Books From Around the World (YA): Asia

It’s often interesting to get a different perspective on the world. Here are some books set in some far-flung places – and some places close to home – grouped by continent/large body of water with islands in it. The books on this list are (mostly) written by authors from the countries they are about, and in many cases have been translated into English from their mother tongues (the book we’ve chosen for Madagascar, Return to the enchanted island by Johary Ravaloson, is only the second book to have ever been translated from Malagasy into English!).

Not all of the books are in the Young Adult collection, but we’ve tried to make sure that they all at least feature kids or teens in prominent places in the story. Our eventual goal is to have at least one book for every country in the world! Help us out by sending in recommendations if you’ve found one we’ve missed!

This list contains books written by authors from Asia. Check out our lists for authors from Africa, Europe, North and Central America, Oceania, and South America for even more recommendations!

Updated June 19, 2024
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All my rage
Tahir, Sabaa
Paper Book
National Book Award WINNER Printz Award for Excellence in Young Adult Literature WINNER An INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER! An INSTANT INDIE BESTSELLER! "All My Rage is a love story, a tragedy and an infectious teenage fever dream about what home...

Pakistan | Pakistani-American author

Patron saints of nothing
Ribay, Randy
Paper Book
A NATIONAL BOOK AWARD FINALIST * A powerful coming-of-age story about grief, guilt, and the risks a Filipino-American teenager takes to uncover the truth about his cousin's murder. "Brilliant, honest, and equal parts heartbreaking and soul-healing." --Laurie Halse Anderson...

Philippines | Filipino author

Thirst
Bajaj, Varsha
Paper Book
A New York Times Bestseller The riveting story of a heroic girl who fights for her belief that water should be for everyone. Minni lives in the poorest part of Mumbai, where access to water is limited to a few hours a day and the communal taps have long lines....

India | Indian author

The henna wars
Jaigirdar, Adiba
Paper Book
"Impossible to put down." - Kirkus, starred review Nishat doesn't want to lose her family, but she also doesn't want to hide who she is, and it only gets harder once a childhood friend walks back into her life. Flávia is beautiful and charismatic, and Nishat falls for...

Bangladesh | Bangladeshi-Irish author

The love & lies of Rukhsana Ali
Khan, Sabina
Paper Book
With a welcome mix of humor, heart, and high-stakes drama, Sabina Khan provides a timely and honest portrait of what it's like to grow up feeling unwelcome in your own culture. Fight for love. Fight for family. Fight for yourself. Seventeen-year-old Rukhsana Ali...

Bangladesh | Bangladeshi-Canadian author

The mountains sing : a novel
Nguye??n, Phan Que?? Mai
Paper Book
The International Bestseller A New York Times Editors' Choice Selection A Winner of the 2020 Lannan Literary Awards Fellowship A Best Book of 2020: NPR's Book Concierge * PopMatters * Washington Independent...

Vietnam | Vietnamese author

First they killed my father : a daughter of Cambodia remembers
Ung, Loung.
Paper Book
"A riveting memoir. . . an important, moving work that those who have suffered cannot afford to forget and those who have been spared cannot afford to ignore." -- San Francisco Chronicle From a childhood survivor of the Cambodian genocide under the regime of Pol Pot, this is a...

Cambodia | Khmer-American author

The three-body problem
Liu, Cixin
Paper Book
The inspiration for the Netflix series 3 Body Problem! WINNER OF THE HUGO AWARD FOR BEST NOVEL Over 1 million copies sold in North America "A mind-bending epic."--The New York Times * "War of the Worlds for...

China | Chinese author

Chinese Cinderella : the true story of an unwanted daughter
Mah, Adeline Yen 1937-
Paper Book
A riveting memoir of a girl's painful coming-of-age in a wealthy Chinese family during the 1940s. A Chinese proverb says, Falling leaves return to their roots. In Chinese Cinderella, Adeline Yen Mah returns to her roots to tell the story of her painful childhood and her ultimate triumph and...

China | Chinese-American author

Slumdog millionaire : a novel
Swarup, Vikas.
Paper Book
Vikas Swarup's spectacular debut novel opens in a jail cell in Mumbai, India, where Ram Mohammad Thomas is being held after correctly answering all twelve questions on India's biggest quiz show, Who Will Win a Billion? It is hard to believe that a poor orphan who has never read a newspaper or gone...

India | Indian author

Everything sad is untrue : (a true story)
Nayeri, Daniel
Paper Book
Winner of the Michael L. Printz Award Christopher Award Winner Middle East Book Award Winner National Indie Bestseller NPR Best Book of the Year New York Times Best of the Year Amazon Best of the Year Booklist Editors' Choice ...

Iran | Iranian-American author

Well, that was unexpected
Sutanto, Jesse Q
Paper Book
"A delightful, hilarious, captivating love letter to Indonesia, and coming of age in a large meddlesome family, and the thrill of finding your person where you least expect it!"--Ali Hazelwood, New York Times bestselling author of The Love Hypothesis ...

Indonesia | Indonesian author

If you could be mine
Farizan, Sara
Paper Book
Winner of the Lambda Literary Award for LGBT Children's/Young Adult One of Rolling Stone's 40 Best YA Novels A 2014 ALA Rainbow List Top 10 Title A Booklist Top 10 First Novels for Youth 2013 A Chicago Public Library "Best of the Best" 2013 ...

Iran | Iranian-American author

Darius the Great is not okay
Khorram, Adib
Paper Book
Darius doesn't think he'll ever be enough, in America or in Iran. Hilarious and heartbreaking, this unforgettable debut introduces a brilliant new voice in contemporary YA. Winner of the William C. Morris Debut Award "Heartfelt, tender, and so utterly real. I'd live...

