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Drawn Together
by Minh Lê; illustrated by Dan Santat
What it is: A stirring, beautifully illustrated picture book about reaching across generational barriers.
Why we loved it: Vibrant illustrations and quiet text go together so well in this Lê and Santat collaboration. It's amazing how a shared fondness for art and storytelling can seal a relationship between a grandfather and grandson who didn't think they had anything in common.
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A Different Pond
by Bao Phi; illustrated by Thi Bui
What it is: A lovely and quiet story of a fishing trip between father and son.
Why we loved it: You quickly realize the cultural differences between the boy and his father and wish you were there to hear more of the father's stories as they fish. There are small details illustrated by Thi Bui that capture some of the familiarities found in Asian-American households, like the repurposed cookie tin and grocery store calendar.
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Front Desk
by Kelly Yang
Starring: Mia Tang and her family, who end up running a motel in Southern California.
What it's about: The owner isn't the nicest, but Mia dreams of one day owning a hotel of her own. Yang intertwines stories of the motel regulars into the lives of the Tangs, from the adventures of sneaking in immigrants to heavier topics of race and inequity.
Series alert: The story of Mia and her family and friends at the Calivista Motel continues in Three Keys.
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Stand Up, Yumi Chung!
by Jessica Kim
Introducing: Yumi, an aspiring stand-up comedian who runs into a case of mistaken identity at comedy camp.
Why we loved it: The first chapter had me as I quickly related to Yumi as she reluctantly sat in a chair, receiving another perm. A fun read as you go along with Yumi as she accidentally pretends to be someone else, finds the courage to be herself, and helps to save her family's Korean BBQ restaurant.
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Step Up to the Plate, Maria Singh
by Uma Krishnaswami
Nine-year-old Maria Singh... is eager to play softball in the first girls' team forming in Yuba City, California. Meanwhile, her parents and neighbors are struggling through World War II, her family is on the brink of losing their farm, and Maria must step up and find her voice in an unfair world.
Why you might like it: This novel shines a spotlight on a little-known chapter of American history, and Maria is a relatable and determined heroine.
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Measuring Up
by Lily LaMotte; illustrated by Ann Xu
What it is: A debut graphic novel about food, friendship, and finding your place in the world.
Introducing: 12-year-old Cici, who moves from Taiwan to Seattle with her family and enters a cooking competition with a $1,000 prize.
Reviewers say: "First-time author LaMotte brings an obvious love of food and cooking to a positive story that aspiring young chefs will devour" (Booklist).
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We Are Not Free
by Traci Chee
Why we loved it: An amazing own voices book of 14 teens and their experiences during the time of WWII at internment camps. With many of that generation passing, these stories die with them. My grandparents never spoke much about their time in Arizona or Arkansas. Even though I wasn't able to learn about their own experiences, it was emotional to read Chee's telling.
You might also like: Displacement by Kiku Hughes is a graphic novel take on a similar theme. In this book, a teen is pulled back in time and witnesses the experiences of her grandmother and other Japanese-American citizens in internment camps.
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Last Night at the Telegraph Club
by Malinda Lo
Welcome to... San Francisco's Chinatown during the 1950s.
The premise: 17-year-old Lily Hu has kept mostly to her Chinese American community, but then a relationship develops between Lily and her White friend Kathleen, and the two begin to sneak out to the Telegraph Club bar.
Reviewers say: "An instant classic, the finest LGBTQIA+ romance I've read in ages" (Bill Konigsberg).
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Dragon Hoops
by Gene Luen Yang
The setup: This graphic memoir tells the story of The Dragons, a high school basketball team competing for the state title.
What sets it apart: Dragon Hoops combines memoir, journalism, and sports history while also blending in details about Yang's career as a graphic novelist.
Book buzz: This was a recent nominee for the Printz Award, which is given annually to the year's best young adult literature.
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Frankly in Love
by David Yoon
Starring: Frank Li (his American name), also known as Sung-Min Li (his Korean name).
The problem: Frank's Korean immigrant parents have disowned his sister for dating a non-Korean, so when Frank starts going out with a White classmate, he hatches a fake dating scheme: He'll pretend to date family friend Joy Song, but the two will secretly spend time with their actual crushes.
About the author: David Yoon made a splash with this debut, and his wife, Nicola Yoon, is also a well-known YA author.
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A Thousand Beginnings and Endings
by Ellen Oh and Elsie Chapman (editors)
What's inside: This is a genre-spanning collection of original short stories, inspired by Asian folk tales and myths.
Stories include: "Steel Skin," a dystopian tale about an android uprising; "Code of Honor," in which a Filipino shapeshifter attends high school; "Forbidden Fruit," which follows a guardian spirit who falls in love with a human.
For fans of: Marissa Meyer's The Lunar Chronicles series and other fairy tale retellings.
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Almost American Girl
by Robin Ha
What it's about: Chuna is 14 when her single mom decides to marry a Korean American man, moving their little family from Seoul to Alabama. Feeling adrift in a new country, a new language, and an unwelcoming new school and stepfamily, Chuna finds an anchor in drawing comics.
Why you might like it: This illustrated memoir offers an honest, unsentimental look at a mother-daughter relationship, and at how one immigrant teen finds herself through art.
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Dial A for Aunties
by Jesse Q. Sutanto
What it's about: In Sutanto’s hilariously quirky debut, a series of disasters befalls a family wedding catering business. Equal parts murder mystery, rom-com, and a celebration of mothers and daughters as well as a deep dive into Chinese-Indonesian culture.
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My Year Abroad
by Chang-rae Lee
What it's about: An everyday American college student finds his life transformed by a Chinese-American businessman who unexpectedly takes him under his wing on a series of whimsical, heartbreaking and darkly shocking adventures throughout Asia. By the award-winning author of Native Speaker.
