Here are some books from the Young Adult section to try during AAPI Heritage Month.
For a printable copy of this list, click here: YA Books – AAPI Heritage Month
Flame in the Mist
Renée Ahdieh
The daughter of a prominent samurai, Mariko has long known her place. She may be an accomplished alchemist, whose cunning rivals that of her twin brother Kenshin, but because she is not a boy, her future has always been out of her hands.
View in CatalogLove, Hate & Other Filters
Samira Ahmed
17-year-old Maya Aziz is torn between worlds. There's the proper one her parents expect for their good Indian daughter: a good school, an arranged marriage. And then there is the world of her dreams: going to film school, living in New York City
Read More View in CatalogA Match Made in Mehendi
Nandini Bajpai
For fans of Brandy Colbert and Jenny Han comes a lighthearted novel about tradition, high school social hierarchy, matchmaking, and swiping right (or left!) Fifteen-year-old Simran "Simi" Sangha comes from a long line of Indian vichole -- m
Read More View in CatalogAmerican Panda
Gloria Chao
At seventeen, Mei should be in high school, but skipping fourth grade was part of her parents’ master plan. Now a freshman at MIT, she is on track to fulfill the rest of this predetermined future: become a doctor, marry a preapproved Taiwanese Ivy
Read More View in CatalogThe Reader
Traci Chee
Sefia knows what it means to survive. After her father is brutally murdered, she flees into the wilderness with her aunt Nin, who teaches her to hunt, track, and steal. But when Nin is kidnapped, leaving Sefia completely alone, none of her survival s
Read More View in CatalogForest of a Thousand Lanterns
Perfection Learning Corporation
Eighteen-year-old Xifeng is beautiful. The stars say she is destined for greatness, that she is meant to be Empress of Feng Lu. But only if she embraces the darkness within her. Growing up as a peasant in a forgotten village on the edge of the map, X
Read More View in CatalogI Believe in a Thing Called Love
Maurene Goo
Desi Lee knows how carburetors work. She learned CPR at the age of five. As a high school senior, she has never missed a day of school and never had a B. But in her charmed school life, there's one thing missing—she’s never had a boyfriend.
Read More View in CatalogThe Night Diary
Veera Hiranandani
Shy twelve-year-old Nisha, forced to flee her home with her Hindu family during the 1947 partition of India, tries to find her voice and make sense of the world falling apart around her by writing to her deceased Muslim mother in the pages of her dia
Read More View in CatalogKira-Kira
Cynthia Kadohata
Katie Takeshima's sister, Lynn, makes everything seem glittering and shining. But when Lynn becomes desperately ill, and the whole family begins to fall apart, it is up to Katie to find a way to remind them all that there is always something gli
Read More View in CatalogThe Thing About Luck
Cynthia Kadohata
Just when twelve-year-old Summer thinks nothing else can possibly go wrong in a year of bad luck, an emergency takes her parents to Japan, leaving Summer to care for her little brother while helping her grandmother cook and do laundry for harvest wor
Read More View in CatalogWeedflower
Cynthia Kadohata
After twelve-year-old Sumiko and her Japanese-American family are relocated from their flower farm in southern California to an internment camp on a Mojave Indian reservation in Arizona, she helps her family and neighbors, becomes friends with a loca
Read More View in CatalogDarius the Great Is Not Okay
Adib Khorram
Darius Kellner speaks better Klingon than Farsi, and he knows more about Hobbit social cues than Persian ones. He’s a Fractional Persian—half, his mom’s side—and his first-ever trip to Iran is about to change his life. Darius has never really
Read More View in CatalogWhere the Mountain Meets the Moon
Grace Lin
Minli, an adventurous girl from a poor village, buys a magical goldfish, and then joins a dragon who cannot fly on a quest to find the Old Man of the Moon in hopes of bringing life to Fruitless Mountain and freshness to Jade River.
View in CatalogWarcross
Marie Lu
When teenage coder Emika Chen hacks her way into the opening tournament of the Warcross Championships, she glitches herself into the game as well as a sinister plot with major consequences for the entire Warcross empire.
View in CatalogWhen Dimple Met Rishi
Sandhya Menon
The rom-com everyone’s talking about! Eleanor & Park meets Bollywood in this hilarious and heartfelt novel about two Indian-American teens whose parents conspire to arrange their marriage. Dimple Shah has it all figured out. With graduation beh
Read More View in CatalogThe Astonishing Color of After
Emily X.R. Pan
A stunning, heartbreaking debut novel about grief, love, and family, perfect for fans of Jandy Nelson and Celeste Ng. Leigh Chen Sanders is absolutely certain about one thing: When her mother died by suicide, she turned into a bird. Leigh, who is hal
Read More View in CatalogYou Bring the Distant Near
Mitali Perkins
From 1965 through the present, an Indian American family adjusts to life in New York City, alternately fending off and welcoming challenges to their own traditions.
View in CatalogPatron Saints of Nothing
Randy 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 in this gripping page-turning portrayal of the struggle to r
Read More View in CatalogAmal Unbound
Aisha Saeed
Life is quiet and ordinary in Amal's Pakistani village, but she had no complaints, and besides, she's busy pursuing her dream of becoming a teacher one day. Her dreams are temporarily dashed when—as the eldest daughter—she must stay hom
Read More View in CatalogMy So-Called Bollywood Life
Nisha Sharma
The romance of Stephanie Perkins meets the quirk of Maureen Johnson, then gets a Bollywood twist in this fate-filled debut that takes the future into its own hands. Winnie Mehta was never really convinced that Raj was her soul mate, but their love wa
Read More View in CatalogLoveboat, Taipei
Abigail Hing Wen
"Our cousins have done this program," Sophie whispers. "Best kept secret. Zero supervision." And just like that, Ever Wong's summer takes an unexpected turn. Gone is Chien Tan, the strict educational program in Taiwan that Ev
Read More View in Catalog