The 2025 Freeman Book Awards have been announced. Administered by the National Consortium for Teaching about Asia, the awards honour East Asian and Southeast Asian titles for children and young adults. Five Canadian titles were recently honoured.
Children's Literature, Honourable Mention
Mama’s Special Wonton Soup
written by Wai Mei Wong
illustrated by Xin Yue Zhu
Lantana Publishing
Fiction | Set in China
One day, in a village in Southern China, a young girl leaves her mama’s house to buy ingredients for wonton soup. On the way to market, she meets a wonderful array of characters going about their daily lives. There’s Ms Chen pulling radishes from the fields, Mr Li and his daughters hauling shrimp from the lake, and grandma hanging out strings of persimmons to dry in the sun. As the girl greets each of them with “Zǎo ān,” and thanks them with “Xiè xiè,” they gift her with something special for her mama’s cooking pot. By the time the little girl reaches home, she has more food than her and her mama can possibly eat. What should the two of them do now?
Children's Literature, Title of Note
Chidori: A Story of One Thousand Birds
written by Jennifer Maruno
illustrated by Miki Sato
Pajama Press
Fiction | Set in Japan
Hana’s school sits on the side of a hill with a view of the ocean. One day, while in class, a tsunami drags the ocean across her village. Hana watches in horror as the dark water crashes into trees and tosses cars and boats around. When she is finally reunited with her family, she learns that the wave has taken more than she could have ever imagined. To cope with her grief, Hana begins to paint chidori (a thousand birds).
Young Adult / Middle School Literature, Honourable Mention
Seabird
written by Michelle Kadarusman
Pajama Press
Fiction | Set in Indonesia
Inspired by a true story, Seabird follows the early teen years of Kartini, whose forced isolation ignites her desire for freedom and the right to have a say in the decisions that shape her life. Kartini was born in 1879 during Dutch-colonized Indonesia, then known as the Dutch East Indies. Due to her high-born status, Kartini is forced to enter home seclusion just before her twelfth birthday with the intention that she will remain home until she is married. During seclusion, Kartini, who is fluent in the Dutch language, begins a self-directed education and writes letters to a former schoolmate named Lesty. This period of isolation sparks her interest in feminist thinking and ignites her desire to improve education opportunities for all Javanese girls and women.
Young Adult / Middle School Literature, Title of Note
Never Silent: A Hiroshima Survivor’s Story
written by Setsuko Thurlow and Kathy Lowinger
illustrated by Michelle Theodore
Annick Press
Non-Fiction | Set in Japan
When Setsuko Thurlow was 13, she witnessed one of history’s most horrific events. She experienced—and survived—the atomic bombing of Hiroshima in 1945. Since then, she has worked tirelessly to educate people about the catastrophe and to ensure that it never happens again. As a leading member of the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN), she gave the acceptance speech when the organization won the 2017 Nobel Peace Prize.
Never Silent recounts Setsuko’s earliest memories of her happy life in Hiroshima, followed by the devastating firsthand impact she witnesses after the dropping of the atomic bomb, and finally traces the steps she takes to rebuild a life in the aftermath of her experiences. With informational text scattered throughout the book to give historical context for the places and events, readers are given a full and profoundly affecting picture of what it was like after the bomb dropped, the struggle to return to normalcy, and the plea for activism to ban nuclear weapons.
Young Adult / High School Literature, Title of Note
Songs for Ghosts
written by Clara Kumagai
Amulet Books/Tundra Books
Fiction | Set in Japan
When Adam discovers a diary in his attic, he is enthralled by its account of a young woman’s life in Nagasaki. A hundred years separate them, yet like Adam, she is caught between cultures, relationships, and heartbreak.
She also writes of the ghosts that have begun to seek her out, which Adam dismisses as fantasy—until he begins to be haunted by her terrifying spirit. Unravelling the mystery of her identity—and the wrong done to her—seems to be the only way to save himself.
This leads Adam to a home stay in Nagasaki, where he begins to reconnect to his heritage not only through Japanese language and culture, but also by connecting with long-lost family members. And then begins a race against time as Adam and his new crush, Jo, attempt to untangle a story that has rippled through generations...
To see the complete of winners, honourable mentions and titles of note, visit nctasia.org.