Asia/Pacific American Heritage Month Teen Reads
Amanda, library teens specialist, has put together a list of Asia/Pacific American Heritage Month teen reads.The following recommendations are all on display on the second floor Teenspace and compiled in Beanstack as a recommended reading list.
The Surprising Power of a Good Dumpling by Wai Chim
YA CHI
Anna Chiu has her hands full. When she’s not looking after her brother and sister or helping out at her father’s restaurant, she’s taking care of her mother, whose debilitating mental illness keeps her in bed most days. Her father’s new delivery boy, Rory, is a welcome distraction and even though she knows that things aren’t right at home, she’s starting to feel like she could be a normal teen. But when her mother finally gets out of bed, things go from bad to worse.
For fans of: family and relationships plots, and books like ‘On the Come Up’ by Angie Thomas and The ‘Library of Lost Things’ by Laura Taylor Namey
Rebel Seoul by Axie Oh
YA OH
In 2199 in the Neo State of Korea, eighteen-year-old Jaewon is partnered with supersoldier Tera, but their evolving love is threatened when Jaewon must choose among conflicting loyalties–to the totalitarian government that promises to end all war, the nationalist rebels his father followed, or the crime syndicate staging a coup.
For fans of sci-fi and dystopian fiction, ‘WarCross’ by Marie Lu and ‘The Epic Crush of Genie Lo’ by F.C. Lee
Last Night at the Telegraph Club by Malinda Lo
YA LO
Seventeen-year-old Lily Hu can’t remember exactly when the question took root, but the answer was in full bloom the moment she and Kathleen Miller walked under the flashing neon sign of a lesbian bar called the Telegraph Club. America in 1954 is not a safe place for two girls to fall in love, especially not in Chinatown. Red-Scare paranoia threatens everyone, including Chinese Americans like Lily. With deportation looming over her father–despite his hard-won citizenship–Lily and Kath risk everything to let their love see the light of day.
For fans of historical fiction, diversity and inclusion, and ‘Felix Ever After’ by Kacen Callender
The Never Tilting World by Rin Chupeco
YA CHU
After an ancient prophecy is betrayed, a world ruled by a long line of goddesses is split in two–one half in perpetual day, and the other in an endless night–and two young twin goddesses set out on separate and equally dangerous journeys to the Breach that divides them, hoping to save their broken world.
For fans of fantasy, ‘The Merciful Crow’ by Margaret Owen, and author Sarah J. Maas
We are Not Free by Traci Chee
YA CHE
For fourteen-year-old budding artist Minoru Ito, her two brothers, her friends, and the other members of the Japanese-American community in southern California, the three months since Pearl Harbor was attacked have become a waking nightmare: attacked, spat on, and abused with no way to retaliate–and now things are about to get worse, their lives forever changed by the mass incarcerations in the relocation camps.
For fans of historical fiction, US history, and ‘Dear Martin’ by Nic Stone
Patron Saints of Nothing by Randy Ribay
YA RIB
When seventeen-year-old Jay Reguero learns his Filipino cousin and former best friend, Jun, was murdered as part of President Duterte’s war on drugs, he flies to the Philippines to learn more.
For fans of realistic fiction, ‘The Poet X’ by Elizabeth Acevedo, and author Nic Stone
The Astonishing Color of After by Emily X.R. Pan
YA PAN
After her mother’s suicide, grief-stricken Leigh Sanders travels to Taiwan to stay with grandparents she never met, determined to find her mother who she believes turned into a bird.
For fans of a good cry, ‘They Both Die at the End’ by Adam Silvera
The Tiger at Midnight by Swati Teerdhala
YA TEE
Esha lost everything in the royal coup-and as the legendary rebel known as the Viper, she’s made the guilty pay. Now she’s been tasked with her most important mission to date: taking down the ruthless General Hotha. Kunal has been a soldier since childhood. His uncle, the general, has ensured that Kunal never strays from the path-even as a part of Kunal longs to join the outside world, which has only been growing more volatile. When Esha and Kunals paths cross one fateful night, an impossible chain of events unfolds. Both the Viper and the soldier think they’re calling the shots, but they’re not the only players moving the pieces. As the bonds that hold their land in order break down and the sins of the past meet the promise of a new future, both the soldier and the rebel must decide where their loyalties lie: with the lives they’ve killed to hold on to or with the love that’s made them dream of something more.
