Asian American/Pacific Islander Read in Color Recommended Reads

Aloha Everything by Kaylin Melia George, illustrated by Mae Waite (40 pp, Red Comet Press, 2024). In this exciting adventure, you’ll encounter mighty canoes crashing over ocean waves, regal hawks soaring high above the clouds, and brilliant lizards jumping nimbly through forest trees! Most importantly, you’ll meet a courageous young girl named Ano who learns, grows, and comes to love her island home with all her heart.

Since the day that Ano was born, her heart has been connected to her home. But, this adventurous child has a lot to learn! When Ano begins to dance hula — a storytelling dance form that carries the knowledge, history, and folklore of the Hawaiian people — Ano comes to understand the true meaning of aloha. Ages 5 and up.

Dreams to Ashes: The 1871 Los Angeles Chinatown Massacre by Livia Blackburne, illustrated by Nicole Xu (40 pp, Carolrhoda Books, 2025). In the mid-1800s, a wave of Chinese immigrants traveled to the West Coast of the United States. They were following rumors of Gold Mountain, a land rich with treasure for all who came. When gold proved elusive, they began to seek their fortunes in other ways–as doctors and launderers, as cooks and musicians.

A number of Chinese immigrants settled in Los Angeles, California. It was a rough, occasionally lawless city, and newspapers routinely published anti-Chinese articles, fueling sparks of hatred. On the night of October 24, 1871, the city exploded in violence. In the ensuing massacre, eighteen Chinese men were killed, their dreams turned to ashes.

New York Times bestselling author Livia Blackburne and illustrator Nicole Xu illuminate a tragic episode in our nation’s past in the hope that future generations can move toward a brighter tomorrow. Ages 7 – 11.

Girls to the Front: 40 Asian American Women Who Blazed a Trail by Niña Mata (96 pp, HarperCollins, 2025). From the big stage to the US Navy, from laboratories to the boardroom, from the Olympics to the pages in books, these girls and women lead every line. Bold, bright, and empowering profiles by Geisel Honor–winning and #1 New York Times bestselling artist Niña Mata place these incredible changemakers at the very front and inspire readers to tap into their own greatness. Ages 8 – 12.

Mami King: How Ma Mon Luk Found Love, Riches, and the Perfect Bowl of Soup by Jacqueline Chio-Lauri, illustrated by Kristin Sorra (32 pp, Millbrook Press, 2024). He vows to make a fortune and return for his beloved. Ma creates a chicken noddle soup he calls mami–“ma” for his name and “mi” for noodles–and peddles it as a street vendor. He eventually earns enough to open his own restaurant and wins the approval of the parents of his true love. Joyful illustrations from award-winning illustrator Kristin Sorra and heartwarming text from debut picture book author Jacqueline Chio-Lauri blend together to create a delicious story about creativity, perseverance, and the perfect bowl of soup. Ages 7 – 11.

The Princess and the Grain of Rice by Tina Cho, illustrated by Honee Jang (40 pp, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2026). In the mountains of Joseon, Jeongsoon has a heart as gentle as jade, but she might just be the clumsiest girl in the kingdom. She wants to be a princess, so she enters the grand princess challenge where she must complete the Manners Test, the Wisdom Test, and finally—the Sleep Test. Throughout each examination, Jeongsoon is far from flawless but in staying true to herself, wins the favor of the queen and the competition itself. Ages 4 – 8.

The Rock in My Throat by Kao Kalia Yang, illustrated by Jiemei Lin (32 pp, Carolrhoda Books, 2024). In this moving true story, Kao Kalia Yang shares her experiences as a young Hmong refugee navigating life at home and at school. Having seen the poor treatment her parents received when making their best efforts at speaking English, she no longer speaks at school. Kalia feels as though a rock has become lodged in her throat, and it grows heavier each day. Although the narrative is somber, it is also infused with moments of beauty, love, and hope. Ages 5 – 10.

Keep Dancing by Cristina Oxtra, illustrated by Seb Burnett (32 pp, Picture Window Books, 2024). Lito is proud of his Filipino heritage, and he’s one of the best dancers in his folk dance group.

He and his sister, Nenita, plan to perform at their school’s spring festival.

When snickering classmates threaten to derail Lito’s confidence, he needs to dig deep and keep dancing. Ages 5 – 7. En espanol.

Snow Steps by Karen Latchana Kenney, illustrated by Irina Avgustinovich (32 pp, Worthy Kids, 2024). Lakshmi just moved from rural, sunny Guyana to a city in icy, frigid Minnesota. Her family is trying hard to adjust to a new country, but for Lakshmi, the hardest part is the cold, slushy, white stuff everywhere. Snow didn’t exist in Guyana, but it’s inescapable in Minnesota. Lakshmi’s too scared to walk in it, so her mama has to carry her everywhere. But when she meets a new friend on the bus, Lakshmi’s fears melt away, revealing a bravery she didn’t know she had. Ages 4 – 7.

