A World of Books to Discover for AANHPI Heritage Month!

Karen Gilpatrick

In honor of Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander Heritage Month, we’re highlighting some titles that celebrate, honor, and reflect the history and experiences of AANHPI communities.

Preschool

A drawn image of a girl standing on a large rock in front of a beach background. She holds a large, slim stick that is about a foot taller than she is.

Made for More by Chloe Ito Ward

An exploration of immigration and nontraditional beauty that pays tribute to the unique identity formed by a girl’s Japanese roots and Hawaiian upbringing.

Hair Oil Magic by Anu Chouhan

Meenu discovers the magic in her culture’s tradition of hair oiling, and the bond she shares with her mother and grandmother. Includes Meenu’s magic hair day tips.

A drawn image of a girl whose mother sits behind her parting her hair. Behind the mother, a grandmother sits and parts the mother’s hair. The background is purple and swirls, sparkles, and bottles accent the space behind the three women.
The side profile of a boy. He is holding a lit paper lantern and gazing up at a large number of lit paper lanterns that are filling the night sky.

Eyes That Speak to the Stars by Johanna Ho

A young Asian boy notices that his eyes look different from his peers’ after seeing his friend’s drawing of them. After talking to his father, the boy realizes that his eyes rise to the skies and speak to the stars, shine like sunlit rays, and glimpse trails of light from those who came before–in fact, his eyes are like his father’s, his agong’s, and his little brother’s, and they are visionary. Inspired by the men in his family, he recognizes his own power and strength from within.

Middle Grade

Yusuf Azeem is Not a Hero by Saadia Faruqi

Yusuf is excited to start middle school in his small Texas town, but with the twentieth anniversary of the September 11 attacks coming up, suddenly it feels like the country’s same anger and grief is all focused on his Muslim community.

A drawn image of a boy wearing glasses holding a red book open up towards his face. The front or his torso overlaps with an image of himself walking alone down a hallway of lockers.
A drawn image of a young girl excitedly standing with her arms full of a variety of items including a notebook, moon shaped string lights, a roll of paper, a shopping bag full of additional items, etc. Two girls stand in the background setting up cultural fair items. A robotic bunny on wheels is on the ground in the background.

Rainbow Fair by Diana Ma

Twelve-year-old Sophie Mu discovers the power of defining oneself as she navigates friendship drama, family expectations, and learning about her Hui, her Chinese Muslim identity.

Lion Dancers by Cai Tse

A boy feels his passion for lion dancing re-igniting after the death of his father, and so he decides to join the local junior team, where his ex-best friend becomes his new rival.

A drawn image of two boys in traditional dragon dancer costumes stand in opposition on different sides of a large dragon dancer dragon head. The background is a cloud-like swirl that consists of the colors yellow, orange, and red.

Young Adult

A drawn picture of a teen girl with a stressed expression running both hands through her hair. The background is yellow and there is a white drawn suspension bridge.

Imposter Syndrome and Other Confessions of Alejandra Kim by Patricia Park

Alejandra Kim doesn’t feel like she belongs anywhere. At her wealthy Manhattan high school, her super Spanish name and super Korean face do not compute to her mostly white “woke” classmates and teachers. In her Jackson Heights neighborhood, she’s not Latinx enough. Even at home, Ale feels unwelcome. And things at home have only gotten worse since Papi’s body was discovered on the subway tracks. Ale wants nothing more than to escape the city for the wide-open spaces of the prestigious Wyder University. But when a microaggression at school thrusts Ale into the spotlight–and into a discussion she didn’t ask for–Ale must discover what it means to carve out a space for yourself to belong.

Chasing Pacquiao by Rod Pulido

When Bobby is unwillingly outed he turns to boxing, finding a hero in Filipino boxer Manny Pacquiao, but when Pacquiao publicly denounces homosexuality, Bobby must discover a hero within himself.

Drawn images of broken sections of glass that depict a teenage boy in a red hoodie. Around him are scenes of domestic life including him riding a bike, boxing, being held in an embrace by another teenage boy, and a teenage girl sitting with headphones writing with papers scattered around her.
A drawn image of a girl with a scared expression on her face. Flowers bloom out of her mouth and a single tear runs down her face. Her dark hair blends into the black background and is framed with green leaves.

She is a Haunting by Trang Thanh Tran

In Vietnam, Jade struggles to keep up the charade of a happy family while staying in her father’s French colonial house. The house’s sinister forces awaken ancient spirits, including a ghostly bride who warns Jade of impending danger. With the help of an unlikely ally, Jade uncovers a dark secret within the house’s walls, challenging its hold on her family. Will she escape before it’s too late?

Adult

Convenience Store Woman by Sayaka Murata

Keiko Furukura finds solace in the predictable routine of her convenience store job, where she meticulously follows the store manual to fit in. After 18 years, she realizes she’s falling short of societal norms. When a cynical new coworker disrupts her world, Keiko faces a choice: embrace change and risk upsetting her contentment, or continue living on society’s fringe. Will this unexpected influence lead to a new beginning or further alienation?

A blue background with a pink and white pattern cloth. On the cloth there is a small white plate with a rice ball that is decorated with food to look like a girl. A small star also made out of food accents the plate besides the rice ball.
Two drawn images of women’s eyes frame the title. The drawings are simple and depict one pair of eyes with purple eyeshadow and a colorful nose ring and the other pair of eyes with blue eyeshadow and a bindi.

The Bandit Queens by Parini Shroff

Geeta, ostracized as a rumored witch in her village, navigates a solitary existence after her husband’s vanishing. Embracing her fearsome reputation, she unknowingly becomes the go-to advisor for women seeking to escape abusive marriages. As their plans go awry, Geeta must confront the unintended consequences of her influence. To survive the tangled web they’ve created, long-lost connections must be revived before it’s too late. Can they escape the chaos they’ve unleashed together?

A Man of Two Faces by Viet Thanh Nguyen

Viet Thanh Nguyen rewinds the film of his own life. He expands the genre of personal memoir by acknowledging larger stories of refugeehood, colonization, and ideas about Vietnam and America, writing with his trademark sardonic wit and incisive analysis, as well as a deep emotional openness about his life as a father and a son … Profound in its emotions and brilliant in its thinking about cultural power, A Man of Two Faces explores the necessity of both forgetting and of memory, the promises America so readily makes and breaks, and the exceptional life story of one of the most original and important writers working today.

A blue cover with an abstractly drawn self portrait of the author.

By Ceilidh Jimenez