Amy Tan

In 1949, four Chinese women--drawn together by the shadow of their past--begin meeting in San Francisco to play mah jong, invest in stocks and "say" stories. They call their gathering the Joy Luck Club--and forge a relationship that binds them for more than three decades.

"In Where the Past Begins, bestselling author of The Joy Luck Club and The Valley of Amazement Amy Tan reveals herself in a way she never has before, delving into her childhood, adolescence, family history, beginnings as a writer and professional life to explore the answers to questions of purpose and meaning that we all ask ourselves as we get older."--

Winnie Louie, an aging Chinese woman convinced that she will die soon, decides to unburden herself by divulging the secrets of those closest to her and to her suspicious, Americanized daughter.

"Set in San Francisco and in a remote village of Southwestern China, Amy Tan's The Hundred Secret Senses is a tale of American assumptions shaken by Chinese ghosts and broadened with hope. In 1962, five-year-old Olivia meets the half-sister she never knew existed, eighteen-year-old Kwan from China, who sees ghosts with her "yin eyes." Decades later, Olivia describes her complicated relationship with her sister and her failing marriage, as Kwan reveals...

Nai-nai tells her granddaughters the story of her outing, as a seven-year-old girl in China, to see the Moon Lady and be granted a secret wish.

"Vic Brown did not want to go to camp this summer. It's nice being back with her friends in the woods of New Hampshire, but Vic still can't forget about the secret reason her mom wanted her and her brother out of the house--or how much her family is going to change. When her homelife is blowing up, it can be hard to focus on campfires and canoeing. But there is something about summer and surprises that goes together like blueberry pancakes and maple...

Ming Miao tells her kittens about the antics of one of their ancestors, Sagwa of China, that produced the unusual markings they have had for thousands of years.

Presents a collection of stories selected from magazines in the United States and Canada

Thirteen-year-old Jamie must spend her summer volunteering at Foxfield Public Library, but quickly grows to love the people there and enthusiastically joins the fight to save the library.