This is the last installment of our around the world Display This series, and we’re making our final stops in Asia and in South America (since there is a real lack of ya lit set there). We’ve already been to Australia/New Zealand, Canada and Mexico, Europe, Africa, and the Middle East. As usual, selections are not all-inclusive, and they’re limited to one book per author (kind of) and firsts in series that are sequential. Some countries, like India, have a wealth of books set in it, and I’ve limited selections to just a few. These books are easily accessible in the United States. All are fictional titles, and covers and descriptions come from World Cat. If you can think of other titles that fit, share in the comments! Without further ado, here we go.

Asia

Trash by Andrew Mulligan (Philippines): Fourteen-year-olds Raphael and Gardo team up with a younger boy, Rat, to figure out the mysteries surrounding a bag Raphael finds during their daily life of sorting through trash in a third-world country’s dump.

Heart of a Samurai by Margi Preus (Japan): In 1841, rescued by an American whaler after a terrible shipwreck leaves him and his four companions castaways on a remote island, fourteen-year-old Manjiro, who dreams of becoming a samurai, learns new laws and customs as he becomes the first Japanese person to set foot in the United States.

Blood Ninja by Nick Lake (Japan): When Taro’s father is murdered he is rescued by a mysterious ninja. With his best friend and their ninja guide, Taro gets caught in a conflict for control of imperial Japan. As Taro trains to become a ninja, he becomes less sure that he wants to be one. But when his real identity is revealed, it becomes impossible for Taro to ignore his destiny.

Now and Zen by Linda Gerber (Japan): American teenager Nori Tanaka has never thought much about her Japanese heritage, but when she travels to Japan for a summer academic program to escape from her parents’ impending divorce, she discovers a new way of looking at both herself and the world.

The Fetch by Laura Whitcomb (Russia): After 350 years as a Fetch, or death escort, Calder breaks his vows and enters the body of Rasputin, whose spirit causes rebellion in the Land of Lost Souls while Calder struggles to convey Ana and Alexis, orphaned in the Russian Revolution, to Heaven.

The Diamond Secret by Suzanne Weyn (Russia): Nadya is a mischievous kitchen girl in a Russian tavern. Having nearly drowned in the Iset River during the turmoil of the Revolution, she has no memory of her past and longs for the life she cannot remember. Then two young men arrive at the tavern and announce that Nadya’s long-lost grandmother has sent them to find her. Yearning for family and friendship, she agrees to accompany them to Paris for the joyful reunion. Nadya eagerly embarks on her journey, never dreaming it will be one of laughter, love — and betrayal.

Toads and Diamonds by Heather Tomlinson (India): A retelling of the Perrault fairy tale set in pre-colonial India, in which two stepsisters receive gifts from a goddess and each walks her own path to find her gift’s purpose, discovering romance along the way.

Climbing the Stairs by Padma Venkantraman (India): In India, in 1941, when her father becomes brain-damaged in a non-violent protest march, fifteen-year-old Vidya and her family are forced to move in with her father’s extended family and become accustomed to a totally different way of life.

Secret Keeper by Mitali Perkins (India): In 1974 when her father leaves New Delhi, India, to seek a job in New York, Ashi, a tomboy at the advanced age of sixteen, feels thwarted in the home of her extended family in Calcutta where she, her mother, and sister must stay, and when her father dies before he can send for them, they must remain with their relatives and observe the old-fashioned traditions that Ashi hates.

Lucky T by Kate Brian (India): Carrie gets upset when her mother gives her lucky T-shirt to Help India, now she’s only having bad luck, so she decides to travel halfway around the world to get her lucky shirt back.

Karma by Cathy Ostlere (India): In 1984, following her mother’s suicide, 15-year-old Maya and her Sikh father travel to New Delhi from Canada to place her mother’s ashes in their final resting place. On the night of their arrival, Prime Minister Indira Gandhi is assassinated, Maya and her father are separated when the city erupts in chaos, and Maya must rely on Sandeep, a boy she has just met, for survival.

Bamboo People by Mitali Perkins (Burma): Two Burmese boys, one a Karenni refugee and the other the son of an imprisoned Burmese doctor, meet in the jungle and in order to survive they must learn to trust each other.

A Million Shades of Gray by Cynthia Kadohata (Vietnam): In 1975 after American troops pull out of Vietnam, a thirteen-year-old boy and his beloved elephant escape into the jungle when the Viet Cong attack his village.

Wild Orchid by Cameron Dokey (China): After disguising herself as a boy to join the Chinese army, Mulan returns home only to face an arena that frightens her more than any battlefield–the royal court where she must honor her family through marriage.