What Lolo Wants by Cristina Oxtra, illustrated by Jamie Bauza (32 pp, Kids Can Press, 2024). Every night, Maria and Lolo draw together. Though she tries, Maria isn’t nearly as good as her grandfather. Lolo can draw anything: Lola cooking, sampaguita blooming, maya birds perching. One day, though, things start to change. Lolo does not feel well. And when Maria asks him to draw, he says he needs to rest. Not long after, Lolo begins to forget people’s names, and soon he cannot find the words for what he wants. Maria tries to find some way to help Lolo communicate – could their shared love of drawing be the answer? Ages 3 – 7.

Where Do Stories Live? by Meenal Patel (40 pp, Kokila, 2026). When Avni receives a journal as a gift, she questions what is worth putting on its blank pages. Through observation, contemplation, and adventure as they walk to their aunt’s house, Avni and her younger sister Isha discover the magic of storytelling hiding in butterfly wings, homemade meals, and shared laughter. Ages 4 – 8.

An Expanse of Blue by Kauakanilehua Mahoe Adams (464 pp, Heartdrum, 2026). Aouli Elizabeth Smith is adrift: unheard at home and an unbeliever at church, fighting her sister and losing her best friend. Overflowing with feeling, she pours her secrets and herself into her song journal when the world threatens to sweep her away. The one place she feels tied down to earth is at her Aunty Ehu’s house. Those joyous Saturdays with her extended Native Hawaiian community living in Western Washington are precious to her. Under the maple trees, the fragments of her life fit together, if only for an afternoon.

Then, an unspeakable truth about her father shatters this one perfect corner of her life.

As Aouli’s world constricts around what others wish she could be, language fails her. But when a new boy, Nalu, turns up with eyes that seem to pierce right into her soul, maybe it’s love that can give her the words to set herself free. Ages 13 and up.

The First State of Being by Erin Entrada Kelly (272 pp, Greenwillow Books, 2024). It’s August 1999. For twelve-year-old Michael Rosario, life at Fox Run Apartments in Red Knot, Delaware, is as ordinary as ever—except for the looming Y2K crisis and his overwhelming crush on his sixteen-year-old babysitter, Gibby. But when a disoriented teenage boy named Ridge appears out of nowhere, Michael discovers there is more to life than stockpiling supplies and pining over Gibby.

It turns out that Ridge is carefree, confident, and bold, things Michael wishes he could be. Unlike Michael, however, Ridge isn’t where he belongs. When Ridge reveals that he’s the world’s first time traveler, Michael and Gibby are stunned but curious. As Ridge immerses himself in 1999—fascinated by microwaves, basketballs, and malls—Michael discovers that his new friend has a book that outlines the events of the next twenty years, and his curiosity morphs into something else: focused determination. Michael wants—no, needs—to get his hands on that book. How else can he prepare for the future? But how far is he willing to go to get it? Ages 10 and up.

The Gate, the Girl, and the Dragon by Grace Lin (352 pp, Little, Brown Books for Young Readers, 2025). Jin is a Stone Lion–one of the guardians of the Old City Gate who is charged to watch over humans and protect the Sacred Sphere. But to Jin, those boring duties feel like a waste of time.

What isn’t a waste of time? Perfecting his zuqiu kick, scoring a Golden Goal, and becoming the most legendary player of all the spirit world.

But when Jin’s perfect kick accidentally knocks the Sacred Sphere out through the gate, he has no choice but to run after it, tumbling out of the realm he calls home and into the human world as the gate closes behind him.

Stuck outside the gate, Jin must find help from unlikely allies, including a girl who can hear a mysterious voice and a worm who claims he is a dragon. Together, they must find the sphere and return it to the world beyond the gate…or risk losing everything. Ages 8 – 12.

How to Draw a Secret by Cindy Chang (272 pp, Allida, 2025). Twelve-year-old Cindy relishes drawing flawless images, but she is stumped by an art contest prompt: “What family means to me.” No one at school can know that Cindy’s dad moved back to Taiwan four years ago, so Cindy sketches out the perfect plan to draw the perfect picture while keeping her parents’ separation secret.

Then an unexpected trip to Taipei reveals devastating new secrets. Suddenly everything from Cindy’s art to her family is falling apart. With her dream of perfection in tatters, Cindy must figure out how to draw from her heart and share her secrets. But can she really reveal the truth, messy lines and all? Ages 8 – 12.

