Our Nepal Reading List

Here’s our Nepal reading list for the family. There was a dearth of Nepali authors for adults, but Samrat Upadhyay is prolific and enjoyable. As we noted in our post on keeping kids riveted, previewing learning before a trip helps to create a meaningful and lasting impact for kids…and adults. The book covers link directly to Amazon. Any purchase you make through these links adds a tiny plus in a long list of minuses in the RK bank account. Thank you for your support of our efforts!

Nepal reading list for Kids

Sold by Patricia McCormick was a wonderful book and is just coming out as an acclaimed movie. The issues of child trafficking and sexual exploitation of children are fairly intense and for older kids but is incredibly powerful and empowering. I can’t wait to see the movie. Secrets of the Sky Caves by Sandra Athans had lots of pictures, maps and cultural information. For kids interested in science this one would be great. Eric Dinnerstein’s What Elephants Know is a Jungle Book-esque story focusing on Nepali elephants, customs, culture, and what it means to be different.

Older kids

Younger kids

I especially liked the book about Tenzig Norgay, Tiger of the Snows, but they all had lovely illustrations and stories.

Nepal reading list for the Grownups or advanced kids

The first three books here are by Samrat Upadhyay and seamlessly share Nepali culture, expectations, and relationships. I really enjoyed all of them, but my favorite might have been Arresting God in Kathmandu. The other two books are about non-Nepalis who went deep into Nepali culture. They were enjoyable and more easily relatable since they were written by authors of my own culture, but they didn’t challenge me in the way that Upadhyay’s did.