Asian Pacific American Heritage Month Bibliography
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Anthologies | Biographies | Chinese American | Filipino American | Japanese American | Korean American | South Asian American | Vietnamese American | Books Representing Southeast Asians and Pacific Islanders | Multiethnic Identities and Families | Booklists on the Internet
Carlson, Lori M. (editor)
American Eyes: New Asian-American Short Stories for Young Adults
Y SS Ame
These ten stories reflect the conflict Asian Americans face in balancing an ancient heritage and an unknown future.
Hong, Maria (editor)
Growing Up Asian American: an Anthology
810.80895 Gr
Features stories by authors including Amy Tan, Toshio Mori, Gus Lee, and Maxine Hong Kingston.
Nam, Victoria (editor)
Yell-oh girls! Emerging Voices Explore Culture, Identity, and Growing Up Asian American
305.235 Ye
Asian-American teenage girls speak out in this anthology of stories and poetry about what it is like growing up in two cultures. Issues discussed include dual identities, culture clashes, family matter, body image and the need to find one's voice.
Wong, Janet S.
A Suitcase of Seaweed and Other Poems
J 811.54 Wo
Drawing on her Chinese, Korean, and American backgrounds, poet Wong offers an insightful, sometimes poignant, sometimes funny voice to children's poetry.
Yep, Lawrence (editor)
American Dragons: Twenty-Five Asian American Voices
J 810.992 Am
Includes short stories, poems, and excerpts from plays that relate what it is like growing up Asian American.
Ishizuka, Kathy
Asian-American Authors
J 920 Is
Profiles the lives of ten famous Asian-American writers, including Carlos Bulosan, Sook Nyul Choi, Maxine Hong Kingston, Marie G. Lee, Bette Bao Lord, Kyoko Mori, Bharati Mukherjee, Amy Tan, Yoshiko Uchida, and Laurence Yep.
Ragaza, Angelo
Lives of Notable Asian Americans: Business, Politics, Science
J 920 Ra
Sinnott, Susan
Extraordinary Asian-Pacific Americans
J 920 Si
Biographical sketches of notable Asian Americans and Pacific Americans, including cinematographer James Howe, scholar and politician S. I. Hayakawa, and Kristi Yamaguchi.
Fiction
Chinn, Karen
Sam and the Lucky Money
E FIC
Sam must decide how to spend the lucky money he's received for Chinese New Year.
Lin, Grace
The Ugly Vegetables
E FIC Lin
A little girl thinks her mother's garden is the ugliest in the neighborhood until she discovers that flowers might look and smell pretty but Chinese vegetable soup smells best of all. Includes a recipe.
Lord, Bette
In the Year of the Boar and Jackie Robinson
J FIC Lor
Shirley sails from China to America and is having a hard time making friends. It is 1947 and Jackie Robinson of the Brooklyn Dodgers is everyone's hero. Inspired that Robinson, a black man and grandson of a slave, can make a difference in America, Shirley discovers that America can be a land of opportunity for her as well.
Namioka, Lensey
April and the Dragon Lady
Y FIC Nam
Feeling confined by the traditional family attitudes of her strong-willed, manipulative grandmother, sixteen-year-old April Chen fights for her independence.
Namioka, Lensey
Yang the Youngest and His Terrible Ear
J FIC Nam
Recently arrived in Seattle from China, musically untalented Yingtao is faced with giving a violin performance to attract new students for his father when he would rather be working on friendships and playing baseball.
Pomeranc, Marion Hess
The American Wei
E FIC Pom
When Wei Fong loses his first tooth while going to his family's naturalization ceremony, many soon-to-be Americans join in the search.
Yep, Lawrence
The Cook's Family
Y FIC Yep
As her parents' arguments become more frequent, Robin looks forward to the visits that she and her grandmother make to Chinatown, where they pretend to be an elderly cook's family, giving Robin new insights into her Chinese heritage.
Yep, Lawrence
Thief of Hearts
Y FIC Yep
When Stacy is paired with a Chinese girl at school who is accused of theft, she must come to terms with her own Chinese and American heritage.
Non- fiction
Chin, Steven A.
Dragon Parade: a Chinese New Year Story
J 394.268 Ch
Norman Ah Sing is a successful, newly-arrived Chinese grocer in San Francisco Chinatown of the 1850s. He is thrilled to be in the Land of the Golden Mountain and invites all to celebrate the Lunar New Year in Chinatown's first big celebration in 1851.
Hoyt-Goldsmith, Diane
Celebrating Chinese New Year
E 394.261 Ho
Depicts a San Francisco boy and his family preparing for and enjoying their celebration of the Chinese New Year, their most important holiday.
