AAPI Heritage Month Book a Day 2019 – 31

Today is the last day of Asian American Pacific Islander Heritage Month, and I’ve had fun sharing all of the AAPI books that I want to read. Please know that there are MORE than these 31 that I want to read, but these are the 31 I’m committing to read over the summer (and beyond I suspect). I will continue to support and read as many AAPI books as I can! I also want to give a shout out to all the AAPI authors who paved the way for the rest of us, and to the many IPOC authors who are part of this incredible community. Thank you!

Book 31 that I want to read is SOMEWHERE ONLY WE KNOW by Maurene Goo. I loved her previous novels, THE WAY YOU MAKE ME FEEL and I BELIEVE IN A THIING CALLED LOVE. These YA novels are exactly the kind of stories I adore and so I suspect I will love her newest as well!

From the publisher:
Sparks fly between a K pop starlet and a tabloid reporter in this heartwarming rom-com from Maurene Goo.

10 00 p.m.: Lucky is the biggest K-pop star on the scene, and she’s just performed her hit song “Heartbeat” in Hong Kong to thousands of adoring fans. She’s about to debut on The Tonight Show in America, hopefully a breakout performance for her career. But right now? She’s in her fancy hotel, trying to fall asleep but dying for a hamburger.
11 00 p.m.: Jack is sneaking into a fancy hotel, on assignment for his tabloid job that he keeps secret from his parents. On his way out of the hotel, he runs into a girl wearing slippers, a girl who is single-mindedly determined to find a hamburger. She looks kind of familiar. She’s very cute. He’s maybe curious.
12:00 a.m.: Nothing will ever be the same.

With her trademark humor and voice, Maurene Goo delivers a sparkling story of taking a chance on love–and finding yourself along the way.

AAPI Heritage Month Book a Day 2019 – 30

We are winding down here – day 30 of Asian American Pacific Islander Heritage Month, and the 30th AAPI book I want to read is one that just came to my attention recently via a tweet.

Stronger Than a Bronze Dragon by Mary Fan – the cover is striking and the title definitely caught my attention. Coming to you in June!

From the publisher:

Liang Anlei wants a life of glory and revenge

As a warrior who protects her village from shadow spirits, Anlei has never been beyond the borders of her town. All of that changes the day the viceroy and his fleet of mechanical dragons arrives. It’s the protection her village is desperate for, but it will only be given in exchange for Anlei’s hand in marriage. Torn between wanting to protect her village and her own freedom, Anlei is forced to make a sacrifice.

The day before her wedding, she encounters Tai, a young thief who is also trying to save his people. Tempted by his quest and the thrill of glory it promises, the two embark on an epic journey to the Courts of Hell to discover where the shadow spirits come from. But the secret of their existence isn’t so easily solved.

Amid dark experiments and battles on magic-fueled airships, Anlei must summon the courage to be the hero; to live the life she has always dreamed of.

AAPI Heritage Month Book a Day 2019 – 29

Day 29 of Asian American Pacific Heritage Month and I’m sad that I won’t be able to fit in all the AAPI books I want to read in these 31 days. But glad that there are that many AAPI books to read! A big shout out to author Mike Jung because had I not seen his post about this book, I might have missed it. And can I say how thrilled I am to see more books with contemporary Japanese American characters?

All The Ways Home by Elise Chapman looks to be exactly the kind of book I will love! And it just became available for purchase yesterday! I’m looking forward to getting this book!

From the publisher:

Sometimes, home isn’t where you expect to find it.

After losing his mom in a fatal car crash, Kaede Hirano–now living with a grandfather who is more stranger than family–developed anger issues and spent his last year of middle school acting out.

Best-friendless and critically in danger repeating the seventh grade, Kaede is given a summer assignment: write an essay about what home means to him, which will be even tougher now that he’s on his way to Japan to reconnect with his estranged father and older half-brother. Still, if there’s a chance Kaede can finally build a new family from an old one, he’s willing to try. But building new relationships isn’t as easy as destroying his old ones, and one last desperate act will change the way Kaede sees everyone–including himself.

