Children's Books Celebrating AA.NH/PI Heritage

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Abbas, Marzieh

A lyrical and charming picture book celebrating the dupatta, a traditional shawl worn in South Asian cultures.

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Bandali, Zain

An artistic, fashion-loving boy unlocks a new talent--and learns to stand up for it--in this chapter book perfect for fans of the Sadiq series and Meet Yasmin! Tehzeeb drew curvy clouds, grand galaxies, squirmy squiggles, and delicate dots. He made charming checkerboards and even perfected paisleys. His practice was finally paying off! The first time Tehzeeb tries mehndi, his passion for the art form blossoms. Soon, he's creating designs for all his friends and family, and dreams of becoming the most in-demand mehndi artist in town. So Tez is hurt and confused when his favorite uncle tells him mehndi isn't for boys. 

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Bidania, V. T.

Astrid and Apollo watch their cousin Lily in an amazing dance performance, and she convinces them to audition for the Hmong dance school she attends. Astrid is excited, but Apollo isn't so sure. The twins learn the audition routine and work hard to prepare for the big day. When Apollo faces a setback, he realizes how much he does want a place at the dance school. Will his creative solution save the day or cost him his chance?

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Brown, Waka T.

When twelve-year-old Waka's parents suspect she can't understand basic Japanese they speak to her, they make the drastic decision to send her to Tokyo to live for several months with her strict grandmother. Forced to say goodbye to her friends and what would have been her summer vacation, Waka is plucked from her straight-A-student life in rural Kansas and flown across the globe, where she faces the culture shock of a lifetime. 

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Bui, Hanh

A debut picture book about a little girl who connects to her Vietnamese heritage when she accidentally rips her late grandmother's áo dái.

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Compestine, Ying Chang

The story of Rapunzel where she's being locked in a tower by a witch is a good one--but it's not totally the truth. The real story is about a young princess in China named Ra Pu Zel who doesn't want to talk to princes or look proper. What Pu Zel wants is to cook and eat in peace, her long hair neatly braided to keep it out of her food. And when she gets tired of everyone telling her what to do, she locks herself in a tower with her dog Bao. Although princes from everywhere try to convince her to come down, it's not until a young chef arrives with an intriguing food to share that Ra Pu Zel finally has a reason.

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Faruqi, Saadia

When her grandmother comes off the airplane in Houston from Pakistan, Mahnoor knows that having Dadi move in is going to disrupt everything about her life. She doesn't have time to be Dadi's unofficial babysitter: her journalism teacher has announced that their big assignment will be to film a documentary, which feels more like storytelling than what Maha would call 'journalism.' As Dadi starts to settle into life in Houston and Maha scrambles for a subject for her documentary, the two of them start talking--about Dadi's childhood in northern India, and about the Partition that forced her to leave her home and relocate to the newly created Pakistan.

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George, Kaylin Melia

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 unde rstand the true meaning of aloha.

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Ho, Joanna

A young Asian girl notices that her eyes look different from her peers'. They have big, round eyes and long lashes. She realizes that her eyes are like her mother's, her grandmother's, and her little sister's. They have eyes that kiss in the corners and glow like warm tea, crinkle into crescent moons, and are filled with stories of the past and hope for the future. Drawing from the strength of these powerful women in her life, she recognizes her own beauty and discovers a path to self-love and empowerment.

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Iwai, Melissa

Gigi wants to go by something besides her baby name--but Geraldine is too long to write and Hanako, her middle name, doesn't feel quite right. Will Gigi find the perfect name?

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Lê, Minh

A picture book about a baby with superhero-like abilities...and the parents who are racing to keep up with her!

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Lim, Hope

When a young boy and his mother travel to her childhood home in Korea, the town is not as he imagined until he visits the river where she used to play and sees that the spirit and happiness of those days remain.

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Macleod, Kathy

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. She doesn't look like the other kids in this rural New England town. Kathy just wants to find a place where she truly belongs, but she's not sure if it's in America, Thailand... or anywhere.

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Matula, Christina

It's time for Ruby and her family to celebrate two extra-special harvest holidays. For the Mid-Autumn Festival, she and Nainai pick out fruit, nuts, and red chrysanthemums from the store. And with Zayde, Ruby buys a lulav and etrog from the market for Sukkot. But something is missing to truly combine these two celebrations. Can Ruby figure out the perfect way to blend the Jewish holiday of Sukkot and the Chinese Mid-Autumn Festival?

