Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders (AAPI) are integral members of our American cultural mosaic.
AAPI communities are diverse, consisting of approximately 50 ethnic groups speaking over 100 languages with connections to 30 - 50 countries depending on the geographic scheme followed. Over 24 million Americans, or 7.3% of the U.S. population, identify as AAPI and by some accounts they are the fastest growing racial or ethnic group in the United States.
Despite having been integral members of our country since colonization, the US has a history of racism towards, and oppression of, Asian American & Pacific Islander (AAPI) communities and peoples. Examples include the Chinese Exclusion Act, Japanese Incarceration (Internment) camps, the 2012 Wisconsin Sikh Temple shooting and the Atlanta spa and massage shooting just over one year ago. Between March 2020 and September 2021, more than 10,300 incidents of hate against Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders were reported to the Stop Asian Hate website. This must stop.
The mission of the Children’s Diversity & Justice Library is to empower young people to celebrate diversity and seek justice in their lives and communities. We do that by providing a curated free lending community library of books all written by or about under-published communities and people who identify with communities that are under-represented in literature, particularly children’s literature. We also offer programs and resources such as this booklist that help people find diverse justice related literature.
In recognition of Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month this May, and as further action in realizing our mission, we are pleased to announce we have catalogued the over 150 AAPI books in our collection in a newly identified primary diversity element ASIAN ASIAN-AMERICAN AND PACIFIC ISLANDER.
From now on, searching or browsing this keyword tag in our collection will bring forward all resources reflective of these communities. All AAPI books in our physical collection can be identified by a lime green dot on their spine. We will continue to catalogue our books with more specifically descriptive tags as well, such as specific languages, cultures and countries within the diverse AAPI category such that more specific searches can be conducted and the diversity within this broad diversity element is not lost. In addition, after reviewing several resources defining and describing AAPI geography and cultures, and considering reader needs and desires in searching and identifying literature, for the purposes of our collection, and recognizing that we will change our practices as we learn more and as needs develop, we have decided to include the Central Asia, Eastern Asia, South-eastern Asia, and Southern Asia subregions in the United Nations geoscheme for Asia as Asian Asian-American and Pacific Islander. For now, Western Asia, a geographical region commonly referred to as the Middle East including for example Kuwait, Jordan, Israel, Palestine, Saudi Arabia, Syria and Qatar will not be labeled AAPI.
As one way to lift up, celebrate and recognize the contributions, successes and struggles of AAPI communities, our May booklist consists of some of our favorite titles from our AAPI collection, board book through adult, all written by or about people and communities that identify as Asian, Asian-American, and/or Pacific Islander.
For additional resources about AAPI communities, AAPI social justice, AAPI Heritage Month and for additional booklists, we recommended the following:
May 2022 CDJL Asian, Asian-American & Pacific Islander Booklist
Board Books
Holi Colors by Rina Singh
Diwali (Celebrate the World) - words from Hannah Eliot; illustrations from Archana Sreenivasan
Will You Wear a Blue Hat? By Children’s Press
Picture Books
Binny’s Diwali - author Thity Umrigar and illustrator Nidhi Chanani
A Dog Named Haku: A Holiday Story from Nepal - authors, Amish Karanjit, Margarita Engle and Nicole Karanjit; illustrator, Ruth Jeyaveeran
Beautifully Me written by Nabela Noor, illustrations from Nabi H. Ali
The Seed of Compassion: Lessons from the Life and Teachings of His Holiness the Dalai Lama - written by His Holiness the Dalai Lama, illustrated by Bao Luu
Is Nothing Something?: Kids' Questions and Zen Answers About Life, Death, Family, Friendship, and Everything in Between - by Thich Nhat Hanh, illusrated by Jessica McClure
A Big Mooncake for Little Star by Grace Lin
Watercress written by Andrea Wang, illustrations by Jason Chin
Just Add One Chinese Sister: An Adoption Story written by Patricia McMahon and illustrated by Karen Jerome
Colors of Aloha written by Kau-Arteaga, illustrations by J. R. Keaolani Bogac-Moore
When Lola Visits written by Michele Sterling, pictures by Aaron Asis
Golden Threads written by Suzanne Del Rizzo and illustrated by Miki Sato
Mali Under the Night Sky: A Lao Story of Home words and illustrations by Youme Landowne
My Name is Yoon written by Helen Recorvits, with illustrations by Gabi Swiatkowska
The Name Jar by Yangsook Choi
A Different Pond by Bao Phi
It Began with a Page: How Gyo Fujikawa Drew the Way written by Kyo Maclear with illustrations by Julie Morstad
Bilal Cooks Daal written by Aisha Saeed, illustrated by Anoosha Syed
Drawn Together written by Minh Le with illustration by Dan Santat
Juvenile and up
Front Desk by Kelly Yang
Sugar by Jewell Parker Rhodes
Rickshaw Girl written by Mitali Perkins, with pictures by Jamie Hogan
Jasmine Toguchi, Mochi Queen and _______ from the Jasmine Toguchi series written by Debbi Michiko Florence, illustrated by Elizabet Vikovic
Dia’s Story Cloth written by Dia Cha with illustrations by Chiie Thao Cha and Nhia Thao Cha
Sixteen Years in Sixteen Seconds: The Sammy Lee Story by Paula Yoo
Middle Grades and up
The Breadwinner Trilogy written by Deborah Ellis
Where the Mountain Meets the Moon Series by Grace Lin
Starry River of the Sky (vol 2)
When the Sea Turned to Silver (vol 3)
Pie in the Sky a graphic novel by Remy Lai
Aru Shah and the End of Time, Book 1 in the Pandava Series - written by Rokshani Chokshii
Dragonwings by Laurence Yep
Takedown by Laura Shovan
Sylvia & Aki by Winifred Conkling
When You Trap A Tiger by Tae Keller
Prairie Lotus by Linda Sue Park
American Born Chinese a graphic novel by Gene Luen Yang
Stories for South Asian Supergirls by Raj Kaur Khaira
Teen
The Love and Lies of Rukhsana Ali by Sabina Khan
The Downstairs Girl by Stacey Lee
Summer Bird Blue by Akemi Dawn Bowman
Lovely, Dark, and Deep by Justina Chen
Picture Us In The Light by Kelly Loy Gilbert
The Authentics by Abdi Nazemian
They Called Us Enemy a graphic novel written by George Takei, Justin Eissinger and Steven Scott, illustrated by Harmony Becker
Frankly in Love by David Yoon
Adult
Dear America: Notes of an Undocumented Citizen, Jose Antonio Varga author
Good Talk: A Memoir in Conversations, Mira Jacob author
The Best We Could Do: An Illustrated Memoir a graphic novel by Thi Bui
Minor Feelings: An Asian American Reckoning by Cathy Park Hong