the story of her father’s coming-of-age as a son of the prominent Manchurian House of Yang.
This exquisitely illustrated work is best described as an adult picture book. In a 1995 interview with Hong, Yang explained that Baba is part of the greater continuum of the Asian American literary experience. “Writers like Maxine Hong Kingston, Amy Tan, and many before them set the stage for a book like Baba. Through their writing, they showed a true understanding of Asian Americans. From that point, I’m able to take readers back to China, to show them where we Asian Americans come from.”
Review: “Asian American Titles,” What Do I Read Next? Multicultural Literature, Gale Research, 1997
Readers: Young Adult, Adult
Published: 1994