16 fantastic kids’ books with AAPI characters
These fun stories will help you celebrate AAPI heritage with kids.
Credit:
Reviewed / Scholastic Press / Viking Books for Young Readers / Greenwillow Books
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Representation begins with the stories we tell our children. That’s why it’s important that children of all ages and backgrounds be exposed to both characters who look like them and those from other cultures. For Asian American Pacific Islander Heritage Month, we’re highlighting some of the best children’s books that are both written by AAPI authors and feature AAPI characters. These books showcase a variety of heroes and heroines, each that speak to the rich stories that can be told when one authentically taps into the various cultures found in AAPI heritage.
These 16 books represent just a small subsection of picks that reflect the Asian American experience, and all are worth adding to your child's bookshelf.
1. The Door Is Open: Stories of Celebration and Community
The Door Is Open is an anthology book featuring 11 Desi voices.
• Ages: 8 to 12
The Door is Open is a collection of beautiful short stories set in the fictional New Jersey town of Maple Grove’s community center. Written by a variety of talented South Asian authors, the stories focus on middle graders surrounded by their cultural community, and span from winning a chess tournament to learning how to make sabji, all infused with humor and warmth. Kids will get to experience a wide range of tales that display the ups and downs of desi culture through moments of family, heart, hope, and friendship.
The Door is Open is a win for diversity and compelling storytelling thanks to its showcases of fear, triumph, and celebration.
2. Eva Evergreen, Semi-Magical Witch
Eva Evergreen, Semi-Magical Witch is a must-read for fans of Kiki's Delivery Service.
- Ages: 8 to 12
Eva Evergreen, Semi-Magical Witch is about a magical girl looking to earn the rank of a novice witch before her 13th birthday. If she doesn’t, she’ll lose her magic forever. To prove herself, she sets up a magical repair shop in the idyllic coastal town of Auteri. She soon has to save the town she’s grown to love from a powerful magical storm.
The book is sure to be a hit with readers that are fans of Kiki’s Delivery Service, Studio Ghibli, and the works of Roshani Chokshi.
3. Bilal Cooks Daal
Bilal Cooks Daal showcases various virtues such as patience and teamwork.
- Ages: 2 to 7
Bilal helps his dad cook his favorite dish, daal, adding a lot of tasty ingredients. As the dish simmers, more and more of his friends come to try it. While Bilal was excited for his friends to try, he starts to wonder if they’ll find daal as delicious as he does.
This book has won several awards such as the Asian/Pacific American Award for Literature Honor Book 2019 and is celebrated for showcasing the value of patience, teamwork, community, and sharing.
4. Amina’s Voice
Amina's Voice will show young readers how a community can help its members persevere in the face of tragedy.
- Ages: 8 to 12
As Amina enters middle school, she struggles fitting in when her best friend begins hanging out with the popular kids. She contemplates changing her name to sound more “American” and wonders if she’ll have to change herself too.
This book is celebrated for its depiction of Pakistani identity as well as showcasing resilience in the face of adversity.
5. Tessa Miyata Is No Hero
Tessa Miyata Is No Hero takes readers on a fun journey where they'll learn about Japanese mythology.
- Ages: 8 to 12
Tessa Miyata Is No Hero is another book by Julie Abe, the author of Eva Evergreen, Semi-Magical Witch. Tessa goes to visit her grandparents in Japan for the summer with her two older sisters. When she breaks her family heirloom, she and her new friends must go on a journey to save both her family and all of Tokyo.
Readers will be treated a story that immerses them in Japanese mythology.
6. Popo & Meimei Can Help
Popo & Meimei Can Help is a cute story about intergenerational language barriers and the love between a grandmother and her grandchild.
- Ages: 4 to 8
Meimei’s grandmother, Popo, doesn’t speak English, but she helps Meimei wherever she can, and they both speak Mandarin at home. This cute story sees Meimei helping out Popo in turn.
It’s hard not to love this story thanks to its beautiful illustrations, all of which do a great job of showing the love between a grandmother and her grandchild.
7. Danbi Leads the School Parade
Danbi will remind readers of what it's like to be the new kid at school.
- Ages: 3 to 7
Danbi moves from Korea to the Midwest, worried and scared about fitting in on her first day of school. She keeps trying new dances and games but awkwardly messes things up.
Luckily, lunchtime rolls around and her classmates are drawn in by the beautifully arranged food in her lunchbox: yams in honey, crystal dumplings, half moon rice cakes with sweet sesame. Danbi is able to share a part of her culture and make a new friend in the process.
8. How to Solve a Problem
Ashima Shiraishi describes the fortitude in falling down and getting back up again against the backdrop of rock climbing.
- Ages: 4 to 8
This is a fun and easy-to-read book written by world champion Japanese-American rock climber Ashima Shiraishi. With flourish, Shiraishi describes her visualization of paths up the rock, falling, then getting up to try again, each time with a new perspective.
