We hope these selections serve to spotlight #ownvoices stories by authors of Asian and Pacific Islander heritage, introduce readers to diverse writers and perspectives, and educate and encourage a dialogue on topics of racial justice in AAPI communities.
Displacement by Kiku Hughes
Kiku is on vacation in San Francisco when suddenly she finds herself displaced to the 1940s Japanese-American internment camp that her late grandmother, Ernestina, was forcibly relocated to during World War II. These displacements keep occurring until Kiku finds herself “stuck” back in time. Living alongside her young grandmother and other Japanese-American citizens in internment camp. She witnesses the lives of Japanese-Americans who were denied their civil liberties and suffered greatly, but managed to cultivate community and commit acts of resistance in order to survive.
Available formats: Book
They Called Us Enemy by George Takei
A stunning graphic memoir recounting George Takei’s childhood imprisoned within American concentration camps during World War II. This is a firsthand account of years behind barbed wire, the joys and terrors of growing up under legalized racism, his mother’s hard choices, his father’s faith in democracy, and the way those experiences planted the seeds for his astonishing future.
Available formats: Book, Ebook (OverDrive by Media on Demand), Ebook (Hoopla)
This Time Will Be Different by Misa Sugiura
Katsuyamas never quit — but seventeen-year-old CJ doesn’t even know where to start. She’s never lived up to her mom’s type A ambition, and she’s perfectly happy just helping her aunt, Hannah, at their family’s flower shop. Then her mom decides to sell the shop — to the family who swindled CJ’s grandparents when thousands of Japanese Americans were sent to internment camps during WWII. Soon a rift threatens to splinter CJ’s family, friends, and their entire Northern California community; and for the first time, CJ has found something she wants to fight for.
Available formats: Book, Audiobook (Hoopla)
Parachutes by Kelly Yang
They’re called parachutes: teenagers dropped off to live in private homes and study in the US while their wealthy parents remain in Asia. Claire Wang never thought she’d be one of them, until her parents pluck her from her privileged life in Shanghai and enroll her at a high school in California. Suddenly she finds herself living in a stranger’s house, with no one to tell her what to do for the first time in her life.
Available formats: Book, Audiobook (OverDrive by Media on Demand), Ebook (OverDrive by Media on Demand)
A Thousand Beginnings and Endings edited by Ellen Oh
Sixteen authors of Asian descent reimagine the folklore and mythology of East and South Asia, in short stories ranging from fantasy to science fiction to contemporary, from romance to tales of revenge.
Available formats: Book, Ebook (OverDrive by Media on Demand), Audiobook (Hoopla)
Somewhere Only We Know by Maurene Goo
Told from two viewpoints, teens Lucky, a very famous K-pop star, and Jack, a part-time paparazzo who is trying to find himself, fall for each other against the odds through the course of one stolen day.
Available formats: Book, Audiobook (OverDrive by Media on Demand), Ebook (OverDrive by Media on Demand)
Descendant of the Crane by Joan He
In this shimmering Chinese-inspired fantasy, Princess Hesina of Yan has always been eager to shirk the responsibilities of the crown, but when her beloved father is murdered, she’s thrust into power, suddenly the queen of an unstable kingdom. Determined to find her father’s killer, Hesina does something desperate: she enlists the aid of a soothsayer–a treasonous act, punishable by death… because in Yan, magic was outlawed centuries ago.
Available formats: Book, Ebook (OverDrive by Media on Demand), Audiobook (Hoopla)
The Downstairs Girl by Stacey Lee
By day, seventeen-year-old Jo Kuan works as a lady’s maid for the cruel daughter of one of the wealthiest men in Atlanta. But by night, Jo moonlights as the pseudonymous author of a newspaper advice column for the genteel Southern lady, “Dear Miss Sweetie.” When her column becomes wildly popular, she uses the power of the pen to address some of society’s ills, but she’s not prepared for the backlash that follows when her column challenges fixed ideas about race and gender.
Available formats: Book, Audiobook (OverDrive by Media on Demand), Ebook (OverDrive by Media on Demand), Audiobook (Hoopla)
Our Wayward Fate by Gloria Chao
Seventeen-year-old Ali Chu knows that as the only Asian person at her school in middle-of-nowhere Indiana, she must be bland as white toast to survive. This means swapping her congee lunch for PB&Js, ignoring the clueless racism from her classmates and teachers, and keeping her mouth shut when people wrongly call her Allie instead of her actual name, pronounced Āh-lěe , after the mountain in Taiwan. Her autopilot existence is disrupted when she finds out that Chase Yu, the new kid in school, is also Taiwanese. Despite some initial resistance due to the “they belong together” whispers, Ali and Chase soon spark a chemistry rooted in competitive martial arts, joking in two languages, and, most importantly, pushing back against the discrimination they face.
Available formats: Book, Ebook (OverDrive by Media on Demand)
Spin the Dawn by Elizabeth Lim
Disguising herself as a boy to compete for the position of imperial tailor, Maia must somehow complete the impossible task of sewing three magic gowns for the emperor’s bride-to-be from the sun’s laughter, the moon’s tears, and the blood of stars.