This is a book about what home means to us―and that there are many different correct answers.

AAPI Heritage Month Book a Day 2019 – 28

It’s day 28 of Asian American Pacific Islander Heritage Month and I’m wishing a happy book birthday to the 28th AAPI book that I want to read!

I Love You So Mochi by Sarah Kuhn has been on my TBR list ever since I heard about her book months ago. And then I received the ARC at the Kweli’s Color of Children’s Literature Conference! This book is near the top of my pile and I’m excited to get to read it this summer when I finally have time to read! I was thrilled to discover that she has also written a superhero book starring an Asian American! Here is an interesting conversation between her and another Asian fantasy author on Angry Asian Man’s blog.

From the publisher:

Kimi Nakamura loves a good fashion statement.

She’s obsessed with transforming everyday ephemera into Kimi Originals: bold outfits that make her and her friends feel like the Ultimate versions of themselves. But her mother disapproves, and when they get into an explosive fight, Kimi’s entire future seems on the verge of falling apart. So when a surprise letter comes in the mail from Kimi’s estranged grandparents, inviting her to Kyoto for spring break, she seizes the opportunity to get away from the disaster of her life.

When she arrives in Japan, she’s met with a culture both familiar and completely foreign to her. She loses herself in the city’s outdoor markets, art installations, and cherry blossom festival – and meets Akira, a cute aspiring med student who moonlights as a costumed mochi mascot. And what begins as a trip to escape her problems quickly becomes a way for Kimi to learn more about the mother she left behind, and to figure out where her own heart lies.

In I Love You So Mochi, author Sarah Kuhn has penned a delightfully sweet and irrepressibly funny novel that will make you squee at the cute, cringe at the awkward, and show that sometimes you have to lose yourself in something you love to find your Ultimate self.

AAPI Heritage Month Book a Day 2019 -27

Day 27 of Asian American Pacific Islander Heritage Month and the 27th AAPI book I want to read is by an author I’ve long admired for her body of work.

Forward Me Back to You by Mitali Perkins follows her critically acclaimed novel You Bring The Distant Near, a multigenerational story about love and family. I know without a doubt that Mitali’s newest book will be heart-felt, engrossing, and full of amazing characters.

From the publisher:

Katina King is the reigning teen jiu-jitsu champion of Northern California, but she’s having trouble fighting off the secrets in her past.

Robin Thornton was adopted from an orphanage in Kolkata, India and is reluctant to take on his future. Since he knows nothing about his past, how is he supposed to figure out what comes next?

Robin and Kat meet in the most unlikely of places ― a summer service trip to India to work with survivors of human trafficking. As bonds blossom between the travel-mates, Robin and Kat discover the healing superpowers of friendship.

At turns heart-wrenching, beautiful, and buoyant, Mitali Perkins’s new novel explores the ripple effects of violence ― across borders and generations ― and how small acts of heroism can break the cycle.

AAPI Heritage Month Book a Day 2019 – 26

Day 26 of Asian American Pacific Islander Heritage Month, and I’m realizing I’m running out of day to post all the fabulous AAPI books that I want to read! Know that if I don’t mention a book in these 31 days, it’s either that I’ve already read it or I ran out of days!

Book 26 is

Our Wayward Fate by Gloria Chao. Her debut YA novel American Panda had me laughing through tears. And Wall Street Journal calls this new book “weepingly funny” – I so can’t wait to read this when it comes out in October!

From the publisher:

Seventeen-year-old Ali Chu knows that as the only Asian person at her school in middle-of-nowhere Indiana, she must be bland as white toast to survive. This means swapping her congee lunch for PB&Js, ignoring the clueless racism from her classmates and teachers, and keeping her mouth shut when people wrongly call her Allie instead of her actual name, Ah-lee, after the mountain in Taiwan.