Great Call of China by Cynthia Liu (China): Sixteen-year-old Cece travels to China in an attempt to discover her roots and possibly find out about her birth parents.

Chenxi and the Foreigner by Sally Rippin (China): When Anna travels to Shanghai to study traditional Chinese painting, she immerses herself in the local culture. She spends time with Chenxi, the good-looking and aloof classmate who is her student guide, and soon realizes that it is harder to escape being a wai guo ren–a foreigner–than she expected. When she unwittingly draws the attention of officials to Chenxi and his radical artist friends, she must face the terrible price of her actions.

Dragons of Darkness by Antonia Michaelis (Nepal): Two boys from very different backgrounds are thrown together by magic, mayhem, and a common foe as they battle deadly dragons in the wilderness of Nepal.

Peak by Roland Smith (Nepal): A fourteen-year-old boy attempts to be the youngest person to reach the top of Mount Everest.

Sea by Heidi Kling (Indonesia): Despite recurring nightmares about her mother’s death and her own fear of flying, fifteen-year-old Sienna accepts her father’s birthday gift to fly to Indonesia with his team of disaster relief workers to help victims of a recent tsunami, never suspecting that this experience will change her life forever.

South America

South America as a setting seems to be lacking in the young adult world, so any additional titles you know of, please share. I’d like to see more down here!

Violet by Design by Melissa Walker (Brazil): Despite her intentions to give up runway modeling, eighteen-year-old Violet is lured back by the promise of travel to Brazil, possibly Spain and France, and, after seeing her best friends off to college, embarks on an, often exciting, often painful, international adventure.

Croutons for Breakfast by Kathy Wierenga (Venezuela): This book is the seventh installment of the “Brio Girls” series. Hannah and Jacie both undergo personal transformations as God reveals Himself to them in new ways on a Brio missions trip to Venezuela.

Boy Kills Man by Matt Whyman (Colombia): Two thirteen-year-old boys, blood brothers and best friends, get drawn into a dangerous, violent world on the streets of a troubled Columbian city.

City of the Beasts by Isabelle Allende (Chile): When fifteen-year-old Alexander Cold accompanies his individualistic grandmother on an expedition to find a humanoid Beast in the Amazon, he experiences ancient wonders and a supernatural world as he tries to avert disaster for the Indians.

Exposure by Mal Peet: Paul Faustino, South America’s best soccer journalist, reports on the series of events that hurl Otello from the heights of being a beloved and successful soccer star, happily married to the pop singer Desdemona, into a downward spiral, in this novel loosely based on Shakespeare’s play, Othello.

Another installment of Display This for this week, and this time, we’re taking a trip north and south of the United States — we’re heading to Canada and then down to Mexico. We’ve already been to Africa, the Middle East, Europe, and Australia/New Zealand. There are tons of books set in these locations, so limiting was difficult, but as in other posts, the parameters include books set primarily in these countries, limiting to first books in a series, limiting to fictional titles, and limiting to one book per author. All of these books are ones available easily in the US, as well. Descriptions come from WorldCat, since there are many titles I’ve not personally read. As always, feel free to steal my list for your own use (just credit me) and please chime in with other titles that fit the bill.

First stop: Canada!

Boys, Bears, and a Serious Pair of Hiking Boots by Abby McDonald: Seventeen-year-old Jenna, an ardent vegetarian and environmentalist, is thrilled to be spending the summer communing with nature in rural Canada, until she discovers that not all of the rugged residents there share her beliefs.

Half Brother by Kenneth Oppel: In 1973, when a renowned Canadian behavioral psychologist pursues his latest research project– an experiment to determine whether chimpanzees can acquire advanced language skills– he brings home a baby chimp named Zan and asks his thirteen-year-old son to treat Zan like a little brother.

Maybe Never, Maybe Now by Kimberly Joy Peters: Sixteen-year old Caitlyn wants to forget the abusive relationship with her ex-boyfriend, but she is still dealing with the psychological damage. When she and best-friend Conner become exchange students to Quebec, she thinks this may help her start afresh. But she is still plagued by her fears and insecurities.

Lure by Deborah Kerbel: Max Green’s parents have just uprooted their family from Vancouver to the suburbs of Toronto, he has no friends, everybody at his new high school is ignoring him, and he’s in love with an older girl who’s completely out of his league. When Max discovers a local library rumored to be haunted by ghosts, he’s immediately drawn to it. With the help of some cryptic messages, he pieces together the identity of the teenage ghost and the mysterious chain of events that have connected its spirit to the building for over a century.

The Uninvited by Tim Wynne-Jones: After a disturbing freshman year at New York University, Mimi is happy to get away to her father’s remote Canadian cottage only to discover a stranger living there who has never heard of her or her father and who is convinced that Mimi is responsible for leaving sinister tokens around the property.

