You'll find these recommended reading lists and Web sites to be valuable Asian-Pacific American Heritage resources. You'll find books for young children to teens. They include books about Chinese Americans, Japanese Americans, Korean Americans, Thai Americans, and Vietnamese Americans and more. The recommended reading lists include fiction and nonfiction. You will find them a helpful resource all year long, not just for Asian-Pacific American Heritage Month.
1. Papertigers.org
Papertigers.org “embraces multicultural books from or about anywhere in the world, with a particular focus on the Pacific Rim and South Asia." It includes information about children's books and young adult books, interviews, reviews, reading lists, and a multitude of other resources. This is an excellent site. Don't miss it.
2. Asian/Pacific American Award for Literature
Every other year, the Asian/Pacific American Librarians Association, an affiliate of the American Library Association, honors the best adult and children's literature by or about Asian Pacific Americans published in the previous two years with the for Literature. Here you'll find information about the Asian/Pacific American Award winners and honor books. For information about award criteria, see the Asian/Pacific American Award for Literature Guidelines.
3. Asian-American in Young Adult Fiction Booklist
This booklist for teens comes from the blog of three librarians. It is not annotatedbut does include their discussion about it.
4. Asian American Booklist
This reading list comes from the National Education Association (NEA) and was released by the NEA's Read Across America in honor of Asian Pacific American Heritage Month. It includes children's books and young adult books. The list is organized by grade level: grades K-4, grades 5-8, and grades 9 and up. While each entry includes the title, author, illustrator, publisher, and publication date, it contains no information about the contents of each book.
5. Asian Americans Reading List
This annotated reading list from the Morton Grove (IL) Public Library includes picture books, easy readers, easy fiction, and fiction. It includes books about Chinese Americans, Japanese Americans, Korean Americans, Thai Americans, and Vietnamese Americans.
6. Asian and Pacific American Books
This annotated recommended reading list from The Horn Book includes picture books, fiction and nonfiction. Each entry includes the suggested grade level. The list includes picture books, fiction, and nonfiction books. The Horn Book was established in 1924 ". . . to herald the best in children’s literature."
7. Children's and Young Adult Books With Japanese American and Japanese Themes
These four annotated recommended reading lists of children’s books and young adult books - Bridge Books (Immigration), Japanese Americans, Japanese Settings, and Relocation/Internment - are among the resources provided by authors Cynthia Leitich Smith and Greg Leitich Smith. The lists include several of Greg’s books.
8. Our Asian Heritage: Children's Books on the Asian American Experience
This nicely annotated reading list of books for children 3- to 12-years-old comes from the San Francisco Public Library in California. It is divided into four categories: Picture Stories, Folktales, Fiction, and Non-Fiction. The list includes the recommended age range, a brief summary, the title, author and illustrator for each book.
9. Wing Luke Asian Museum Asian Pacific American Bibliography
This very long bibliography from the Wing Luke Asian Museum was created ". . . to assist teacher, students, and the general public in their Asian Pacific American research projects.” It is divided into categories by ethnicity and by age/grade and also includes resources for teachers. While a great many books are included, each listing includes only the title, author, publisher, publication date, and the recommended ages or grade levels. The Wing Luke Asian Museum, a Smithsonian Institution affiliate, is located in Seattle, Washington.
10. Asian/Pacific Heritage Recommended Reading List
This recommended reading list from Sylvan Learning includes two recommended books per grade, from kindergarten through twelfth grade.