Krull, Kathleen
City Within a City: How Kids Live in New York's Chinatown
J 305.23 Kr
Describes the lives of two young Chinese Americans and their customs and conditions at home in New York City's Chinatown.
Mah, Adeline Yen
Chinese Cinderella
J 979.4 Ma
The author recounts her painful childhood in China where she was mistreated by her stepmother. This story is an adaptation of the author's adult memoir Falling Leaves: the True Story of an Unwanted Chinese Daughter.
Waters, Kate
Lion Dancer: Ernie Wan's Chinese New Year
E 394.268 Wa
Describes six-year-old Ernie Wong's preparations, at home and in school, for the Chinese New Year celebrations and his first public performance of the lion dance.
Non-fiction
Bandon, Alexandra
Filipino Americans
J 973.049 Ba
Discusses the reasons for Filipino immigration to the United States and the conditions they have found here, using case studies to describe the lifestyles of Filipino Americans.
Krasno, Rena
Kneeling Carabao and Dancing Giants: Celebrating Filipino Festivals
J 398.209 Kr
Learn about the rich and varied festivals in the Philippines such as "Celebrating Rice," the "Ati-Atihan Festival" and "Festival of the Higantes" - the author includes background, stories, songs, recipes, and games.
Romulo, Liana
Filipino Children's Favorite Stories
J 398.2 Ro
A compilation of 13 short folktales, many of them classics of the Filipino culture.
Bunting, Eve
So Far From the Sea
E FIC Bun
When seven-year-old Laura and her family visit Grandfather's grave at the Manzanar War Relocation Center, the Japanese American child leaves behind a special symbol.
Mori, Kyoko
Shizuko's Daughter
Y FIC Mor
After her mother's suicide when she is twelve years old, Yuki spends years living with her distant father and his resentful new wife, cut off from her mother's family, and relying on her own inner strength to cope with the tragedy.
Okimoto, Jean Davies
Talent Night
Y FIC Oki
Seventeen-year-old Rodney, who wants to become the first Japanese American rap star, tries out for the school talent show. A fast-paced, humorous story of ethnic pride, first love, and determination to overcome stereotypes.
Salisbury, Graham
Under the Blood-Red Sun
Y FIC Sal
Tomikazu Nakaji's biggest concerns are baseball, homework, and a local bully, until life with his Japanese family in Hawaii changes drastically after the bombing of Pearl Harbor in December 1941.
Say, Allen
Grandfather's Journey
E FIC Say
A Japanese American man recounts his grandfather's journey to America which he later also undertakes, and the feelings of being torn by a love for two different countries.
Uchida, Yoshiko
Journey Home
Y FIC Yos
After their release from an American concentration camp, a Japanese-American girl and her family try to reconstruct their lives amidst strong anti-Japanese feelings which breed fear, distrust and violence.
Wartski, Maureen Crane
Candle in the Wind
Y FIC War
On the night of a party celebrating his acceptance into Harvard, Harris Mizuno, a Japanese-American teenager, is shot dead by an elderly white man who mistakes him for an intruder when Harris asks to use the phone because his car has stalled.
Yep, Lawrence
Hiroshima
Y FIC Yep
Describes the dropping of the atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan, particularly as it affects Sachi, who becomes one of the Hiroshima Maidens.
Nonfiction
Coerr, Eleanor
Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes
J 921 Sa78c
Hospitalized with the dreaded atom bomb disease, leukemia, a child in Hiroshima races against time to fold one thousand paper cranes to verify the legend that by doing so a sick person will become healthy.
Hoobler, Dorothy
The Japanese American Family Album
J 973.049 Ho
Tells the story of immigrant groups through their own words and pictures. Contains photographs, anecdotal information, and selections from diaries, letter and newspapers.
Inada, Lawson Fusao (editor)
Only What We Could Carry: the Japanese American Internment Experience
940.5308995 On
This collection of reminiscences, letters, stories, poems, graphic art, and propaganda expresses the fear, confusion and anger of the Japanese-American experience in internment camps during World War II.
Stanley, Jerry
I am an American: a True Story of Japanese Internment
J 940.531 St
Shi Nomura is a high school student in the 1940's when his family is relocated to an internment camp.
Fiction
Choi, Yangsook
New Cat
E FIC Cho
Shortly after coming to America, Mr. Kim, owner of a tofu factory in the Bronx, gets a fluffy silver cat that makes her home in his factory and one night saves it from burning down.
Lee, Marie G.