Available formats: Book, Ebook (OverDrive by Media on Demand)
Wicked Fox by Kat Cho
No one in modern-day Seoul believes in the old fables anymore, which makes it the perfect place to for Gu Miyoung and her mother to hide in plain sight. Mihoung is a Gumiho, a nine-tailed fox, who must eat the souls of men to survive. She feeds every full moon–eating the souls of men who have committed crimes, but have evaded justice. Her life is upended when she kills a dokkaebi, a murderous goblin, in the forest just to save the life of a stupid boy. But after Miyoung saves Jihoon’s life, the two develop a tenuous friendship that blooms into romance forcing Miyoung to choose between her immortal life and Jihoon’s.
Available formats: Book
Mad, Bad & Dangerous to Know by Samira Ahmed
Told in alternating narratives that bridge centuries, the latest novel from bestselling author Samira Ahmed traces the lives of two young women fighting to write their own stories and escape the pressure of familial burdens and cultural expectations in worlds too long defined by men.
Available formats: Book, Ebook (OverDrive by Media on Demand)
Picture Us In the Light by Kelly Loy Gilbert
Danny Cheng, a Chinese-American teen, grapples with a dangerous revelation about his parents’ past, his plans for the future, and his feelings for his best friend, Harry Wong.
Available formats: Book, Audiobook (Hoopla)
Loveboat, Taipei by Abigail Hing Wen
When Ever Wong’s parents sent her away for the summer, she’s expecting Chien Tan: a strict, educational immersion program in Taiwan. Instead, she finds the infamous “Loveboat.” For the first time ever, Ever is discovering what freedom tastes like and it’s exhilarating. But summer will end and Ever will be back to her parents and the future they’ve planned for her. Author Abigail Hing Wen was born to a family of immigrants and attended the actual Loveboat program in Taipei as a young adult.
Available formats: Book, Ebook (OverDrive by Media on Demand), Audiobook (Hoopla)
I Love You So Mochi by Sarah Kuhn
When a surprise letter comes in the mail from Kimi’s estranged grandparents, inviting her to Kyoto for spring break, she seizes the opportunity to get away from the disaster of her life. When she arrives in Japan, she’s met with a culture both familiar and completely foreign to her — and meets Akira, a cute aspiring med student who moonlights as a costumed mochi mascot. Author Sarah is a third-generation Japanese American like the protagonist.
Available formats: Book, Ebook (Hoopla)
We Are Not Free by Traci Chee
The collective account of a fourteen teens who have grown up together in Japantown, San Francisco as a tight-knit group of young Nisei, second-generation Japanese American citizens, as their lives are irrevocably changed by the mass U.S. incarcerations of World War II. Author Traci Chee pulls from her own family history in this novel.
Available formats: Book, Ebook (Overdrive by Media on Demand)
Butterfly Yellow by Thanhha Lai
Hằng has made the brutal journey from Việt Nam and is now in Texas as a refugee. She doesn’t know how she will find the little brother who was taken from her until she meets LeeRoy, a city boy with big rodeo dreams, who decides to help her.
Available formats: Book, Audiobook (Hoopla)
Almost American Girl by Robin Ha
A powerful and moving teen graphic novel memoir about immigration, belonging, and how arts can save a life. Growing up as the only child of a single mother in Seoul, Korea, wasn’t always easy, but it has bonded them fiercely together. So when a vacation to visit friends in Huntsville, Alabama, unexpectedly becomes a permanent relocation–following her mother’s announcement that she’s getting married–Robin is devastated. Then one day Robin’s mother enrolls her in a local comic drawing class, which opens the window to a future Robin could never have imagined.
Available formats: Book, Ebook (OverDrive by Media on Demand).
The Astonishing Color of After by Emily X.R. Pan
Leigh, who is half Asian and half white, travels to Taiwan to meet her maternal grandparents for the first time. There, she is determined to find her mother, the bird. In her search, she winds up chasing after ghosts, uncovering family secrets, and forging a new relationship with her grandparents. And as she grieves, she must try to reconcile the fact that on the same day she kissed her best friend and longtime secret crush, Axel, her mother was taking her own life. Author Emily X.R. Pan was originally born in the Midwestern United States to immigrant parents from Taiwan.
Available formats: Book, Audiobook (OverDrive by Media on Demand), Ebook (OverDrive by Media on Demand), Ebook (cloudLibray).
Patron Saint of Nothing by Randy Rigbay
When seventeen-year-old Jay Reguero learns his Filipino cousin and former best friend, Jun, was murdered as part of President Duterte’s war on drugs, and no one in the family wants to talk about what happened, he flies to the Philippines to learn more. Hoping to uncover more about Jun and the events that led to his death, Jay is forced to reckon with the many sides of his cousin before he can face the whole horrible truth — and the part he played in it. The author Randy Ribay was born in the Philippines and raised in the Midwest.
Available formats: Book, Audiobook (OverDrive by Media on Demand), Ebook (OverDrive by Media on Demand).
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