It's unusual for me to be grateful for marketing pushes, but the multicultural focus has ushered in a chorus of wonderful Asian voices. Here are several new books by Asians and Asian-Americans that will enrich the lives of children.

The Asian-American Experience In Huy Voun Lee's At the Beach (Holt, $14.95; ages 4-8), Xiao Ming, a small boy, enjoys the beach and remembers his heritage by learning Chinese character writing. Xiao Ming's wise mother describes the characters in images that surround the two; the symbol for woman looks like a "mother holding a baby" and the picture for good is made by putting "woman and child together". Contemporary illustrations give sunny representation of a family who unites present and past with a spirit of adventure.

Kathleen Krull's City Within a City: How Kids Live in New York's Chinatown (Lodestar, $15.99; ages 8-12) is a non-fiction look at Asian-American life. Bright photographs picture the blended lifestyle of open air Chinese markets, tai chi in the park, and Western learning and shopping. Krull provides background description of Chinatown's customs and history and places in the foreground the narratives of twelve year olds, Chao Liu and Sze Ki. The boy and girl speak of everything from racism to parental pressure, revealing similarities and differences in experiences and outlooks.

Being Asian and American can mean feeling caught between two worlds as in Writer-illustrator Allen Say in Grandfather's Journey (Houghton Mifflin, $15.95; ages 5-9). The gilt-lined cover and the subtle interior covers picture a quietly- told family drama of living between two cultures. The book is deceptively simple, with a haunting quality that begs for discussion. Say writes of his connection with a grandfather who left Japan to marvel and wonder at the diversity of America and suffered from a divided spirit until his death. Say, like his grandfather travels and learns, "the moment I am in one country, I am homesick for the other."

Celebrating Tradition

Many Asian-Americans remember heritage through family celebrations. Hoong Yee Lee Kraukauer writes and illustrates Rabbit Mooncakes (Little Brown, $15.95; ages 4-8) based on her childhood memories of the Harvest Moon Festival, a Chinese celebration similar to Thanksgiving. Though her story is embellished with Chinese language, characters, food and traditions, at the core of her book are two themes familiar to all children; the delight of a home filled with relatives and the dread of having to perform for them.

Simon and Schuster has two new additions to their series celebrating multicultural festivals. Sothea Chiemruom's Dara's Cambodian New Year (Simon & Schuster, $4.95; ages 4-8) has a young boy who prepares for the April festival while comforting his grandparents who are longing for their homeland.

Rachel Sing's Chinese New Year's Dragon (Simon & Schuster, $4.95; ages 4-8) surrounds readers with language, tastes, customs, and shows a grandparent whose storytelling is so magical, it can transport a young girl to other places and times.

Asian-American History

Some of the most shameful segments of American history involve Asian-Americans. Barbara Goldin's Red Means Good Fortune (Viking, $12.99; ages 7-11) is a short novella that tells the story of Jin Mun, newly arrived in California in 1868. While the boy and his father struggle to support their family in China, Jin Mun meets a young Chinese woman who is enslaved. Wehhai Ma's realistic black and white drawings give authenticity to both period and characters.

The late Yoshiko Uchida writes The Bracelet (Philomel, $14.95; ages 7-11) based on her experience in West Coast internment camp during World War II. Heroine Emi wipes away her tears, but can't "wipe away the sadness inside" as she looks at her room empty "like a gift box with no gift inside." So begins this image-laden story of a young girl whose Anglo friend gives her a heart bracelet as a remembrance of their friendship. When Emi reaches the filthy horse stall that's to be her home, she notices the loss of the bracelet. Temporarily, everything crumbles inside her until she realizes friends and precious things left behind are "things we carry in our hearts and take with us no matter where we are sent."

Sook Nyul Choi's Echoes of the White Giraffe (Houghton Mifflin, $13.95; ages 11 and up) is a sequel to Year of Impossible Goodbyes (Dell, $3.50) In her newest story, the heroine, Sookan faces the life of a refugee after the Korean war has torn her country, family, and home apart. Within the book are her joys at first love, her grieving and loss, and confusion of trying to follow practices of Korean society in a time where nothing makes sense. The book ends with her leaving to America full of old memories and new hopes.

Stories Old and New

Many Asian-American writers and illustrators enrich American literature by sharing folk tales. Suzanne Han retells a clever Korean folk tale in The Rabbit's Judgement (Holt, $15.95; ages 4-8). A man releases a tiger from a trap and finds himself ensnared, for the tiger wants to eat him. The man pleas for outside arbitration. One judge after another condemns him until a small rabbit saves his life in a fitting and surprising way. The story is written in both English and Korean.

Asian-American artist Yang Ming-Yi's watercolors properly convey the traditional quality of Fergus Bordewich's Peach Blossom Spring (Green Tiger Press, $15.00; ages 4-8) In this adaptation of a Chinese tale, Wu-ling happens upon a village delightfully frozen in time. Sadly, he can never return for he breaks his promise not to reveal its location.

Dragon Sword and Wind Child(Fararr, Strauss, & Giroux, $17.00, ages 12- adult) is a fantasy novel by Japanese writer, Noriko Ogiwara. Set in ancient times, Ogiwara tells the story of Saya, a princess of Darkness who falls in love with Chihaya, a Prince of Light. This is simple-sounding plot is actually a weaving of intricate themes with amazing philosophical and psychological underpinnings. For one thing, Light and Dark do not stand for good and evil, but for two different ways of seeing that clash constantly. The mythical figures add a contrast of peace to the warring elements. Ogiwara's symbolism is elegant and her powerful characters are human and legendary at the same time.