Kiyo Sato: From a WWII Japanese Internment Camp to a Life of Service by Sajni Patel (136 pp, Twenty-First Century Books, 2025). In 1941 Kiyo Sato and her eight younger siblings lived with their parents on a small farm near Sacramento, California, where they grew strawberries, nuts, and other crops. Kiyo had started college the year before when she was eighteen, and her eldest brother, Seiji, would soon join the US Army. The younger children attended school and worked on the farm after class and on Saturday. On Sunday, they went to church. The Satos were an ordinary American family. Until they weren’t. Ages 11 and up.

Lei and the Fire Goddess by Malia Maunakea (304 pp, Penguin Workshop, 2024). Curses aren’t real.

At least, that’s what twelve-year-old, part-Hawaiian Anna Leilani Kamaʻehu thinks when she listens to her grandmother’s folktales about sacred flowers and family guardians. Anna’s friends back home in Colorado don’t believe in legends, either. They’re more interested in science and sports—real, tangible things that stand in total contrast to Anna’s family’s embarrassing stories.

So when Anna goes back to Hawaiʻi to visit her Tūtū, she has no interest in becoming the heir to her family’s history; she’s set on having a touristy, fun vacation. But when Anna accidentally insults Pele the fire goddess by destroying her lehua blossom, a giant hawk swoops in and kidnaps her best friend, and she quickly learns just how real these moʻolelo are. In order to save her friends and family, Anna must now battle mythical creatures, team up with demigods and talking bats, and evade the traps Pele hurls her way.

For if Anna hopes to undo the curse, she will have to dig deep into her Hawaiian roots and learn to embrace all of who she is. Ages 9 – 12.

My Big, Fat Desi Wedding edited by Prerna Pickett (288 pp, Page Street YA, 2024). A family curse that turns spoken prophecy into truth.

A world where your soulmate’s feelings appear as words on your skin.

A boy who has to decide whether or not to attend his brother’s wedding even though their parents have forbidden it.

A girl who encounters the boy she loved and lost and realizes where her heart truly lies.

These genre-bending stories focus on the magic (and tension) of the biggest family gathering. Both award-winning and debut authors share stories of broken hearts, rekindled flames, unlikely romances, and one particular auntie who loves to meddle.

From jewel-toned kurtas, music and dancing, to the aromas of cardamom and sugar, one thing is for certain: It’s going to be an incredible season. Ages 14 – 17.

The Nine Moons of Han Yu and Luli by Karina Yan Glaser (432 pp, Allida, 2025). In New York’s Depression-era Chinatown, Luli gazes out from the roof of her parents’ restaurant, dreaming of dim sum and Chinese art.

Familiar rhythms rule the contained-but-contented lives of Han Yu and Luli. But when plague strikes Chang’An and financial crisis threatens Luli’s family, Han Yu and Luli must each venture out into the larger world—and into danger-filled adventure—to save what they love most. Filled with wondrous caves and conniving thieves, desert storms and magical lakes, Karina Yan Glaser’s epic and rewarding novel is a testament to the bravery required to face the unknown and the power of art to connect us through the ages. Ages 8 – 12.

Rea and the Blood of the Nectar by Payal Doshi (352 pp, Mascot Kids!, 2021). It all starts the moment Rea turns twelve. After a huge argument with her twin brother on their birthday, Rea’s life is turned upside down. It’s the middle of the night, and her brother is missing.

A single day hasn’t even passed, and Rea’s mom acts like he has vanished for good. Rea’s grandma, too, is acting oddly. Not willing to accept her brother’s disappearance, Rea and her friend Leela run into an old fortuneteller whose magic puts them on the road to adventure. They travel to Astranthia, a land full of incredible, fantastical places. While there, Rea comes to find that not only has her brother been intentionally kidnapped, but that she is also a princess with the ability to wield magic.

As she deals with these new revelations, Rea must find her brother and keep Astranthia from falling apart in the process. With time not on her side, will Rea be able to liberate her brother, rescue Astranthia, and live to tell the tale? Ages 8 – 12.

The Red Car to Hollywood by Jennie Liu (256 pp, Carolrhoda, 2025). Sixteen-year-old Ruby Chan considers herself a modern, independent American girl. But when her secret relationship with a white boy implodes–and then is revealed to her very traditional Chinese parents–she’s in a tough spot. Horrified that Ruby’s reputation is at risk, her parents hire a matchmaker to find her a Chinese husband. Ruby is determined to foil their plans. But how?Meanwhile, Ruby meets the nineteen-year-old film star Anna May Wong, one of her neighbors in LA’s Chinatown. The girls quickly strike up a friendship. Anna May defies Chinese convention by working as an actress on the silver screen, and she scoffs at white people’s assumptions about her. If she can forge her own path, surely Ruby can too.Not everything is as it seems, though. Danger and betrayal lurk amidst the new possibilities. To build the life she wants, Ruby will have to contend with how others see her–and decide if she’s ready to truly see herself. Ages 14 and up.

