YA Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month

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.


Compiled by:
Tyana H. & Fern S.
All My Rage

Sabaa Tahir
(Young Adult Fiction - Y Tahir)

A family extending from Pakistan to California deals with generations of young love, old regrets, and forgiveness.


The Breakup Lists

Adib Khorram
(Young Adult Fiction - Y Khorram)

A high school stage manager has to face his complicated feelings about love when he catches himself falling for the same guy as his sister.


The Dawn of Yangchen

F.C. Yee
(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.


Dear Wendy

Ann Zhao
(Young Adult Fiction - Y Zhao)

Aromantic and asexual students Sophie and Jo, engaged in an online feud as the creators of popular relationship advice accounts "Dear Wendy" and "Sincerely Wanda," unwittingly become real-life friends and navigate their shared aroace identities as they face the challenges of college life.


The Dos and Donuts of Love

Adiba Jaigirdar
(Young Adult Fiction - Y Jaigird)

Shireen Malik is still reeling from the breakup with her ex-girlfriend, Chris, when she receives news that she's been accepted as a contestant on a new televised baking competition show. Because winning will not only mean prize money, but it will also bring some much-needed attention to You Drive Me Glazy, her parents' beloved donut shop.


Everything Sad is Untrue: (A True Story)

Daniel Nayeri
(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.


Foul Lady Fortune

Chloe Gong
(Young Adult Fiction - Y Gong)

In 1931 Shanghai, two Nationalist spies pose as a married couple to investigate a series of brutal murders causing unrest in the city.


House of Yesterday

Deeba Zargarpur
(Young Adult Fiction - Y Zargarp)

Struggling with her parent's divorce and her grandmother's dementia, fifteen-year-old Sarah Khan tries to distract herself in a home renovation project. She finds that the house is full of dark family secrets that give rise to ghostly apparitions. And dark truths that ensure nothing will ever be the same.


How to Find What You're Not Looking For

Veera Hiranandani
(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. 


An Impossible Thing to Say

Arya Shahi
(Young Adult Fiction - Y Shahi)

Omid needs the right words to connect with his newly met grandfather and distant Iranian heritage, words to tell a special girl what she means to him and to show everyone that he truly belongs in Tucson, Arizona, the only home he's ever known.


Into the Sunken City

Dinesh Thiru
(Young Adult Fiction - Y Thiru)

In a world where the rain never stops, impoverished Jin Haldar is offered the score of a lifetime--a massive stash of gold hidden in the sunken ruins of Las Vegas and must do what she promised herself she'd never do again: dive.


The Ivory Key

Akshaya Raman
(Young Adult Fiction - Y Raman)

Since the murder of the maharani of Ashoka--the country that controls all magic--the relationships between the royal siblings have fractured.  As Ashoka's quarry runs out of magic, the only option left is to find fragments of an old map leading to an ivory key rumored to unlock the lost quarries of Ashoka. Legend or not, all the siblings want a piece of it.


Kill Her Twice

Stacey Lee
(Young Adult Fiction - Y Lee)

In in 1930s Los Angeles Chinatown, the Chow sisters, May, Gemma, and Peony, suspect foul play in the death of Chinatown star Lulu Wong and take it upon themselves to solve the murder, revealing a conspiracy that threatens their Chinatown neighborhood.


Kindling

Traci Chee
(Young Adult Fiction - Y Chee)

After the war is over, seven outlawed kindlings - elite, magic-wielding warriors whose devastating power comes at the cost of their own young lives - must confront their pasts, their trauma and their grim fates to reclaim who they once were and fight one last time.


Last Night at the Telegraph Club

Malinda Lo
(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.


Once Upon a K-Prom

Kat Cho
(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.


Only This Beautiful Moment

Abdi Nazemian
(Young Adult Fiction - Y Nazemia)

2019. Moud is an out gay teen living in Los Angeles with his distant father, Saeed. When Moud gets the news that his grandfather in Iran is dying, he accompanies his dad to Tehran, where the revelation of family secrets will force Moud into a new understanding of his history, his culture, and himself.


Patron Saints of Nothing

Randy Ribay
(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.


Queen of the Tiles

Hanna Alkaf
(Young Adult Fiction - Y Hannaal)

Najwa Bakri is forced to investigate the mysterious death of her best friend and Scrabble Queen, Trina, a year after the fact when her Instagram comes back to life with cryptic posts and messages.


Rana Joon and the One and Only Now

Shideh Etaat
(Young Adult Fiction - Y Etaat)

Set in 1996 southern California, high school senior Rana Joon wants to honor her deceased best friend by entering a rap contest and living authentically as a lesbian, but feels conflicted by her Iranian family's expectations.


The Scarlet Alchemist

Kylie Lee Baker
(Young Adult Fiction - Y Baker)

In an alternate Tang Dynasty China, aspiring royal alchemist Zilan, who has the ability to resurrect the dead, arrives in the capital to compete against the best alchemists in the country and becomes drawn into the dangerous political games of the royal family.


She is a Haunting

Trang Thanh Tran
(Young Adult Fiction - Y Tran)

Jade Nguyen is spending the summer in Vietnam at the French colonial house her estranged father is fixing up as a vacation rental, but unbeknownst to her family, the house and its ghosts have other plans.


Six Crimson Cranes

Elizabeth Lim
(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.


Song of Silver, Flame Like Night

Amélie Wen Zhao
(Young Adult Fiction - Y Zhao)

Lan's last remnant of her mother--and the fallen Hin dynasty of her ancestors--is a symbol seared onto her wrist, which, if the mysterious boy she encounters is to be trusted, may be the key to freeing her people by mastering the ancient, forgotten art of practitioning.


Stars and Smoke

Marie Lu
(Young Adult Fiction - Y Lu)

When international pop sensation Winter is recruited by a covert organization to take down a criminal tycoon, he is paired with Sydney, a fierce and unpredictable secret agent, but suspicions soon turn to sparks as the two are drawn into a tangled web of secrets and deception.


Strike the Zither

Joan He
(Young Adult Fiction - Y He)

As three warring fractures try to gain control of the kingdom, orphaned Zephyr, a strategist serving Xin Ren, infiltrates an enemy camp where she encounters the enigmatic Crow, an opposing strategist who might just be her match.


Super Fake Love Song

David Yoon
(Young Adult Fiction - Y Yoon)

When new-girl Cirrus mistakes self-described nerd Sunny Dae as the lead in a rock band, Sunny rolls with it forming a fake band with his friends, but as the lies continue he risks losing both Cirrus and his friends.


This Book Won't Burn

Samira Ahmed
(Young Adult Fiction - Y Ahmed)

Noor Khan is forced to start the last quarter of her senior year at a new school, away from everything and everyone she knows and loves. At school, Noor discovers hundreds of books have been labeled “obscene” or “pornographic” and are being removed from the library in accordance with a new school board policy. Can she effect change by speaking up? Or will small-town politics—and small-town love—be her downfall?


This Woven Kingdom

Tahereh Mafi
(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.


Throwback

Maurene Goo
(Young Adult Fiction - Y Goo)

Priscilla is first-generation Korean American, a former high school cheerleader who expects Sam to want the same all- American nightmare. After a huge blowup, Sam is desperate to get away from Priscilla, but instead, finds herself thrown back. To her shock, Sam lands in the '90s alongside a 17-year-old Priscilla.