Her autopilot existence is disrupted when she finds out that Chase Yu, the new kid in school, is also Taiwanese. Despite some initial resistance due to the they belong together whispers, Ali and Chase soon spark a chemistry rooted in competitive martial arts, joking in two languages, and, most importantly, pushing back against the discrimination they face.

But when Ali’s mom finds out about the relationship, she forces Ali to end it. As Ali covertly digs into the why behind her mother’s disapproval, she uncovers secrets about her family and Chase that force her to question everything she thought she knew about life, love, and her unknowable future.

Snippets of a love story from nineteenth-century China (a retelling of the Chinese folktale The Butterfly Lovers) are interspersed with Ali’s narrative and intertwined with her fate.

AAPI Heritage Month Book a Day 2019 – 25

For day 25 of Asian American Pacific Heritage Month, I’m sharing two AAPI books that I want to read.

I loved Frazzled: Every Day Disasters and Impending Doom by Booki Vivat – a fabulous and funny middle grade graphic novel! And I had the pleasure of meeting the author who is super nice, as well as talented. And so, I’ve been dying to read the two follow up books and they are on my list to read this summer! Frazzled: Minor Incidents and Absolute Uncertainties and Frazzled: Ordinary Mishaps and Inevitable Catastrophes look to be amazing – and how can you not love these titles?!

From the publisher:

Frazzled: Ordinary Mishaps and Inevitable Catastrophes (book 2): Things are looking up for Abbie Wu: this year she’ll run for class president and get a brand-new shiny locker. Until—she doesn’t…

In her second tumultuous misadventure, Abbie Wu tackles more unbelievably unfair and calamitous middle school days. From facing locker thieves and battling diabolical cats to having absolutely no idea what to build for her science project, Abbie Wu is still in perpetual crisis.

From author and professional doodler Booki Vivat, this second story follows Abbie Wu, your favorite hilariously neurotic middle school girl, as she tries to come up with solutions to what seems to be a series of inevitable catastrophes.

Akin to Smile by Raina Telgemeier, Frazzled: Ordinary Mishaps and Inevitable Catastrophes is heavily illustrated, embarrassingly honest, and sure to appeal to anyone hoping to figuring out how to survive the ordinary mishaps of middle school.

Frazzled: Minor Incidents and Absolute Uncertainties (Book 3)

Abbie Wu thinks that she’s finally getting the hang of this middle school thing. That’s until her teacher announces that they’ll be going to…OUTDOOR SCHOOL!

While Abbie’s usual clique seems to adjust fine at camp, she doesn’t quite fit in—with anyone! If that isn’t bad enough, her camp counselors are totally evil and she can’t figure out what is up with the golden pig.

Abbie feels all alone. Will she learn how to fit in yet stay true to herself? Or will she finally reach her breaking point?

From author and professional doodler Booki Vivat, this popular series follows Abbie Wu, your favorite hilariously neurotic middle school girl, as she tries to come up with solutions to funny real-life middle school challenges.

AAPI Heritage Month Book a Day 2019 – 24

We’re winding down here with Asian American Pacific Islander Heritage Month and I’m sharing an AAPI book a day that I want to read. Today’s book is by an author I fell in love with over the course of reading her previous three novels – and I am super excited that she has a fourth coming out!

The Downstairs Girl by Stacey Lee comes out on August 13, and the author is running a pre-order campaign, so check it out here! I loved her previous books, Outrun the Moon, The Secret of a Heart Note, and Under A Painted Sky so if you haven’t read those yet,  you can read them now before The Downstairs Girl.

