Children's Book Suggestions | Asian American & Pacific Islander Heritage MonthUnpublished

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Based on a true story from the author's childhood, this novel about trying out for the middle school cheerleading squad is a perfect fit for friends of Smile and Real Friends. (Young Teen Graphic Novel Grades 5-7)

Making Korean food with her grandmother, who's experiencing dementia, allows Maya to travel back through her grandmother's memories to learn about her life. (Children's Fiction Grades 3-5)

A classical Hindustani singer must harness the power of her voice to protect her town from a shapeshifter straight out of Indian folklore. (Children's Fiction Grades 3-5)

Mia, an aspiring writer and recent immigrant from China, helps her parents run an Anaheim motel in 1990s LA. (Children's Fiction Grades 3-5)

A biracial Asian girl who longs to be a dressmaker settles in a small South Dakota town inspired by the Little House on the Prairie books. (Children's Fiction Grades 3-5)

After her grandfather falls ill, a young teen from LA spends a summer in the Midwest helping out at her grandparents' restaurant and learning more about her heritage. (Children's Fiction Grades 3-5)

A homeschooled girl makes friends with the power of J-Pop! (Young Teen Fiction Grades 5-7)

A middle school boy spends his summer delivering groceries for his family's Indian market and secretly learning to shine on stage in a play about Leonard Bernstein. (Young Teen Fiction Grades 5-7)

A Filipino middle schooler starts a slime business at his new school while managing his father's pressure to play soccer instead. (Young Teen Fiction Grades 5-7)

A vengeful ghost steals the key that allows a Filipino girl to speak with the spirits of her parents in this fantasy adventure story based on Filipino mythology. (Young Teen Fiction Grades 5-7)

In this novel in verse, a Pakistani girl struggles to adjust to life in America after her father gets a new job in Peachtree, Georgia. (Young Teen Fiction Grades 5-7)

Keiko finds herself stuck in the middle between two best friends, one who throws herself headlong into makeup and dating and one who doesn't. (Young Teen Fiction Grades 5-7)

A Hmong teen discovers she's a legendary shaman warrior when she rescues her brother's spirit from the underworld in this Rick Riordan Presents fantasy adventure. (Young Teen Fiction Grades 5-7)

Shy sunny flourishes on her school dance team, despite the fact that it causes serious problems with her best friend, Bailey, who didn't. (Young Teen Fiction Grades 5-7)

An Indian American middle schooler refuses to acknowledge her difficult feelings around her parents' divorce until she begins spontaneously breaking out in Bollywood-style song and dance routines to express her feelings. (Young Teen Fiction Grades 5-7)

A young cook and recent immigrant from Taiwan enters a cooking competition, where she hopes to use her Taiwanese culinary skills to win enough money to visit her grandmother. (Children's Graphic Novel Grades 3-5)

A retelling of Little Women starring a Pakistani Muslim American family living in modern-day Georgia. (Young Teen Fiction Grades 5-7)

A Korean American girl attempts to include her adopted sister in the family's magic with disastrous results. (Young Teen Fiction Grades 5-7)

A Hawai'ian teen whose lost interest in continuing her family's storytelling traditions must lift a family curse after insulting the volcano goddess, Pele. (Young Teen Fiction Grades 5-7)

A novel in verse inspired by the author's childhood, when her family settled in Alabama in 1975 following the Vietnam War. (Young Teen Fiction Grades 5-7)

A girl who can talk to ghosts befriends a spirit during Hungry Ghost month in this funny graphic novel from Chinese Australian author Remy Lai. (Young Teen Graphic Novel Grades 5-7)

A magical fox spirit helps a Chinese American boy investigate his brother's mysterious death. (Young Teen Fiction Grades 5-7)

A Korean American middle schooler experiences the 1992 LA riots while crossing the city to help his dad at their family store in Koreatown. (Young Teen Fiction Grades 5-7)

A young teen girl learns about her family history through the power of stories when she goes to stay with her aging halmoni. (Young Teen Fiction Grades 5-7)

Two teen who are less than enthused about helping with their family's Filipino food truck find themselves cursed by monsters from Filipino folklore. (Young Teen Graphic Novel Grades 5-7)

A Korean American girl struggling to fit in with her classmates navigates grief while mourning the death of her grandparents. (Young Teen Graphic Novel Grades 5-7)

Try a bunch of different Asian American authors in this book of short stories set in an airport, edited by We Need Diverse Books co-founder Ellen Oh. (Children's Fiction Grades 3-5)

Learning about her Korean family history helps a bullied middle schooler gain confidence. (Young Teen Fiction Grades 5-7)