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
Paper Book
A daughter born between two cultures - the US and Japan - grapples with the question: where is my home, and how will I recognise it when I reach it?
White chrysanthemum
Bracht, Mary Lynn
Paper Book
'Look for your sister after each dive. Never forget. If you see her, you are safe.' Hana and her little sister Emi are part of an island community of haenyeo, women who make their living from diving deep into the sea off the southernmost tip of Korea. One day Hana...
If I had your face : a novel
Cha, Frances
Paper Book
If I Had Your Face plunges us into the mesmerizing world of contemporary Seoul - a place where extreme plastic surgery is as routine as getting a haircut, where women compete for spots in secret 'room salons' to entertain wealthy businessmen after hours, where K-Pop stars are the object of...
The kinship of secrets : a novel
Kim, Eugenia
Paper Book
The riveting story of two sisters, one raised in the United States, the other in South Korea, and the family that bound them together even as the Korean War kept them apart'A gorgeous achievement' Min Jin Lee, author of Pachinko'Graceful, poignant and moving' Viet Thanh...
P'ach'ink'o
Lee, Min Jin
Paper Book
* The million-copy bestseller* * National Book Award finalist * * One of the New York Times's 10 Best Books of 2017 * * Selected for Emma Watson's Our Shared Shelf book club * 'This is a captivating book... Min Jin Lee's novel takes us through...
The Buddha in the attic
Otsuka, Julie
Paper Book
After the First World War, a group of young women is brought by boat from Japan to San Francisco. They are picture brides, promised the American Dream, clutching photographs of the husbands they have yet to meet, imagining uncertain futures on unknown shores. Struggling to master a new...
On earth we're briefly gorgeous : a novel
Vuong, Ocean
Paper Book
** Sunday Times Bestseller ** Brilliant, heart-breaking and highly original, TikTok has fallen in love with Ocean Vuong's shattering portrait of a family. This is a letter from a son to a mother who cannot read. Written when the speaker, Little...
How much of these hills is gold
Zhang, C Pam
Paper Book
LONGLISTED FOR THE BOOKER PRIZE 2020 A BARACK OBAMA BOOK OF THE YEAR 2020 America. In the twilight of the Gold Rush, two siblings cross a landscape with a gun in their hands and the body of their father on their backs . . . ...
Crying in H Mart : a memoir
Zauner, Michelle
Paper Book
'That book f**king destroyed me,' - Olivia Rodrigo 'Michelle Zauner explores what it means to cook your feelings... she uses the lens of food and cooking to explore her Korean identity after she loses her mother to cancer.' Jungkook of BTS From the indie rockstar Japanese Breakfast, an unflinching,...

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