If You Live Like Me by Lori Weber: Cheryl’s unhappiness builds with each move as her family travels across Canada while her father does research for a book, and by the time they reach Newfoundland, she is planning her escape, but events cause her to re-examine her feelings.

Bonechiller by Graham McNamee: Four high school students face off against a soul-stealing beast that has been making young people disappear from their small Ontario, Canada, town for centuries.

Mud Girl by Alison Acheson: Aba Zytka Jones lives with her dad in an odd little house that hangs over the Fraser River. Her mom took off a year ago. In his own way, so did her dad. She doesn’t fit in, never has, and she has questions.

The Braid by Helen Frost: Two Scottish sisters, living on the western island of Barra in the 1850s, relate, in alternate voices and linked narrative poems, their experiences after their family is forcibly evicted and separated with one sister accompanying their parents and younger siblings to Cape Breton, Canada, and the other staying behind with other family on the small island of Mingulay.

The Edge by Ben Bo: A teenaged gang member accused of various crimes finds redemption working and snowboarding at a ski lodge in the mountains surrounding Canada’s Glacier National Park.

Free as a Bird by Gina McMurchy-Barber: Ruby Jean Sharp comes from a time when being a developmentally disabled person could mean growing up behind locked doors and barred windows and being called names like “retard” and “moron.” Born with Down’s syndrome, Ruby Jean is lovingly cared for by her grandmother. But after Grandma dies when Ruby is eight, her mother takes her to Woodlands School in New Westminster, British Columbia, and never comes back. It’s here in an institution that opened in 1878 and was originally called the Provincial Lunatic Asylum that Ruby Jean learns to survive isolation, boredom, and every kind of abuse. Just when she can hardly remember if she’s ever been happy, she learns a lesson about patience and perseverance from an old crow.

Tripping by Heather Waldorf: Escaping a dull summer, Rainey Williamson joins a school-sponsored eight-week road trip across Canada. Up for the challenge, Rainey, who has worn an artificial leg since birth, discovers that her long estranged mother is alive and well in British Columbia, directly on the road trip route, and wants to see her.

Now, we’re heading south to Mexico!

The Heart is Not a Size by Beth Kephart: Fifteen-year-old Georgia learns a great deal about herself and her troubled best friend Riley when they become part of a group of suburban Pennsylvania teenagers that go to Anapra, a squatters village in the border town of Juarez, Mexico, to undertake a community construction project.

The Goldsmith’s Daughter by Tanya Landman: In the golden city of Tenochtitlan, the people live in awe of Emperor Montezuma and in fear of blood-hungry gods. Under an ill-fated sky, a girl is born, facing a life of submission and domestic drudgery. But Itacate has a secret passion for goldwork, forbidden to women, and is forced to disguise her identity to protect herself and her family. When her city is shaken by Cortez’s invasion, Itacate challenges fate, culture, and faith by crafting golden statues and pursuing the love of a man who should be her enemy.

Red Glass by Laura Resau: Sixteen-year-old Sophie has been frail and delicate since her premature birth, but discovers her true strength during a journey through Mexico, where the six-year-old orphan her family hopes to adopt was born, and to Guatemala, where her would-be boyfriend hopes to find his mother and plans to remain.

Feathered by Laura Kasischke: While on Spring Break in Cancun, Mexico, high-school seniors and best friends Anne and Michelle accept the wrong ride and Michelle is lost–seemingly forever.

La Linea by Ann Jaramillo: Miguel has dreamed of joining his parents in California since the day they left him behind in Mexico six years, eleven months, and twelve days ago. On the morning of his fifteenth birthday, Miguel’s wait is over. The trip north to the border—la línea—is fraught with dangers. Thieves. Border guards. And a grueling, two-day trek across the desert. It would be hard enough to survive alone. But it’s almost impossible with his tagalong sister in tow. Their money gone and their hopes nearly dashed, Miguel and his sister have no choice but to hop the infamous mata gente as it races toward the border. As they cling to the roof of the speeding train, they hold onto each other, and to their dreams. But they quickly learn that you can’t always count on dreams—even the ones that come true.

Heart and Salsa (SASS series) by Suzanne Marie Nelson: Cat Wilcox is going to study abroad for the summer in Mexico with her best friend Sabrina, but Sabrina complicates matters by bringing along her boyfriend.

Shock Point by April Henry: Fifteen-year-old Cassie Streng is determined to expose her stepfather after learning that he is giving a dangerous experimental drug to his teenaged psychiatric patients, but he sends her to a boot camp for troubled teens in Mexico in order to keep her quiet.