Asian American Authors You Should Know

Thrilled to start at her new school in America before she renders her diverse class silent as the first Asian student most of them have ever seen, little Danbi uses the power of her imagination to make friends, learn the rules, and lead everyone during a fun-filled parade.

Recommended for grades Pre-Kindergarten-2.

When Wu Chien Shiung was born in China 100 years ago, girls did not attend school. But her parents named their daughter “Courageous Hero” and encouraged her love of science. This biography follows Wu as she battles sexism at home and racism in the United States of America to become what Newsweek magazine called the “Queen of Physics” for her work on how atoms split.

Recommended for grades 1-2.

*Coming Soon, On Order!*

A young Asian girl notices that her eyes look different from her peers but by drawing from the strength of the powerful women in her life, she recognizes her own beauty and discovers a path to self-love and empowerment.

Recommended for grades Kindergarten-3.

Moving with her parents into the home of her sick grandmother, young Lily forges a complicated pact with a magical tiger, in a story inspired by Korean folktales.

Recommended for grades 4-7.

When eleven-year-old Yumi Chung stumbles into a kids’ comedy camp, she is mistaken for another student, so she decides to play the part.

Recommended for grades 3-6.

In Dakota Territory in the 1880s, half-Chinese Hanna and her white father face racism and resistance to change as they try to make a home for themselves.

Recommended for grades 5-8.

Suraya is delighted when her witch grandmother gifts her a pelesit. She names her ghostly companion Pink, and the two quickly become inseparable. But Suraya doesn’t know that pelesits have a dark side–and when Pink’s shadows threaten to consume them both, they must find enough light to survive . . . before they are both lost to the darkness.

Recommended for grades 4-7.

When seventeen-year-old Jay Reguero learns his Filipino cousin and former best friend, Jun, was murdered as part of President Duterte’s war on drugs, he flies to the Philippines to learn more.

Recommended for grades 10-12.

1890, Atlanta. By day, seventeen-year-old Jo Kuan works as a lady’s maid for the cruel Caroline Payne, the daughter of one of the wealthiest men in Atlanta. But by night, Jo moonlights as the pseudonymous author of a newspaper advice column for ‘the genteel Southern lady’.

Recommended for grades 7-12.

A letter from a son to a mother who cannot read reveals the impact of the Vietnam War on their family history and provides a view into parts of the son’s life that his mother has never known.

A survivor of an apocalyptic plague maintains a blog about a decimated Manhattan before joining a motley group of survivors to search for a place to rebuild, a goal that is complicated by an unscrupulous group leader.

Falling in love while attending a competitive 1980s performing arts high school, David and Sarah rise through the ranks before the realities of their family dynamics and economic statuses trigger a spiral that impacts their adult lives.

Left behind when work requires her parents to return to Korea, a teen poet reconnects with family history to manage the impact of absent caregivers on her sense of self.

An award-winning poet and essayist offers a ruthlessly honest, emotionally charged exploration of the psychological condition of being Asian American.

Published in support of the International Rescue Committee and edited by the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Sympathizer, a collection of searing personal essays by prominent international refugees shares candid reflections on the Trump administration’s 2017 executive order to limit or ban Muslim refugees from America.

In this critically acclaimed indie favorite and New York Times Critic’s Pick, estranged siblings, Kyle and Jen, travel from New York City to rural Pennsylvania to pack up the home of their recently deceased mother. While there, they inadvertently make a shocking discovery that turns their world upside-down.

Winner of Best Screenplay and nominated for Best Narrative Feature at the Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival. Nominated for Best Narrative at CAAMFest.

Eli and Daniel are two Korean American brothers that run their late father’s shoe store in a predominantly African American community of Los Angeles. These two brothers strike up an unlikely friendship with 11-year-old African American girl, Kamilla.

As Daniel dreams of becoming a recording artist and Eli struggles to keep the store afloat, racial tensions build to a breaking point in L.A. as the infamous L.A. Riots break out.

Winner of the Best of Next! Award at the Sundance Film Festival. Nominated for the Someone to Watch Award at the Film Independent Spirit Awards.

This short documentary explores the richness and complexities of Deaf culture from the perspective of two Korean high school students who attend the California School for the Deaf, Fremont. Born and raised in South Korea, Jeongin Mun and Min Wook Cho have strong ties to their Korean heritage and learned Korean as their first language.

However, what separates Jeongin and Min Wook from most children of immigrant families is that they are also deaf. When their families moved to the United States, their deafness automatically put them into an entirely separate cultural group with its own language, customs, and history.