For fans of folklore and fantasy, romance, and ‘We Set the Dark on Fire’ by Tehlor Kay Mejia
The Girl King by Mimi Yu
YA YU
When their father names a male cousin as next ruler of the Empire of the First Flame, Lu must go on the run to reclaim her birthright, leaving her younger, timid sister, Min, to discover her own hidden power.
For fans of high fantasy, ‘Spin the Dawn by Elizabeth Lim, author Julie Kagawa
The Reader: Book One of Sea of Ink and Gold by Traci Chee
YA CHE
Set in a world where reading is unheard-of, Sefia makes use of a mysterious object to track down who kidnapped her aunt Nin and what really happened the night her father was murdered.
For fans of adventure, books about books, and author Leigh Bardugo
This Time Will Be Different by Misa Sugiura
YA SUG
Katsuyamas never quit — but seventeen-year-old CJ doesn’t even know where to start. She’s never lived up to her mom’s type A ambition, and she’s perfectly happy just helping her aunt, Hannah, at their family’s flower shop. She doesn’t buy into Hannah’s romantic ideas about flowers and their hidden meanings, but when it comes to arranging the perfect bouquet, CJ discovers a knack she never knew she had. A skill she might even be proud of. Then her mom decides to sell the shop — to the family who swindled CJ’s grandparents when thousands of Japanese Americans were sent to internment camps during WWII. Soon a rift threatens to splinter CJ’s family, friends, and their entire Northern California community; and for the first time, CJ has found something she wants to fight for.
For fans of coming of age stories, flowers, mother/daughter relationships and ‘The Upside’ by Becky Albertalli
To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before by Jenny Han
YA HAN
Lara Jean writes love letters to all the boys she has loved and then hides them in a hatbox until one day those letters are accidentally sent.
For fans of first loves and romance, “Dumplin’ by Julie Murphy and ‘Everything Everything’ by Nicola Yoon
Super Fake Love Song by David Yoon
YA YOO
When new-girl Cirrus mistakes self-described nerd Sunny Dae as the lead in a rock band, Sunny rolls with it, forming a fake band with his friends, but as the lies continue he risks losing both Cirrus and his friends.
For fans of contemporary fiction, music, ‘You Should See Me in a Crown’ by Leah Johnson
Darius the Great is Not Okay by Adib Khorram
YA KHO
Clinically-depressed Darius Kellner, a high school sophomore, travels to Iran to meet his grandparents, but it is their next-door neighbor, Sohrab, who changes his life.
For fans of ‘Speak’ by Laurie Halse Anderson, and ‘A Very Large Expanse of the Sea’ by Tahereh Mafi
Warcross by Marie Lu
YA LU
When teenage coder Emika Chen hacks her way into the opening tournament of the Warcross Championships, she glitches herself into the game as well as a sinister plot with major consequences for the entire Warcross empire.
For fans of science fiction, video games, dystopian, and ‘Ready Player One’ by Ernest Cline
Star Daughter by Shveta Thakrar
YA THA
Sheetal Mistry, a rising high school junior who is half-star, half-human, must win a competition in the starry court to save her human father.
For fans of mythology, urban fantasies, author VE Schwab and ‘Legendborn by Tracy Deonn
We Hunt the Flame by Hafsah Faizal
YA FAI
In a world inspired by ancient Arabia, seventeen-year-old huntress Zafira must disguise herself as a man to seek a lost artifact that could return magic to her cursed world.
For fans of high fantasy, good and evil, author Leigh Bardugo and author Holly Black
The Infinity Courts by Akemi Dawn Bowman
YA BOW
Murdered on the way to her high school graduation party, eighteen-year-old Nami Miyamoto finds herself in an afterlife ruled by Ophelia, a virtual assistant planning to eradicate human existence.
For fans of science fiction and fantasy, and author Marie Lu
Amanda is Morgantown Public Library’s teen specialist.