To celebrate Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month (AAPIHM), I am expanding my list of middle grade books by Asian authors! I hope you enjoy the list, and please check out some of these amazing books. Happy AAPI Heritage Month!

 

Prairie Lotus by Linda Sue Park

Hanna is the only Asian in her new Dakota pioneer town, where most
people have never even seen an Asian before. But this town offers Hanna
new hope, after moving from place to place with her white father since
her Chinese-Korean mother’s death. Maybe she can go to school for
once–and later, open a dress shop, which has always been her dream
since her mother taught her to sew. But the people in LaForge don’t know
how to act around Hanna, distrust her, or are downright cruel to her.
Will Hanna be able to follow her dreams while being an outcast?

 

When You Trap a Tiger by Tae Keller

When Lily and her family move in with her sick grandmother, a magical
tiger just like those in her halmoni’s Korean fairy tales starts to
appear wherever Lily is. The tiger tells her that long ago, Halmoni took
something that belonged to the tigers, and they want it back. Lily
knows from Halmoni’s stories that deals with tigers are always slippery
things, but when the tiger offers Halmoni’s health in exchange for the
stolen item, Lily is sorely tempted. She will need the help of her new
friend Rick and her older sister to trap and confront the tiger. 

Winner of the 2021 Newbery medal!

 

The Night Diary by Veera Hiranandani

Nisha’s home in India suddenly isn’t India anymore–it’s Pakistan.
Nisha, a half-Hindu, half-Muslim, and her family must flee their home in
the violence that comes to life after the 1947 partition of India. As
her family travels on foot on a long, difficult journey, Nisha keeps a
diary documenting her long walk from Pakistan to India. 

 

The Girl and the Ghost by Hanna Alkaf (set in Asia)

Suraya
is delighted when her dead grandmother’s pelesit becomes her first
friend. Pink, as she names the ghost, is equally content with Suraya,
who is the first person he has ever cared for. For many years, Suraya
and Pink are inseparable…but Suraya still longs for human friends, as
other children always try their best to avoid her. 

When Suraya
starts at a new school and meets Jing, her first human friend, Pink is
happy for her…at first. However, his pride soon turns into envy, and
then to malice, as Suraya spends more and more time with Jing. Suraya
and Pink must learn to control Pink’s dark side before it’s too late.

 

Aru Shah series by Roshani Chokshi

Twelve-year-old Aru Shah lives with her mother in the Museum of
Ancient Indian Art and Culture. So what if she doesn’t go on fancy
vacations like the rest of her classmates? She can tell them she does.
But when some classmates show up on her doorstep one day, prepared to
catch her in a lie, Aru is driven to light the Lamp of Bharata to prove
that it’s cursed. 

But the lamp really is cursed, a
complication that Aru hadn’t anticipated. By lighting the lamp, she
unknowingly releases the Sleeper, a trapped demon who has been waiting
to wreak havoc on the mortal and magical worlds. To save her mother, who
was frozen in time when the Sleeper awoke, Aru has to find the
legendary Pandava brothers and journey through the Kingdom of Death with
a new friend. 

The fifth and final installment, Aru Shah and the Nectar of Immortality, came out this spring!

 

 

Stand Up, Yumi Chung! by Jessica Kim

Why can’t anyone see that Yumi, a shy Korean-American girl, is destined
to become a stand up comedian? Yumi loves watching YouTube videos of her
favorite comedians and practicing in her room, but her parents, owners
of a struggling Korean restaurant, disapprove of her comedy, thinking
that she should be devoting her time to something more serious. So
instead of her dream comedy summer camp, they send her to an academic
prep camp to help her get into a private school she does not want to go
to. Why can’t she do both–please her parents and be who she wants?
Suddenly Yumi’s in comedy camp, not knowing exactly how she got
there…and with everyone thinking that she’s Kay Nakamura, another girl
who never showed up to camp. As if Yumi’s life weren’t complicated
enough, her parents’ restaurant starts to go down, and her family has to
fight to keep it open.

 

Where the Mountain Meets the Moon by Grace Lin

Minli is the only happy person in her village, or at least that’s how
it seems sometimes. She longs for a way to rid her family of poverty,
of saving every last grain of rice, of living under the shadow of
Fruitless Mountain. If only she could ask the advice of the Old Man of
the Moon, the wise man of her father’s stories. But maybe she can. Minli
leaves on a journey that will not only change her and the people around
her, but possibly her family’s fate as well. 

 

More to the Story by Hena Khan

Jameela Mirza, an aspiring journalist, loves her quirky and warm
Pakistani-American family. Maryam, her fashionable elder sister; Bisma,
her gentle favorite, Aleeza, the silly youngest, and Mama and Baba. Jam
and her family are devistated when Baba’s job takes him oversees to the
Middle East. How can they live without him for six months? Ali, a family
friend’s nephew who has recently moved to Georgia from Great Britain,
proves a welcome distraction for the sisters. But when Bisma gets sick,
the family’s  fragile peace is shattered. Can Jam’s reporting skills save the
day?

 

Blackbird Fly by Erin Entrada Kelly

Apple just wants to be a normal kid. But that’s impossible in her
mostly-white school, where she stands out for being one of the only
Filipinos. On top of this, Apple’s mother refuses to let her pursue her
love of music, because it brings back so many sad memories from the
death of Apple’s father before she moved to the states as a baby. But
armed with a borrowed guitar and a few friends, both of whom are
outsiders like herself, Apple might be able to overcome her obstacles
and be who she truly is.

