Asian American & Pacific Islander Heritage Month

May is Asian American & Pacific Islander (AAPI) Heritage Month! Celebrate the history and literary contributions of APPI communities with these library titles.

This list was compiled by South Pasadena Public Library staff and members of the South Pasadena Public Library Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI) Committee.

Updated March 6, 2025
South Pasadena Public Library
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Speak, Okinawa : a memoir
Brina, Elizabeth Miki
Ebook
A "hauntingly beautiful memoir about family and identity" (NPR) and a young woman's journey to understanding her complicated parents--her mother an Okinawan war bride, her father a Vietnam veteran--and her own, fraught cultural heritage. Elizabeth's mother was working as a...
Heart of fire : an immigrant daughter's story
Hirono, Mazie
Ebook
"Heart of Fire is a revelatory, evocative, deeply moving book." -Washington Post "Amazing . . . a memoir I really loved." -Secretary Hillary Clinton, "You and Me Both" podcast "A beautiful book."-Trevor Noah, The Daily Show The...
Last boat out of Shanghai The epic story of the chinese who fled mao's revolution
Zia, Helen.
Ebook
The dramatic real life stories of four young people caught up in the mass exodus of Shanghai in the wake of China's 1949 Communist revolution.Shanghai has historically been China's jewel, its richest, most modern, and westernized city. The bustling metropolis was home to sophisticated intellectuals,...
The woman warrior : memoirs of a girlhood among ghosts
Kingston, Maxine Hong.
Paper Book
"'No name woman' originally appeared, in slightly different form, in the January 1975 issue of Viva"--T.p. verso.
In the country Stories
Alvar, Mia
Ebook
In these nine globe-trotting tales, Mia Alvar gives voice to the women and men of the Philippines and its diaspora. From teachers to housemaids, from mothers to sons, Alvar's stories explore the universal experiences of loss, displacement, and the longing to connect across...
The Buddha in the attic
Otsuka, Julie
CD
Finalist for the 2011 National Book Award Julie Otsuka's long awaited follow-up to When the Emperor Was Divine ("To watch Emperor catching on with teachers and students in vast numbers is to grasp what must have happened at the outset for novels like Lord...
On earth we're briefly gorgeous a novel
Vuong, Ocean
Ebook
A New York Times bestseller * Nominated for the National Book Award for Fiction * Ocean Vuong's debut novel is a shattering portrait of a family, a first love, and the redemptive power of storytelling New York Times Readers Pick: 100 Best Books of the 21st Century ...
Interior chinatown A novel.
Yu, Charles.
Ebook
NOW A HULU ORIGINAL SERIES * NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * NATIONAL BOOK AWARD WINNER * "A shattering and darkly comic send-up of racial stereotyping in Hollywood" (Vanity Fair) and a deeply personal novel about race, pop culture, immigration, assimilation, and escaping the roles we...
Good talk : a memoir in conversations
Jacob, Mira
Paper Book
NATIONAL BESTSELLER * A "beautiful and eye-opening" (Jacqueline Woodson), "hilarious and heart-rending" (Celeste Ng) graphic memoir about American identity, interracial families,  and the realities that divide us, from the acclaimed author of The Sleepwalker's Guide to Dancing.
Crying in H Mart : a memoir
Zauner, Michelle
Ebook
#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * From the indie rock sensation known as Japanese Breakfast, an unforgettable memoir about family, food, grief, love, and growing up Korean American--"in losing her mother and cooking to bring her back to life, Zauner became herself" (NPR). * CELEBRATING...

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