Children's books by or about Asian Americans: Recently received
This guide lists children's books and young adult literature in Cubberley Education Library by or about Asian Americans.
Recently received
Kindling by Traci Chee
Publication Date: 2024Ages 14 and up; Gr.9-12.
From bestselling and award-winning author Traci Chee comes a standalone fantasy set against a war-ravaged world where kindling warfare--the use of elite, magic-wielding teenage soldiers--has been outlawed. In this rich and evocative novel, seven kindlings search for purpose and identity as they prepare for one final battle.Home in a lunchbox by Cherry Mo
Publication Date: 2024Ages 4-8; PrK-Gr.3; Caldecott honor, 2025.
When Jun moves from Hong Kong to America, the only words she knows are hello, thank you, I don't know, and toilet. Her new school feels foreign and terrifying. But when she opens her lunchbox to find her favorite meals-like bao, dumplings, and bok choy-she realizes home isn't so far away after all.Aloha everything by Kaylin Melia George; Mae Waite (Ill.)
Publication Date: 2024Ages 5-8; K-Gr.3.
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.Magnolia Wu unfolds it all by Chanel Miller
Publication Date: 2024Lexile measure 850; Ages 7-11; Gr.2-6; Newbery award, honor 2025.
Award-winning author and artist Chanel Miller tells a fun, funny, and poignant story of friendship and community starring Magnolia Wu, a ten-year-old sock detective bent on returning all the lonely only socks left behind in her parents' NYC laundromat.Continental drifter by Kathy MacLeod
Publication Date: 2024Ages 8-12; Gr.3-7.
With a Thai mother and an American father, Kathy lives in two different worlds. She spends most of the year in Bangkok, where she's secretly counting the days till summer vacation. That's when her family travels for twenty-four hours straight to finally arrive in a tiny seaside town in Maine. Kathy loves Maine's idyllic beauty and all the exotic delicacies she can't get back home, like clam chowder and blueberry pie. But no matter how hard she tries, she struggles to fit in.Mabuhay! by Zachary Sterling
Publication Date: 2023Lexile measure GN300L; Ages 8-12; Gr. 3-7
From rising star Zachary Sterling comes a humorous and heartwarming middle-grade graphic novel that celebrates food, family, and folklore. Can two kids save the world and work their family food truck? First-generation Filipino siblings JJ and Althea struggle to belong at school. JJ wants to fit in with the crowd, while Althea wants to be accepted as she is. To make matters worse, they have to help their parents run the family food truck by dressing up as a dancing pig and passing out samples. Ugh!Ava Lin, best friend! by Vicky Fang
Publication Date: 2024Lexile measure 580; Ages 5-8; Gr.1-3.
Brand-new first grader Ava Lin is determined to find a best friend--even if she's a bit unclear on how to go about it--in this launch of a funny, super relatable chapter-book series. Ava Lin is six and a half years old, and she loves bubble tea, finding treasures, and animals (note the 117 varieties of pets on her wish list). She's very good at drawing and balancing pasta on her nose. And there's a Very Exciting Thing happening in her life right now: tomorrow is her first day of first grade! Which means she gets a new backpack, new pencils, and a new lunch box. But what she really wants to get in first grade is a best friend, which isn't as easy as she thought.Simone by Viet Thanh Nguyen; Minnie Phan (Ill.)
Publication Date: 2024Lexile measure 360L; Ages 5-9, K-Gr.4.
From Pulitzer Prize-winning author Viet Thanh Nguyen and illustrator Minnie Phan comes an unforgettable story of a Vietnamese American girl whose life is transformed by a wildfire. When Simone is awakened by her mom as a wildfire threatens their home, it is the beginning of a life-changing journey. On their way to take shelter in a high school gym, the family passes firefighters from a prison unit battling the fire. Simone's mom tells her that when she was a girl in Viet Nam, she was forced to evacuate her home after a flood.Filipino children's favorite stories: fables, myths and fairy tales by Liana Romulo; Joanne De Leon (Ill.)
Publication Date: 2019Ages 5-10; K-Gr.5.
This colorfully illustrated multicultural children's book presents Philippine fairy tales and other folk stories--providing insight into a rich storytelling culture. Filipino Children's Favorite Stories presents thirteen well-loved myths and tales from the Philippines.Rising from the ashes : Los Angeles, 1992: Edward Jae Song Lee, Latasha Harlins, Rodney King, and a city on fire by Paula Yoo
Publication Date: 2024Ages 12 and up; Gr.7 and up.
In the spring of 1992, after a jury returned not guilty verdicts in the trial of four police officers charged in the brutal beating of a Black man, Rodney King, Los Angeles was torn apart. Thousands of fires were set, causing more than a billion dollars in damage. In neighborhoods abandoned by the police, protestors and storeowners exchanged gunfire. More than 12,000 people were arrested and 2,400 injured. Sixty-three died. In Rising from the Ashes, award-winning author Paula Yoo draws on the experience of the city's Korean American community to narrate and illuminate this uprising, from the racism that created economically disadvantaged neighborhoods torn by drugs and gang-related violence, to the tensions between the city's minority communities.The mochi makers by Sharon Fujimoto-Johnson
Publication Date: 2024Ages 4-8; Gr.2-3.
Emi and Obaachan are making mochi. It's a recipe that's been passed down for generations. Obaachan brought it with her when she first came to America from Japan and now, Emi is about to become her family's newest mochi maker!If you're not the one by Farah Naz Rishi
Publication Date: 2024Ages 13-17; Gr.8-9.
This funny, electric rom-com follows a teen struggling to reclaim her perfect life and the perfectly wrong guy who sees through her facade, from the acclaimed author of It All Comes Back to You.The first state of being by Erin Entrada Kelly
Publication Date: 2024Ages 8-12; Gr.3-7.
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 fifteen-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.Everything we never had by Randy Ribay
Publication Date: 2024Lexile measure 820, Ages 12-18; Gr.7 and up.
Told in multiple perspectives, Everything We Never Had unfolds like a beautifully crafted nesting doll, where each Maghabol boy forges his own path amid heavy family and societal expectations, passing down his flaws, values, and virtues to the next generation, until it's up to Enzo to see how he can braid all these strands and men together.These deadly prophecies by Andrea Tang
Publication Date: 2024Lexile measure 810; Ages 14 and up; Gr.7 and up.
Being an apprentice for one of the world's most famous sorcerers has its challenges; Tabatha Zeng just didn't think they would include solving crime. But when her boss, the infamous fortuneteller Sorcerer Solomon, predicts his own brutal death-and worse, it comes true-Tabatha finds herself caught in the crosshairs.
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- Last Updated: Apr 22, 2025 12:06 PM
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