From the publisher:

By day, seventeen-year-old Jo Kuan works as a lady’s maid for the cruel daughter of one of the wealthiest men in Atlanta. But by night, Jo moonlights as the pseudonymous author of a newspaper advice column for the genteel Southern lady, “Dear Miss Sweetie.” When her column becomes wildly popular, she uses the power of the pen to address some of society’s ills, but she’s not prepared for the backlash that follows when her column challenges fixed ideas about race and gender. While her opponents clamor to uncover the secret identity of Miss Sweetie, a mysterious letter sets Jo off on a search for her own past and the parents who abandoned her as a baby. But when her efforts put her in the crosshairs of Atlanta’s most notorious criminal, Jo must decide whether she, a girl used to living in the shadows, is ready to step into the light. With prose that is witty, insightful, and at times heartbreaking, Stacey Lee masterfully crafts an extraordinary social drama set in the New South.

AAPI Heritage Month Book a Day 2019 – 23

Today is day 23 of Asian American Pacific Islander Heritage month. All month I’m sharing an AAPI book a day thatI want to read. So many fabulous books out there – and what a joy that there are MORE than 31 AAPI books that I want to read. I don’t think this would have been the case a decade ago.

Every year for my birthday, no matter where I am, I go to an independent bookstore to buy myself a book. My parents have been sending me a gift card for Bank Square Books/Savoy Books and Cafe regularly for my birthday. And so yesterday, I was determined to buy an AAPI book. Today’s AAPI book I want to read is

The Girl King by Mimi Yu! I came across this book when I saw this author respond to a tweet of someone I know. I definitely looked her up and discovered that she had a book out already that I hadn’t yet heard of. The value of social media as this is totally the kind of book I love to read!

From the publisher:

Two sisters become unwitting rivals in a war to claim the title of Emperor in this richly imagined, Asian-inspired fantasy for fans of Renée Ahdieh and Sabaa Tahir.

Sisters Lu and Min have always known their places as the princesses of the Empire of the First Flame: assertive Lu will be named her father’s heir and become the dynasty’s first female ruler, while timid Min will lead a quiet life in Lu’s shadow. Until their father names their male cousin Set his heir instead, sending ripples through the realm and throwing both girls’ lives into utter chaos.

Determined to reclaim her birthright, Lu has no choice but to go on the run, leaving Min to face the volatile court alone. Lu soon crosses paths with Nokhai, the lone, unlikely survivor of the Ashina, a clan of nomadic wolf shapeshifters. Nok never learned to shift–or to trust the empire that killed his family–but working with the princess might be the only way to unlock his true power.

As Lu and Nok form a shaky alliance, Min’s own hidden power awakens, a forbidden, deadly magic that could secure Set’s reign . . . or allow her to claim the throne herself. But there can only be one emperor, and the sisters’ greatest enemy could very well turn out to be each other.

This sweeping fantasy set against a world of buried ancient magic and political intrigue weaves an unforgettable story of ambition, betrayal, and sacrifice.

AAPI Heritage Month Book a Day 2019 – 22

Happy 22nd day of Asian American Pacific Islander Heritage Month! I’m sharing an AAPI book a day that I want to read. Today is also my birthday, so as a gift to myself I’m allowing an exception and today’s featured book is by Japanese author Mariko Nagai, who spent many years living in the States. I am a fan of her work, so I’m especially looking forward to her new novel coming out later this year.

Under the Broken Sky by Mariko Nagai won’t be out until October of this year, but is available for pre-order.

From the publisher:

Twelve-year-old Natsu and her family live a quiet farm life in Manchuria, near the border of the Soviet Union. But the life they’ve known begins to unravel when her father is recruited to the Japanese army, and Natsu and her little sister, Asa, are left orphaned and destitute.

In a desperate move to keep her sister alive, Natsu sells Asa to a Russian family following the 1945 Soviet occupation. The journey to redemption for Natsu’s broken family is rife with struggles, but Natsu is tenacious and will stop at nothing to get her little sister back.

Literary and historically insightful, this is one of the great untold stories of WWII. Much like the Newbery Honor book Inside Out and Back Again by Thanhha Lai, Mariko Nagai’s Under the Broken Sky is powerful, poignant, and ultimately hopeful.