"This is YA nonfiction. It's the memoir of a boy named Sungju who grew up in North Korea and, at the age of twelve, was forced to live on the streets and fend for himself after his parents disappeared. Finally, after years of being homeless and living with a gang, Sungju is reunited with his maternal grandparents and, eventually, his father"-- "Every Falling Star, the first book to portray contemporary North Korea to a young audience, is the intense...

While most Americans have only been aware of Korean pop, or K-pop, music since the infectious 2012 hit song Gangnam Style by Psy, it is a genre that has been widely popular since the 1990s. Its sudden notoriety marks a global trend called Hallyu, or the Korean Wave, which encompasses not only music but also other pillars of pop culture, such as movies and television, cuisine, and Korean cartoon art known as manhwa. This colorful, informative book...

While ever-changing and modernizing, Japan stays true to its roots. It has an ancient Asian culture at the forefront of today's globalizing world. The delicacy and simplicity of haiku and ink-wash paintings; the serenity of the traditional tea ceremony; the bustling city of Tokyo; the hyper-sleek modernism of bullet trains-these cultural icons and more are celebrated in this volume on Japan's customs and culture. Covering history and religion; family...

Thailand has a rich history dating back thousands of years. Interestingly, it is the only country in Southeast Asia that escaped European rule. Thailand shares its borders with Myanmar, Laos, Cambodia, and Malaysia. Thai people make up most of the population, while other groups include Chinese Malays, Khmer, and some small minority populations. Today, tourism is very important to the country, contributing greatly to the Thai economy. However, manufacturing...

Singapore is an island nation located just south of Malaysia. It was first settled in the second century by the Sumatran Srivijaya Empire. Then from the sixteenth to the nineteenth centuries, it was controlled by the Sultanate of Johor. In the early nineteenth century, the British arrived, turning Singapore into a major trading port in Southeast Asia. During World War II, the island was occupied by the Japanese, who were eventually defeated. In 1965,...

As a landlocked country in central Asia, the region now known as Afghanistan has stood at the crossroads of empires from ancient to early modern times. Today, the country remains at the forefront of international attention as numerous terrorist organizations operate within its borders, and the ongoing war between the United States, its allies, and rebel forces is nearly two decades old. Rife with economic strife and poverty, plagued by terrorist activity...

Vietnam is a unique country in Asia whose history began with hunter-gatherer populations. Later, it was heavily influenced by the Chinese, and then the French, when those countries occupied the area. In this book, you will follow the history of Vietnam: its culture, people, landscape, and economy, from the early days up to the present day. Learn about how the nation has been shaped over the centuries, as well as its unique customs and culture. From...

Number Four will have a difficult life. These are the words that were uttered upon Ting-xing Ye's birth. Soon this prophecy would prove only too true... Here is the real-life story about the fourth child in a family torn apart by China's Cultural Revolution. After the death of both of her parents, Ting-xing and her siblings endured brutal Red Guard attacks on their schools and even in their home. At the age of sixteen, Ting-xing is exiled to a prison...

As the world's largest nation, the Russian Federation has become a key player in world affairs since the turn of the 21st century. Events within Russia and surrounding former Soviet republics have raised questions about whether Russia's government has successfully transitioned away from the totalitarianism of the Soviet Union to a federal democracy. At the same time, international relations between Russia and the West contain echoes of Cold War distrust,...

Pol Pot, one of the world's most infamous dictators, rose to power in the 1960s in the Southeast Asian country of Cambodia. In the mid-1900s, Cambodia had been chafing for centuries under Thai, Vietnamese, and French control. As leader of the Khmer Rouge, Cambodia's communist rebel movement, Pol Pot won control of Cambodia in 1975. He intended to establish a farming utopia. Declaring that society needed purification, he set out to extinguish capitalism,...