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How to Pronounce Knife: Stories
by Souvankham Thammavongsa
What it's about: Canadian poet Thammavongsa showcases 14 spectacular stories in her fiction debut. Born to Lao parents in a Thai refugee camp and raised and educated in Toronto, Thammavongsa focuses on characters struggling to make a living, illuminating their hopes, disappointments, love affairs, acts of defiance, and above all their pursuit of a place to belong.
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Whereabouts
by Jhumpa Lahiri
What it's about: The latest novel by the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Interpreter of Maladies follows the routines of a misfit city dweller who, wavering between stasis and movement, the need to belong and the refusal to form lasting ties, experiences a year of remarkable transformation in the aftermath of a parent’s death.
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The Committed
by Viet Thanh Nguyen
What it's about: A sequel to the Pulitzer Prize-winning The Sympathizer finds the unnamed “man of two minds” and his blood brother dealing drugs in 1980s Paris, where he navigates the worlds of privileged clients while trying to reconcile two politically polarized friends.
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The Buddha in the Attic
by Julie Otsuka
What it's about: The author of When the Emperor Was Divine presents the stories of six Japanese mail-order brides whose new lives in early 20th-century San Francisco are marked by backbreaking migrant work, cultural struggles, children who reject their heritage and the prospect of wartime internment.
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America Is in the Heart
by Carlos Bulosan
What it's about: Poet, essayist, novelist, fiction writer and labor organizer Carlos Bulosan (1913-1956) wrote one of the most influential working class literary classics about the United States in the 1930s from the perspective of a Filipino migrant laborer who endures racial violence and struggles with the paradox of the American dream.
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Heart of Fire: An Immigrant Daughter's Story
by Mazie K. Hirono
What it's about: An intimate biography of the first Asian-American woman and only immigrant serving in the U.S. Senate describes her upbringing in rural Japan and Hawaii, firsthand experiences with economic insecurity, and dedicated advocacy of progressive change.
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The Art of Gaman: Arts and Crafts from the Japanese American Internment Camps, 1942-1946
by Delphine Hirasuna
What it's about: A photographic collection of arts and crafts made in the Japanese American internment camps during World War II, along with a historical overview of the camps. The Japanese word gaman means "enduring what seems unbearable with dignity and grace." Using found materials at first, they whittled and carved, painted and etched, stitched and crocheted. What they created is a celebration of the nobility of the human spirit under adversity.
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Every Day Is a Gift
by Tammy Duckworth
What it's about: Senator Duckworth's engrossing memoir recounts her experience growing up as a biracial child in Thailand and the challenges her family faced when they moved to Hawaii in her teenage years. It also explores Duckworth's military career, dedication to serving her adopted home country, and recovery from the injuries she sustained when her Black Hawk helicopter was shot down in Iraq in 2014.
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Tigerfish: A Memoir of a South Vietnamese Colonel's Daughter
by Hoàng Chi Truong
Local interest: The author lived in Fresno from her early teens into adulthood, a period that she covers in the book.
What it's about: A memoir of a South Vietnamese Colonel's daughter, chronicling the tumultuous years growing up in the war-torn country of Vietnam, and the abrupt and brutal regime change that forced her disruptive and disorienting coming of age between two vastly different cultures.
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See No Stranger: A Memoir and Manifesto of Revolutionary Love
by Valarie Kaur
Local interest: The author grew up as the child of Sikh farmers in Clovis, CA.
What it's about: Sikh activist, filmmaker, and political commentator Kaur argues that one way to combat hatred and ignorance is to take the Sikh approach of empathy and forgiveness toward those who harm or fear others.
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Minor Feelings: An Asian American Reckoning
by Cathy Park Hong
What it's about: Poet and essayist Hong's family history beautifully details how her life and art have been shaped by her Korean American identity. Among the many topics the author explores are her discomfort and confusion navigating her race as a child in the Los Angeles area, and how race affected friendships and mental health throughout her life.
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Minari
What it's about: A Korean family starts a farm in 1980s Arkansas.
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The Big Sick
What it's about: A couple struggles with their relationship when their parents disapprove due to cultural differences.
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Gook
What it's about: Two Korean-American brothers run a shoe store in L.A. County. Their friend, Black 11-year-old Kamilla, drops in and helps. This day, the Rodney King verdict ignites the 1992 L.A. riots.
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Saving Face
What it's about: A widowed Chinese-American woman finds she is pregnant after an affair. Banished from her traditionalist father's house in Flushing, she moves in with her lesbian daughter, Wilhemina.
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Available to Stream via Kanopy
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The Split Horn: The Life of a Hmong Shaman in America
What it's about: Follows the emotional saga of Paja Thao, a Hmong shaman, and his family in the U.S. They were transplanted from the mountains of Laos during the Vietnam War to America’s heartland. For more than 17 years, filmmaker Siegel has chronicled the intimate and private lives of Paja Thao, his wife and their thirteen children.
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Meet the Patels
What it's about: In this real-life My Big Fat Greek Wedding, an Indian-American man who is about to turn 30 gets help from his parents and extended family so he can start looking for a wife the traditional Indian way.
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To Be Takei
What it's about: A look at the many roles played by eclectic actor/activist George Takei, whose wit, humor and grace have helped him to become an internationally beloved figure and Internet phenomenon with nine million Facebook followers and counting.
Also available to stream via Kanopy.
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Click here to view Kanopy's entire Asian Pacific American Heritage Month collection! Kanopy is a free Library service that lets you stream more than 30,000 of the world's best films on your mobile device, computer, or TV. Access requires an email address and the creation of a free Kanopy account.
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Fresno County Public Library 2420 Mariposa St. Fresno, California 93721 559-600-READ (7323)www.fresnolibrary.org |
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