 

Front Desk by Kelly Yang

Mia’s family has immigrated to Anaheim, California from Beijing, China
to seek a better future, but that future may not be so bright: her
parents move from low-paying job to low-paying job, until they finally
get work managing a motel where the owner treats them like servants. Mia
makes new friends among the residents of the motel and her classmates
while facing up against unfairness and racism. She discovers her love of
writing, and pushes through even after being told that she will never
be as good at writing as the American kids because English is her second
language. When Mia discovers a chance to change her family’s fortune,
she uses her writing skills to fight for herself and her family. 

Now a trilogy–check out Three Keys and Room to Dream! A fourth book, Key Player, is coming out in September!! I just learned that and I’m kind of dying of excitement now. 

 

Listen, Slowly by Thanhhà Lại

Mai is disgusted when she learns that she has to spend the summer in Vietnam instead of Long Beach. She isn’t interested in the reason for her trip, helping her grandmother discover what happened to her grandfather during the Vietnam War. And she isn’t interested in being surrounded by mosquitos and distant relatives in a country she barely knows. But maybe, as the summer drags on and Mai learns more about her culture, she will be able to see the vibrant side of Vietnam. 

 

Other Words for Home by Jasmine Warga

Jude loves her home, family, and friends in Syria. But when conflicts start to break out, and her lifelong home is no longer safe, she and her mother must leave her father and brother behind to start over in America. 

America is new, loud, and confusing. Jude doesn’t know how she’ll ever fit in here, but new friends at school might be able to help her find her footing. Will Jude learn to breathe freely in her new home? 

 

Kira-Kira by Cynthia Kadohata

Katie Takeshima’s big sister, Lynn, tells her that many things are kira-kira; glittering. And though the Takeshimas’ move from a Japanese community in Iowa to Georgia doesn’t feel kira-kira, Lynn helps Katie to see past the strangeness and into the future. But when Lynn becomes terribly sick, and it feels like Katie’s life is slipping before her eyes, Katie might need to be the one to remind herself, and her family, that they can see the kira-kira in everything…if they try hard enough. 

 

It Ain’t So Awful, Falafel by Firoozeh Dumas

Zomorod “Cindy” Yousefzadeh’s new home in Newport Beach is a chance to start over. A chance to make new friends, and to show the world that she really is American. But being Iranian-American isn’t easy in the late 1970s. News from Iran floods American papers, and anti-Iranian sentiments seem to be closing in on Cindy. Balancing prejudice, worry about the news, and trying to fit in, Cindy has her work cut out for her. 

Amal Unbound by Aisha Saeed (set in Asia) 

After accidentally offending a member of her Pakistani village’s ruling family, the Khans, Amal is torn from her home and sent to work off her debt at the Khans’ estate. 

Navigating the new world of being a servant isn’t easy, especially with all the rules and drama that fill the Khan home. But after her initial shock settles down, Amal begins to see how far the Khans will go to keep their power over the village. Now Amal has a second goal behind her quest to return home: to make sure her family is safe from the Khans’ power. But she will have to channel her courage and work with the other servants of the estate to accomplish it.

 

Red, White, and Whole

Reha’s world is divided very neatly in two: home, where she is fully immersed in her parents’ Indian culture, and school, where she is the only Indian American student. Reha struggles to be the perfect daughter, while also trying her best to fit in and have fun with her friends. But when her mother, Amma, becomes terribly ill, Reha’s two worlds seem to blend together. Reha dreams of becoming a doctor someday…will she be able to help Amma before it’s too late?

A Place at the Table by Saadia Faruqi and Laura Shovan

When Sara, a new student who’s trying to adjust to a big public
school after leaving her small Islamic one, and Elizabeth, an
extroverted girl who’s struggling to get along with her old best friend,
are thrown together in Sara’s mom’s cooking class, they don’t exactly
become instant friends. Sara’s parents are from Pakistan; Elizabeth’s
mother, who is struggling with depression, is from England. Sara is
Muslim; Elizabeth is Jewish. Elizabeth likes cooking, and Sara doesn’t.
The only thing that they seem to have in common is that their moms are
studying for the U.S. citizenship test. But soon the girls are teammates
for a multicultural food celebration, and become friends with the same
desire: make up the best recipe to get a spot on TV. But will they
become good enough friends to trust each other?

 

Everlasting Nora by Marie Miranda Cruz (set in Asia)

Nora has lived with her mother in the cemetery shantytown ever since tragedy resulted in the loss of her father and her home. But then one day, Nora’s mother disappears. 

With the help of her best friend, Jojo, and his grandmother, Nora sets out from home to find her mother…whatever it takes. And though her path is riddled with danger, she also finds the kindness and compassion that hides within people.

 

A Wish in the Dark by Christina Soontornvat

Two very different children. A city split in half. 

When Pong
escapes from the prison he was born in, he learns that the outside world
is even more unfair than what he experienced as a child prisoner. In
Chattana, all light is created by the Governor. From inside the prison
walls, the glowing walls of the cities looked beautiful and full of
hope, but the truth is that the wealthy live on one side in a paradise
of light, and the poor live on the other side, scrounging for whatever
is left over. In Chattana, Pong is just as trapped as he was in prison,
bound by the prison tattoo that forever brands him as a criminal. 

Nok,
the daughter of the prison warden, is determined to track Pong down and
restore her family’s honor. But as her journey and Pong’s intertwine,
she begins to wonder whether everything she’s ever been told about her
city and her Governor was a lie.

 

Images from Amazon, Penguin Random House, erinentradayekelly.com, thanhhalai.com