Iran | Iranian-American author

Persepolis : the story of a childhood
Satrapi, Marjane 1969-
Paper Book
A New York Times Notable Book A Time Magazine “Best Comix of the Year” A San Francisco Chronicle and Los Angeles Times Best-seller Wise, funny, and heartbreaking, Persepolis is Marjane Satrapi’s memoir of growing up in...

Iran | Iranian author

Lola : a ghost story
Torres, J.
Paper Book
Jesse sees dead people, monsters, demons, and lots of other things that go bump in the night that no one else can see. No one except his ailing grandmother--a woman who used her visions to help those living in her small town... the same rural community in all the scary stories Jesse's heard as a...

Philippines | Filipino-Canadian author

The cat who saved books : a novel
Natsukawa, So?suke
Paper Book
AN INDIE NEXT PICK! From the #1 bestselling author in Japan comes a celebration of books, cats, and the people who love them, infused with the heartwarming spirit of The Guest Cat and The Travelling Cat Chronicles. Bookish high school student Rintaro Natsuki is about to close the...

Japan | Japanese author

The night tiger
Choo, Yangsze
Paper Book
The Reese Witherspoon x Hello Sunshine Book Club Pick INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER "A sumptuous garden maze of a novel that immerses readers in a complex, vanished world." --Kirkus (starred review) An utterly transporting...

Malaysia | Malaysian author

The weight of our sky
Hanna Alkaf
Paper Book
A music loving teen with OCD does everything she can to find her way back to her mother during the historic race riots in 1969 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, in this heart-pounding literary debut. Melati Ahmad looks like your typical movie-going, Beatles-obsessed sixteen-year-old....

Malaysia | Malaysian author

From the land of green ghosts a Burmese odyssey
Khoo Thwe, Pascal 1967-
Paper Book
"A page-turner...deeply moving, beautifully written, and most inspiring. When I reached the last page, my heart was filled with joy and gratitude." -- Nien Chang, author of Life and Death in Shanghai An emotionally charged and lyrically written memoir about a remarkable odyssey from a...

Myanmar | Burmese author

The girl with seven names : a North Korean defector's story
Lee, Hyeonseo
Paper Book
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER An extraordinary insight into life under one of the world's most ruthless and secretive dictatorships - and the story of one woman's terrifying struggle to avoid capture/repatriation and guide her family to freedom. As a child growing...

North Korea | North Korean author

Every falling star : the true story of how I survived and escaped North Korea
Lee, Sungju
Paper Book
Every Falling Star, the first book to portray contemporary North Korea to a young audience, is Sungju Lee's intense memoir about being forced at age 12 to live on the streets and fend for himself. "Presents North Korea as a horrifying real-life...

North Korea | North Korean author

Written in the stars
Saeed, Aisha.
Paper Book
This heart-wrenching novel explores what it is like to be thrust into an unwanted marriage. Has Naila's fate been written in the stars? Or can she still make her own destiny? Naila's conservative immigrant parents have always said the same thing- She may choose what to...

Pakistan | Pakistani-American author

My heart underwater
Fantauzzo, Laurel Flores
Paper Book
Fans of Adib Khorram and Randy Ribay will love this coming-of-age debut about a Filipina American teen drowning under pressure and learning to trust her heart.  Corazon Tagubio is an outcast at the Catholic school she attends on scholarship. Her crush on her teacher, Ms. Holden, doesn...

Philippines | Filipina author

The Noh family
Shim, Grace
Paper Book
This sparkling K-drama inspired debut novel introduces irrepressibly charming teen Chloe Chang, who is reunited with her deceased father's estranged family via a DNA test, and is soon whisked off to Seoul to join them... When her friends gift her a 23-and-Me test as a gag, high...

South Korea | South Korean-American author

Almendra
Son, W?n-p'y?ng 1979-
Paper Book
Yunjae nació con alexitimia, una enfermedad que le impide reconocer y expresar emociones, y que está asociada a un crecimiento inferior de la amígdala cerebral, generalmente del tamaño de una almendra. Su madre soltera y su abuela hacen todo lo posible por ayudarlo a relacionarse con los demás, si...

South Korea | South Korean author

The astonishing color of after
Pan, Emily X. R
Paper Book
A Time Magazine 100 Best YA Books of All Time Selection A stunning, heartbreaking debut novel about grief, love, and family, perfect for fans of Jandy Nelson and Celeste Ng. Leigh Chen Sanders is absolutely certain about one thing: When...

Taiwan | Taiwanese-American author

Loveboat, Taipei
Wen, Abigail Hing
Paper Book
An instant New York Times bestseller and Indie bestseller! Now adapted for the screen! Catch Love in Taipei, starring Ashley Liao (Physical, Fresh Off the Boat), Ross Butler (To All the Boys I've Loved Before franchise, Shazam!), Nico Hiraga (Booksmart), and Chelsea Zhang (Daybreak), now...

Taiwan | Chinese-American author

10 minutes 38 seconds in this strange world
Shafak, Elif
Paper Book
SHORTLISTED FOR THE BOOKER PRIZE 2019 'Expect vibrant, vivid and eye-opening descriptions of Middle Eastern life propelled by a tender storyline, all in Shafak's haunting, beautiful and considered prose' Vanity Fair 'Incredibly sensuous and...

Turkey | Turkish author

Family style : memories of an American from Vietnam
Pham, Thien
Paper Book
YALSA Award for Excellence in Nonfiction Finalist Eisner Award Winner for Best Graphic MemoirAn NPR Best Books of 2023 A moving young adult graphic memoir about a Vietnamese immigrant boy's search for belonging in America, perfect for fans of American...

Vietnam | Vietnamese-American author


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