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Book Recommendations Celebrating Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month

Celebrate AAPI Heritage Month with a great read from the library. The following list was curated by the Buncombe County library staff.

Adult Fiction

Daughter of Moloka’i by Alan Brennert

Days of Distraction by Alexandra Chang

Exhalation by Ted Chiang

Skull Water by Heinz Insu Feinkl

The Descendents by Kaui Hart Hemmings

Babel by RF Kuang

Unaccustomed Earth by Jhumpa Lahiri

The Partition: Stories by Don Lee

Jade City by Fonda Lee

Fifty Words for Rain by Asha Lemmie

The Paper Menagerie and Other Stories by Ken Liu

The Chinese Groove by Kathryn Ma

Severance by Ling Ma

Everything I Never Told You by Celeste Ng

The Sympathizer by Viet Thanh Nguyen

The Buddha in the Attic by Julie Otsuka

A Tale for the Time Being by Ruth Ozeki

The Chosen and the Beautiful by Nghi Vo

On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous by Ocean Vuong

Adult Non-Fiction

Go Back Where You Came from and Other Helpful Recommendations by Wajahat Ali

Another Appalachia: Growing Up Queer and Indian in a Mountain Place by Neema Avashia

The Best We Could Do by Thi Bui

My Life: Growing up Asian in America edited by CAPE, the Coalition of Asian Pacifics in Entertainment

How to Read Now: Essays by Elaine Castillo

Asian American Spies: How Asian Americans Helped Win the Allied Victory by Brian Masaru Hayashi

Minor Feelings: an Asian American Reckoning by Cathy Park Hong

Good Talk by Mira Jacob

The Loneliest Americans by Jay Caspian Kang

What We Carry by Maya Lang

Long Live the Tribe of Fatherless Girls by T Kira Madden

They Called Us Enemy by George Takei

Sigh, Gone by Phuc Tran

Time is a Mother by Ocean Vuong

Making a Scene by Constance Wu

Rise: a Pop History of Asian America from the Nineties to Now by Jeff Yang

Crying in H Mart by Michelle Zauner

Picture books for kids

Eyes That Speak to the Stars by Joanna Ho

Love in the Library by Maggie Tokuda-Hall

This is Not My Home by Vivienne Chang and Eugenia Yoh

I Am Golden by Eva Chen

Ohana Means Family by Ilima Loomis

Kapaemahu by Hinaleimoana Wong-Kalu

Chapter books and graphic novels for kids

Finally Seen by Kelly Yang

Kiranmala and the Kingdom Beyond series by Sayantani Dasgupta

When You Trap a Tiger by Tae Keller                             

Nikhil Out Loud by Maulik Pancholy  

The Awakening Storm by Jaimal Yogis

Measuring Up by Lily LaMotte

The Tryout by Christina Soontornvat

The Night Marchers, and other Oceanian stories by Various Authors             

Juvenile biographies for kids

A is for Asian American: An Asian Pacific Islander Desi American alphabet by Virginia Loh-Hagan          

Yes We Will: Asian Americans who Shaped this Country by Kelly Yang                                                         

The Boy Who Became a Dragon: A Bruce Lee story by Jim Di Bartolo                                                         

A Boy Named Isamu: A story of Isamu Noguchi by James Yang

Fearless Flights of Hazel Ying Lee by Julie Leung

Teen fiction and graphic novels

We Are Not Free by Traci Chee                                                       

Last Night at the Telegraph Club by Malinda Lo                       

It All Comes Back to You by Farah Naz Rishi                               

This Place Is Still Beautiful by XiXi Tian                                        

Patron Saints of Nothing by Randy Ribay

Messy Roots by Laura Gao                                                 

Almost American Girl by Robin Ha                                  

The Magic Fish by Trung Le Nguyen

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Updated May 19, 2023 10:26 AM
Published May 01, 2023 07:00 AM