F is for Fabuloso
Y FIC Lee
Jin-Ha's teachers assume she must be performing amazing well in math class because . . . well, don't all Asian Americans? But in this stereotype-busting story, they're wrong. Jin-Ha is smart, but it doesn't come naturally to her, and having a bad teacher just makes matters worse. A sweet, fairly quiet, sometimes funny novel.
Lee, Marie G.
Necessary Roughness
Y FIC Lee
Sixteen-year-old Korean American Chan moves from Los Angeles to a small town in Minnesota, where he must cope not only with racism on the football team but also with the tensions in his relationship with his strict father.
Na, An
A Step From Heaven
Y FIC Na
After moving from Korea to the U.S., things are not easy for Young Ju's family. They all suffer as her father grows more destructive and despondent. Winner of the 2002 Printz Award for teenage literature.
Park, Linda Sue
A Single Shard
Y FIC Par
A novel of 12th century Korean, young orphan Tree-ear becomes an apprentice to a master potter. Despite many challenges he perseveres in this role, even making an arduous journey to the royal court, and continuing when only a single shard is left to show. Winner of the 2002 Newbery Award.
Park, Linda Sue
When My Name was Keoko
Y FIC Par
With national pride and occasional fear, a brother and sister face the increasingly oppressive occupation of Korea by Japan during World War II, which threatens to suppress Korean culture entirely.
Wong, Janet S.
The Trip Back Home
E FIC Won
Join Janet Wong on the trip back home, revealing that even when family members speak different languages, there is still much they can share.
Nonfiction
Lehrer, Brian
The Korean Americans
J 973.049 Le
Discusses the history, culture, and religion of the Koreans; factors encouraging their emigration, and their acceptance as an ethnic group in North America.
McMahon, Patricia
Chi-Hoon: a Korean Girl
J 951.95 Ma
The story of a young Korean girl, her family, and their life in Seoul, Korea.
Fiction
Bannerman, Helen
The Story of Little Babaji
E FIC Ban
A little boy in India loses his fine new clothes to the tigers, but while they dispute who is the grandest tiger in the jungle he takes his fine clothes back again.
Desai Hidier, Tanuja
Born Confused
Y FIC Des
Seventeen-year-old Dimple, whose family is from India, discovers that she is not Indian enough for the Indians and not American enough for the Americans, as she sees her hypnotically beautiful, manipulative best friend taking possession of both her heritage and the boy she likes.
Gilmore, Rachna
A Group of One
Y FIC Gil
Learning from her grandmother that her family was active in the Quit India movement of 1942, a rebellion against nearly two centuries of British occupation, gives fifteen-year-old Tara new pride in her heritage, but she still objects when her teacher implies she is not a "regular Canadian."
Godden, Rumer
Premlata and the Festival of Lights
J FIC God
In Bengal, India, Premlata's family is too poor to celebrate the Festival of Lights until fate and an elephant step in.
Kipling, Rudyard
The Jungle Book
Y FIC Kip
Presents the adventures of Mowgli, a young boy raised by the animals in an Indian jungle, as well as other animal stories and songs.
Mukerji, Dhan Gopal
Gay-Neck: the Story of a Pigeon
Y FIC Muk
A heartwarming story of a World War I carrier pigeon's adventures in India. Winner of the 1928 Newbery Award.
Perkins, Mitali
The Sunita Experiment
Y FIC Per
When her grandparents come for a visit from India to California, thirteen-year-old Sunita finds herself resenting her Indian heritage and embarrassed by the differences she feels between herself and her friends.
Whelan, Gloria
Homeless Bird
Y FIC Whe
When thirteen-year-old Koly enters into an ill-fated arranged marriage, she must either suffer a destiny dictated by India's tradition or find the courage to oppose it.
Non-fiction
Hermes, Jules
The Children of India
J 305.23 He
Introduces the variety and richness of culture in India by describing the daily lives of children from different regions and social levels.
Mamdani, Shelby
Traditions from India
J 954 Ma
Discusses a variety of traditions in India and the South Asian countries near it, including food, clothing, music, religions, and festivals.
Schmidt, Jeremy
In the Village of the Elephants
J 636.961 Sc
In this fascinating photo essay, the unlikely relationship between man and elephant is captured by dramatic pictures and lively prose.
Takaki, Ronald T.
India in the West: South Asians in America
J 970.004 Ta
Since the Immigration Act of 1965, the Asian Indian community has grown more quickly. America is now their new home.
Fiction
Garland, Sherry
Shadow of the Dragon
Y FIC Gar
High school sophomore Danny Vo tries to resolve the conflict between the values of his Vietnamese refugee family and his new American way of life.
