Asian American & Pacific Islander Heritage Month Booklist
Check out the Asian American & Pacific Islander Heritage Month booklist to celebrate May! The month of May celebrates Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month, which actually includes people from a lot of different countries and cultures all rolled into one month. With that said, I wanted to share some newer titles with characters that reflect these cultures. The last time I created this list was back in 2016. Still a great list, but with new titles always being released, I like to give my readers some new suggestions that you might not have seen yet!
A caveat, I found that this heritage month’s name was changed in some places online from Asian Pacific American Heritage Month to Asian American & Pacific Islander Heritage Month. You may see both variations, so don’t be confused.
I love being able to share great new titles, especially if you might not necessarily pick them up on your own. I find that when reading about diverse characters, I’ll usually find more in common with the characters than I find differences. And fiction is a great way to understand differences without making assumptions or being rude.
Titles
- Grandmother’s Visit by Betty Quan
- A Big Mooncake for Little Star by Grace Lin
- A Different Pond by Bao Phi
- Drawn Together by Minh Lê
- The Thing About Luck by Cynthia Kadohata
- Listen, Slowly by Thanhha Lai
- The House That Lou Built by Lou Respicio
- Amina’s Voice by Hena Khan
- Blackbird Fly by Erin Entrada Kelly
- The Serpent’s Secret by Sayantani DasGupta
- Pashmina by Nidhi Chanani
- Front Desk by Kelly Yang
- Darius the Great Is Not Okay by Adib Khorram
- There’s Something About Sweetie by Sandhya Menon
- Watched by Marina Budhos
You can also check out my list of Asian Protagonists from last month’s AtoZ Challenge. And check out the Asian/Pacific American Award for Literature which also includes some great suggestions! As always, I’d love to hear about your favorites, so please comment below!