Learning from failures makes this a perfect book for a range of readers, especially highlighting the importance of finding focus and harnessing frustrations.
The comic-book style illustrations keep it visually appealing; the inside cover is adorned with images of Shiraishi posing in different climbing holds in fun outfits. Budding athletes will be able to relate to her challenges in attacking a difficult problem.
9. Sunday Funday in Koreatown
Kids will love following the colorful Cat family around Koreatown.
- Ages: 3 to 7
The third book in the Yoomi Cat series, this time we’re taken on a tour of Koreatown as Yoomi enjoys Sunday Funday with her Dad and Grandma. Changes in the plans for the day frustrate Yoomi, which many young readers may be able to relate to. But in the end, Yoomi learns the value of enjoying time with her family.
The illustrations are detailed and colorful, including cultural touches like the clothes drying racks on the family’s deck and food sampling at the Korean market. Kids will love following the colorful Cat family around town.
10. My Day with Gong Gong
This book encapsulates the second- and third-generation experience for young readers.
- Ages: 4 to 7
May is dropped off at grandfather’s place by her mother, but Gong Gong can’t speak English and May doesn’t understand Chinese.
Gong Gong takes her through his day in Chinatown, chit chatting with shopkeepers and friends in Cantonese. May gets bored, unable to understand their interactions, but right as May begins to throw a fit, Gong Gong comes through and bridges the generation gap.
It provides a fun introduction of Chinese words and highlights that many Asian Americans may not speak their ethnic language. The Canadian author quintessentially tells the second- and third-generation story many AAPI parents may relate to.
11. Ohana Means Family
This celebration of Hawaiian culture connects nature to food and community.
- Ages: 3 to 7
Ohana Means Family is filled with watercolor illustrations celebrating Hawaiian culture and the connection food has to the land, the environment, and to the community.
Loomis starts with growing taro, an essential part of Hawaiian cooking. The book continues through making poi, and finally ends with a celebratory family luau.
The rhythmic writing underscores the importance of each cultural element, highlighting Hawaii’s indigenous people, and makes the book a great read for the younger set and early readers alike.
12. Shark Lady: The True Story of How Eugenie Clark Became the Ocean's Most Fearless Scientist
This is the perfect book for every budding ichthyologist.
- Ages: 4 to 8
Who doesn’t love learning about sharks? Born to a Japanese mother, Eugenie Clark was a first in her field, setting out to prove that sharks were misunderstood creatures, at a time when there were few female scientists. The book follows her travels and diving adventures as she discovers new species and learns about sharks’ true intellect.
Readers will be inspired by her passion and curiosity for science—especially after being told “no” by so many. It’s the perfect book for every budding ichthyologist.
13. Asian Americans Who Inspire Us
This series of profiles spotlights the cultures and contributions of many AAPI leaders and thought makers.
- Ages: 4 to 10+
Intricate illustrations follow each of these stories of courage, perseverance, and determination, bringing to life a group of diverse role models.
From Larry Itliong & Philip Vera Cruz, labor leaders who worked with Cesar Chavez to create the United Farm Workers union, to Sal Khan, who brought Khan Academy to so many children worldwide, and David Ho, who worked to turn HIV into a manageable disease, this book spans the cultures and contributions of many AAPI leaders and thought makers.
14. Measuring Up
This relatable book explores one girl balancing her passion with the desire to make her family happy.
- Ages: 7 to 13
Twelve-year-old Cici immigrates from Taiwan and does her best to fit into her new Seattle school, but finds well-meaning friends that are a bit confused about her ethnicity. She sorely misses her grandmother, so she joins a cooking competition in hopes of winning the grand prize to pay for grandmother’s ticket to visit the U.S.
The book weaves through the family’s immigrant challenges and focuses on conflicts of assimilation and acculturation. Readers will identify easily with the characters and their constant efforts to gain acceptance and understanding from parents.
15. Front Desk
Young readers will be galvanized by this story about rising up against injustice.
- Ages: 8 to 13
This novel follows 11-year-old Mia and her immigrant family as they settle into managing their new hotel. It begins by introducing the community that resides in the hotel and their attempts to create a village of support.
The story is set against the impending legislation of California prop 187, which resulted in the rise of anti-immigration sentiment and hate crimes. Mia uses writing, her superpower, to challenge what is unjust.
Kids will be galvanized by her courage and ability to rise above.
16. Hello, Universe
This tween-friendly novel combines Filipino folklore with adventure.
- Ages: 8 to 12
Virgil is a painfully shy introvert who admires Valencia, a deaf classmate, from afar. He consults with Kaori, a budding entrepreneur psychic, and her sidekick sister Gen, about his future. Chet is the class bully that inadvertently sends all four children on an adventure that forces them to face their fears and forge true friendships.
The story is beautifully and precisely written, punctuated by frequent Filipino folklore and often scary storytelling from Lola, Virgil’s grandmother.
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