Celebrate Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) Heritage Month by reading young adult books written by contemporary AAPI YA authors! Learn more about AAPI Heritage Month.
YA Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month
Compiled by:
Tyana H. & Fern S.
(Young Adult Fiction - Y Tahir)
A family extending from Pakistan to California deals with generations of young love, old regrets, and forgiveness.
(Young Adult Fiction - Y Pan)
The only things keeping Hunter from running away are his little brother, a supernatural wind, and the girl at his new high school. Luna finds her life upended by the new boy in her class, the arrival of unearthly fireflies, and an ominous crack spreading across town.
(Young Adult Fiction - Y Lai)
A Vietnam War refugee in Texas partners with a city boy with rodeo dreams to track down the younger brother she was separated from six years before when he was evacuated by American troops during the waning days of the Vietnam War.
(Young Adult Fiction - Y Nazemia)
At Chandler, the elite boarding school, five teens are brought together in the Circle, a coveted writing group where life-changing friendships are born—and secrets are revealed. Their professor tells them to write their truths. But is the truth enough to change the long-standing culture of abuse at Chandler? And can their friendship survive the fallout?
(Young Adult Fiction - Y Yoon)
This imaginative and affecting new novel is beloved, bestselling, and award-winning author David Yoon at his finest—thought-provoking and heart-piercing, by turns funny and challenging, and at all times deeply human.
(Young Adult Fiction - Y Menon)
Told in two voices, Jaya Rao, an East Indian princess, and Grey Emerson, an English lord, suffer the effects of a centuries-old feud when they meet at an elite Colorado boarding school.
(Young Adult Fiction - Y Yee)
Plagued by the voices of Avatars before her for as long as she can remember, Yangchen travels to Bin-Er in the Earth Kingdom where she partners with an informant named Kavik and soon learns to rely on her own wisdom and continue her journey from uncertain young woman to revered leader.
(Young Adult Fiction - Y Nayeri)
At the front of a middle school classroom in Oklahoma, a boy named Khosrou (whom everyone calls "Daniel") stands, trying to tell a story. His story. But no one believes a word he says. Khosrou's stories—stretching back years, decades, and centuries—are both beautiful and terrifying.
(Young Adult Fiction - Y Jaigird)
Everyone likes Humaira "Hani" Khan. But when she comes out to her friends as bisexual, they invalidate her identity. Panicked, Hani blurts out that she's in a relationship, with a girl her friends absolutely hate. Ishu is the complete opposite of Hani, an academic overachiever who hopes that becoming head girl will set her on the right track for college. But Ishita agrees to help Hani, if Hani will help her become more popular so that she stands a chance of being elected head girl.
(Young Adult Fiction - Y Hiranan)
Middle schooler Ariel Goldberg's life changes when her big sister elopes following the 1967 Loving v. Virginia decision, and she's forced to grapple with both her family's prejudice and the antisemitism she experiences as she defines her own beliefs.
(Young Adult Fiction - Y Khorram)
On boy band Kiss & Tell's first major tour, lead singer Hunter Drake grapples with a painful breakup with his first boyfriend, his first rebound, and the stress of what it means to be queer in the public eye.
(Young Adult Fiction - Y Lo)
Lily Hu can't remember exactly when the question took root, but the answer was in full bloom the moment she and Kathleen Miller walked under the flashing neon sign of a lesbian bar called The Telegraph Club.
(Young Adult Fiction - Y Wen)
When Ever Wong's parents sent her away for the summer, she's expecting Chien Tan—a strict, educational immersion program in Taiwan. Instead, she finds the infamous "Loveboat." But summer will end eventually, and Ever will be back to her parents and the future they've planned for her. Will she let this glimpse of freedom go, or will Loveboat give her the courage to pursue the future she dreams of, and the Ever Wong she wants to be?
(Young Adult Fiction - Y Ahmed)
Told in alternating narratives that bridge centuries, this story traces the lives of two young women fighting to write their own stories and escape the pressure of familial burdens and cultural expectations in worlds too long defined by men.
(Young Adult Fiction - Y Cho)
Instead of going to prom, 17-year-old Elena Soo wants to spend her time saving the local community center, and she is determined to keep her priorities straight even when her childhood best friend—who is now a K-pop superstar—returns to make good on their old pact to go to prom together.
(Young Adult Fiction - Y He)
In a near future when life is harsh outside of Earth's last unpolluted place, Cee tries to leave an abandoned island while her sister, STEM prodigy Kasey, seeks escape from the science and home she once trusted.
(Young Adult Fiction - Y Ribay)
When 17-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.
(Young Adult Fiction - Y Lim)
The exiled Princess Shiori must unravel the curse that turned her six brothers into cranes. She's assisted by her spurned betrothed, a capricious dragon, and a paper bird brought to life by her own magic to help her on her quest.
(Young Adult Fiction - Y Lu)
The Karensa Federation has conquered a dozen countries, leaving Mara as one of the last free nations in the world. Refugees flee to its borders to escape a fate worse than death. Robbed of her voice and home, Talin Kanami knows first-hand the brutality of the Federation. But when a mysterious prisoner is brought from the front, Talin senses there's more to him than meets the eye.
(Young Adult Fiction - Y Goo)
Told from two viewpoints, teens Lucky, a very famous K-pop star, and Jack, a part-time paparazzo who is trying to find himself, fall for each other against the odds through the course of one stolen day.
(Young Adult Fiction - Y Gong)
In 1926 Shanghai, 18-year-old Juliette Cai, heir of the Scarlet Gang, and her first love-turned-rival Roma Montagov, leader of the White Flowers, must work together when mysterious deaths threaten their city.
(Young Adult Fiction - Y Mafi)
To all the world, Alizeh is a disposable servant, not the long-lost heir to an ancient Jinn kingdom forced to hide in plain sight. The crown prince, Kamran, has heard the prophecies foretelling the death of his king. But he could never have imagined that the servant girl with the strange eyes, the girl he can't put out of his mind, would one day soon uproot his kingdom—and the world.
(Young Adult Fiction - Y Chee)
When a girl who's never longed for adventure is hit with a curse that begins to transform her into a demon, she embarks on a quest to reverse the curse and return to her normal life, but along the way, she's forced to confront her true power within.
Graphic Novels
(Graphic Novels - GN 741.5092 Yang)
The men's varsity team, the Dragons, is having a phenomenal season that's been decades in the making. Each victory brings them closer to their ultimate goal: the California State Championships. Once Gene gets to know these young all-stars, he realizes that their story is just as thrilling as anything he's seen on a comic book page.
(Graphic Novels - GN Becker Himawari House)
When Nao returns to Tokyo to reconnect with her Japanese heritage, she books a yearlong stay at the Himawari sharehouse.
(Graphic Novels - GN Trung Magic Fish)
It's hard enough trying to communicate with your parents as a kid, but for Tié̂n, he doesn't even have the right words because his parents are struggling with their English. Is there a Vietnamese word for what he's going through? Is there a way to tell them he's gay?
(Graphic Novels - GN Monstress v. 1)
Monstress tells the epic story of Maika Halfwolf, a teenage survivor of a cataclysmic war between humans and their hated enemies, the Arcanics.
(Graphic Novels - GN 741.5092 Satrapi Sat)
In powerful black-and-white comic strip images, Satrapi tells the story of her life in Tehran from ages six to 14, years that saw the overthrow of the Shah's regime, the triumph of the Islamic Revolution, and the devastating effects of war with Iraq.
(Graphic Novels - GN 791.4392 Takei Tak)
A stunning graphic memoir recounting actor, author, and activist George Takei's childhood imprisoned within American concentration camps during World War II.