The East Asia Resource Center invited middle and high school educators to join the Global Asia(s) Summer Book Club from June to August 2026, an opportunity to partake in an online professional development reading series built around contemporary novels that trace the movement of people, ideas, and stories across place and time. Designed for educators across disciplines, the program helped participants build content knowledge, engage in collaborative discussion, and create a classroom-ready curriculum resource.
Rooted in the Global Asia(s) framework, this program approached Asia transnationally and transculturally. Rather than treating Asia as a fixed place, Global Asia(s) asked how histories, identities, and narrative traditions move across borders and reshape our understanding of place, connection, migration, and history.
Book options
A History of Burning by Janika Oza
Janika Oza’s novel spans four generations and three continents, following a family’s movement from colonial Gujarat through East Africa to Canada. It offers a powerful lens on migration, displacement, empire, and the ways belonging is continually renegotiated across time and place.
The Man with the Compound Eyes by Wu Ming-Yi
Wu Ming-Yi’s novel, translated from Chinese, brings together ecological crisis, Indigenous knowledge, and Taiwan-centered perspectives in a story shaped by a massive island of trash drifting across the Pacific. The text offers rich classroom entry points into climate change, environmental humanities, Indigenous perspectives, and Taiwanese identity.
How Much of These Hills Is Gold by C Pam Zhang
C Pam Zhang reimagines the American frontier through the experiences of two Chinese American siblings in the era of the Gold Rush. The novel invites discussion of race, grief, migration, Asian American history, empire, and the myths that shape national identity in the United States.
The Fox Wife by Yangsze Choo
Set in 1908 Manchuria, Yangsze Choo’s novel blends Chinese and Japanese fox-spirit folklore with murder, memory, and the final years of the Qing dynasty. It is especially well suited for exploring East Asian folklore traditions, historical fiction, and early twentieth-century geopolitics.
We Do Not Part by Han Kang
Set on Jeju Island and in Seoul, Han Kang’s novel centers on friendship and the memory of the 1948 Jeju Massacre. As a work by the 2024 Nobel laureate, it offers an especially compelling opportunity to engage questions of memory, violence, historical trauma, and contemporary Korean history.
How the program works
Participants chose two or three books from the summer schedule and complete each book as part of a three-week cycle. During each cycle, teachers read the novel and a short framing packet, posted reflections and responses to peers asynchronously on Padlet, and participated in a live two-hour Zoom seminar. At the end of the program, participants completed a capstone curriculum project. Total program credit is 20 PD hours, with 8 hours per book and a 4-hour capstone.
Summer schedule
Period 1: June 1-24
A History of Burning by Janika Oza
Zoom session: Wednesday, June 24, 2026 (3:00-4:30 PM)
The Man with the Compound Eyes by Wu Ming-Yi
Zoom session: Thursday, June 25, 2026 (3:00-4:30 PM)
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Period 2: July 6-26
How Much of These Hills Is Gold by C Pam Zhang
Zoom session: Wednesday, July 29, 2026 (3:00-4:30 PM)
The Fox Wife by Yangsze Choo
Zoom session: Thursday, July 30, 2026 (3:00-4:30 PM)
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Period 3: July 27-August 16
We Do Not Part by Han Kang
Zoom session: Wednesday, August 12, 2026 (3:00-4:30 PM)
Program structure
Each book follows a three-week sequence:
Week 1: Read and orient
Participants read the novel and a short framing packet that introduces key historical, cultural, or thematic contexts. They then posted an initial reflection in a shared Padlet space.
Week 2: Respond and connect
Participants responded to peers’ posts and engage a short secondary source, such as a scholarly excerpt, map, or visual resource, that deepened the context of the novel.
Week 3: Zoom seminar and teaching application
Each cycle culminated in a live two-hour Zoom seminar, followed by a short assignment designed for classroom use, such as a lesson sketch, annotated passage, or discussion guide.
Capstone project
Participants completed a final project that translates their learning into classroom practice. They chose one of two options:
Option 1: Teaching the text
Create a classroom-ready resource, such as a lesson plan, discussion guide, or annotated excerpt, for using one of the novels directly with students.
Option 2: Thinking with the text
Use the books as intellectual catalysts to rethink an existing unit by incorporating new themes, historical contexts, or comparative perspectives drawn from the reading.
Capstone project windows
- July 21-25
- August 11-15
Who should apply
This program was intended for middle and high school educators in grades 6-12 across disciplines, including ELA, social studies, history, and world languages. No prior background in Asian studies was required. The program was designed for educators who are curious, reflective, and interested in bringing diverse global perspectives into their teaching.
Program Benefits
- Free copies of the books selected
- 20 Free WA OSPI Clock Hours
- Online Resources
This program was sponsored by the East Asia Resource Center at the University of Washington, and funded by a Freeman Foundation grant in support of the National Consortium for Teaching about Asia (NCTA).