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Perkins, Mitali

Twelve-year-old Indian-American Pandita Paul deals with change, grief, friendship, and growing up in a community facing a housing crisis.

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Siddiqui, Maleeha

It's Nimra Sharif's first time going to public school. Nimra's nervous, but as long as she has her best friend, Jenna, by her side, she figures she can take on just about anything. Unfortunately, middle school is hard. The teachers are mean, the schedule is confusing, and Jenna starts giving hijab-wearing Nimra the cold shoulder around the other kids. Desperate to fit in and save her friendship with Jenna, Nimra accepts an unlikely invitation to join Barakah Beats, a band made up of popular eighth-grade boys. The only problem is, Nimra was taught that music isn't allowed in Islam, and she knows her parents would be disappointed in her. So she devises a plan: join the band just until she wins Jenna back, then quit before her parents find out. but Nimra's lies quickly start to unravel.

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Soontornvat, Christina

A high-seas adventure set in a Thai-inspired fantasy world. This is the story of a young woman's struggle to unburden herself of the past and chart her own destiny in a world of secrets. As assistant to Mangkon's most celebrated mapmaker, twelve-year-old Sai plays the part of a well-bred young lady with a glittering future. In reality, her father is a conman - and in a kingdom where the status of one's ancestors dictates their social position, the truth could ruin her. Sai seizes the chance to join an expedition to chart the southern seas, but she isn't the only one aboard with secrets. When Sai learns that the ship might be heading for the fabled Sunderlands - a land of dragons, dangers, and riches beyond imagining - she must weigh the cost of her dreams. Vivid, suspenseful, and thought-provoking, this tale of identity and integrity is as intricate as the maps of old.

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Soontornvat, Christina

As one of the only Asian Americans in her school, Christina confronts both well-meaning ignorance and cruel racism, but in middle school fitting in is important, which is why she and her best friend Megan are both excited and nervous to try out for the popular cheerleading squad.

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Sterling, Zack

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. But between the leftover Filipino food their mom packs for their lunches to having a last name that nobody can pronounce, any sense of belonging seems like a long shot. To make matters worse, they have to help their parents run the family food truck, dressing up as a dancing pig and passing out samples. Ugh! And their parents are always drawing parallels between their poor work ethic and lazy characters from Filipino folklore -- stories they've heard again and again. But when witches, ogres, and other creatures from those same stories appear in their town and threaten their family, JJ and Althea realize that the myths their parents have always told them may be more real than they'd suspected. Can JJ and Althea embrace who they really are and save their family?

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Subramaniam, Suma

V. Malar loves living on a farm with her parents in a small town in India. And Malar's absolute favorite time of year, the harvest festival known as Pongal, is finally here! This year's festival will be different because her aunt, uncle, and cousins from Seattle will be visiting and celebrating with them. Feeling both excited and nervous, Malar promises to be a great host to her cousins. But when Priya and Kamal talk about all the things they have back home, or when they're not interested in the animals on the farm, Malar finds it hard to keep her patience and be the gracious host she promised she'd be. The cousins clearly don't start off on the right foot, but after a few clashes, there are some laughs, and Malar realizes that her cousins might just become friends after all.

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Wang, Andrea

While her parents attend a community ESL class, Luli connects with other immigrant children by sharing a love of tea. Includes author's note.

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Wang, Andrea

Embarrassed about gathering watercress from a roadside ditch, a girl learns to appreciate her Chinese heritage after learning why the plant is so important to her parents.

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Wu, Helen H.

Lin makes tofu with her grandma and discovers that patience brings a whole universe together in a simple dish made by a modern Chinese American family.

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Yang, Kelly

Recent immigrants from China and desperate for work and money, ten-year-old Mia Tang's parents take a job managing a rundown motel in Southern California, even though the owner, Mr. Yao is a nasty skinflint who exploits them; while her mother (who was an engineer in China) does the cleaning, Mia works the front desk and tries to cope with demanding customers and other recent immigrants--not to mention being only one of two Chinese in her fifth grade class, the other being Mr. Yao's son, Jason.

Summaries provided by DPL's catalog unless otherwise noted. Click on each title to view more information.

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