A Study in Secrets by Debbi Michiko Florence (304 pp, Aladdin, 2025). Ever since her mom passed away, twelve-year-old Megumi “Meg” Mizuno has been spiraling. After too many low grades and cut classes, she’s been expelled from school—apparently, everyone else has moved past her grief and expects the same from her. Her dad secures her a spot at the prestigious Leland Chase Academy, a boarding school in middle-of-nowhere New York, called the Last Chance Academy by its student body. If Meg can’t make it work there, she’ll be forced to live with her horrible aunt. Ages 8 – 12.

Tara and the Towering Wave by Lyla Dee, illustrated by Dung Ho (112 pp, Stone Arch Books, 2020). When her mother announces a holiday vacation to Thailand, Tara isn’t thrilled.

She’d rather stay home with her friends, but Mom is determined they use the girls’ trip to explore their Thai heritage.

Tara is reluctant to travel so far from home, especially to a country she doesn’t feel connected to.

But then disaster strikes.

The day after Christmas, a massive tsunami sweeps through Phuket, Thailand.

Tara’s resort vacation suddenly becomes a fight to survive – and find her mother in the wreckage. Ages 8 – 12.

Wild Song by Candy Gourlay (280 pp, Carolrhoda Lab, 2025). Sixteen-year-old Luki is the best hunter in her village, but she has to keep it a secret. Hunting is a man’s skill. She’s expected to marry and raise a family instead.

Chafing against these restrictions, she impulsively accepts an offer from the local American authorities: they’re looking for volunteers to travel to the United States for the World’s Fair, where Indigenous peoples from around the world will be represented.

Luki and others make the long journey to Saint Louis, Missouri, for the fair, where they’re “exhibited” in a replica village. But even as Luki makes friends and discovers a wider world that intrigues her, she learns dangerous secrets and difficult truths. Facing pressures from all sides, she must decide what kind of future she wants after the fair. Ages 13 and up.

Central Places by Delia Cai (304 pp, Ballantine Books, 2023). Audrey Zhou left Hickory Grove, the tiny central Illinois town where she grew up, as soon as high school ended, and she never looked back. She moved to New York City and became the person she always wanted to be, complete with a high-paying, high-pressure job and a seemingly faultless fiancé. But if she and Manhattan-bred Ben are to build a life together, in the dream home his parents will surely pay for, Audrey can no longer hide him, or the person she’s become, from those she left behind.

Disorientation by Elaine Hsieh Chou (416 pp, Penguin Books, 2023). Twenty-nine-year-old PhD student Ingrid Yang is desperate to finish her dissertation on the late canonical poet Xiao-Wen Chou and never read about “Chinese-y” things again. But after years of grueling research, all she has to show for her efforts are a junk food addiction and stomach pain. When she accidentally stumbles upon a curious note in the Chou archives one afternoon, it looks like her ticket out of academic hell.

Homeseeking by Karissa Chen (528 pp, G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 2025). Haiwen is buying bananas at a 99 Ranch Market in Los Angeles when he looks up and sees Suchi, his Suchi, for the first time in sixty years. To recently widowed Haiwen it feels like a second chance, but Suchi has only survived by refusing to look back.

Suchi was seven when she first met Haiwen in their Shanghai neighborhood, drawn by the sound of his violin. Their childhood friendship blossomed into soul-deep love, but when Haiwen secretly enlisted in the Nationalist army in 1947 to save his brother from the draft, she was left with just his violin and a note: Forgive me.

Yellowface by R.F. Kuang (352 pp, William Morrow Paperbacks, 2025). Authors June Hayward and Athena Liu were supposed to be twin rising stars in the world of literary fiction. But Athena’s a literary darling. June Hayward is literally nobody. Who wants stories about basic white girls, June thinks.

So when June witnesses Athena’s death in a freak accident, she acts on impulse: she steals Athena’s just-finished masterpiece, an experimental novel about the unsung contributions of Chinese laborers during World War I.

So what if June edits Athena’s novel and sends it to her agent as her own work? So what if she lets her new publisher rebrand her as Juniper Song—complete with an ambiguously ethnic author photo? Doesn’t this piece of history deserve to be told, whoever the teller? That’s what June claims, and the New York Times bestseller list seems to agree.