Gilson, Jamie
Hello, My Name is Scrambled Eggs
J FIC Gil
Harvey enjoys Americanizing twelve-year-old Tuan when his folks host a Vietnamese family that has come to settle in their town.
McKay, Lawrence
Journey Home
E FIC Mac
Mai returns to Vietnam, the land of her mother's birth, to discover both a new country and something about herself.
Surat, Michele Maria
Angel Child, Dragon Child
E FIC Sur
Ut, a Vietnamese girl attending school in the United States, is having a difficult time. Her classmates make fun of her and Raymond picks on her almost everyday. Ut is lonely for her mother who was left behind in Vietnam but to her surprise, Raymond finds the perfect way to help her.
Non-fiction
Tran, Barbara, Monique T.D. Truong & Luu Truong Khoi (editors)
Watermark: Vietnamese American Poetry & Prose
810.99287 Wa
Going beyond war, the selections in this book highlight the Vietnamese American experience with wit, charm, humor and elegance.
Fiction
Chiemruom, Sothea
Dara's Cambodian New Year
E FIC Chi
A Cambodian American boy remembers the New Year celebration in his native land by painting pictures of it. Encourages awareness and appreciation of Cambodian American cultures.
Rattigan, Jama Kim
Dumpling Soup
E FIC Rat
A young Hawaiian girl tries to make dumplings for her family's New Year's celebration.
Gogol, Sara
Vatsana's Lucky New Year
Y FIC Gog
Torn between Laotian and American cultures, twelve-year-old Vatsana faces prejudice from a boy at school as she helps her newly arrived Laotian cousin adjust to life in Portland, Oregon.
Non-fiction
Cha, Dia
Dia's Story Cloth: The Hmong People's Journey of Freedom
J 973.049 Ch
For centuries, needlework has been part of Hmong culture. But it has only been since the war in Vietnam and Laos, which displaced many Hmong, that the new, narrative form of ''story cloths'' has emerged, a bridge between past and present.
Fiction
Cheng, Andrea
Grandfather Counts
E FIC Che
Helen, a biracial girl, has to adjust to changes in her household when her Chinese-speaking grandfather from China comes to live with her English-speaking family. Neither can speak the other's language. Helen soon learns that her grandfather is also a train watcher, and the two find they can enjoy counting the cars together.
Crutcher, Chris
Whale Talk
Y FIC Cru
TJ, an adopted black, Japanese and white teenager, shuns organized sports and the gung-ho athletes at his high school until he agrees to form a swimming team and recruits some of the school's less popular students.
Garland, Sherry
Song of the Buffalo Boy
Y FIC Gar
Shunned and mistreated because of her mixed heritage and determined to avoid an arranged marriage, seventeen-year-old Loi runs away to Ho Chi Minh City with the hope that she and the boy she loves will be able to go to the United States to find her American father.
Platt, Randall Beth
The Likes of Me
Y FIC Pla
Fourteen-year-old Cordelia Lu Hankins is a half-Caucasian, half-Chinese albino who lives in a Washington lumber camp in 1918. She runs away and finds work at a carnival, capitalizing on her unusual appearance. As she enjoys her fame and fortune, Cordelia learns a shocking secret about her family that could change her life forever.
Rattigan, Jama Kim
Dumpling Soup
E FIC
Marisa enjoys preparing dumplings with her Chinese, Japanese, Korean, haole (white) family in celebration of the New Year. This charming picture book is rare in that it's set in Hawaii and features a multiracial family.
Richardson, Judith Benbet
First Came the Owl
Y FIC Ric
Shy eleven-year-old Nita feels lost when her mother returns from a visit to their home country Thailand and plunges into depression, but then Nita miraculously begins to blossom and her shyness disappears.
Non-fiction
Cruz, Barbara
Multiethnic Teens and Cultural Identity: a Hot Issue
J 305.23 Cr
Discusses the many issues facing teens of multiethnic descent, including discrimination and the search for ethnic identity in an unsympathetic culture.
Gaskins, Pearl Fuyo (editor)
What are you? Voices of Mixed-Race Young People
J 305.8 Wh
Many young people of racially mixed backgrounds discuss their feelings about family relationships, prejudice, dating, personal identity, and other issues.
Kaeser, Gigi
Of Many Colors: Portraits of Multiracial Families
306.846 Ka
Based on an award-winning photo exhibit, this book documents the feelings and experiences of Americans who live in multiracial families. Children and parents speak about their lives, relationships and the ways they have dealt with issues of race.
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