Last Updated: May 20, 2026
Auntie Q’s Golden Claws Nail Salon
by Van Hoang
Twelve-year-old Domi spends the summer working in her aunt’s nail salon to repay her parents for a costly mistake and fights to save the business after learning the salon is at risk of closing.
Outsider Kids
by Betty C. Tang
After seven months on their own as undocumented immigrants, the Lin siblings have settled into their new lives in California. Jia-Xi (Jesse) has a new job, Ke-Gang (Jason) has a new crush, and Feng-Li (Ann) is excited to celebrate her eleventh birthday with her new friends. Their parents still await visa approval in Taiwan, so the trio is trying to take better care of one another and stay under the radar of immigration authorities. But when their stuck-up cousin Josephine–a violin prodigy–arrives with her privilege and demands, suddenly their world is in turnaround. Will they have to give up the life they worked so hard to achieve?
No Purchase Necessary
by Maria Marianayagam
Ajay has lived his life dutifully following the rules set by his Tamil parents. But moving to a new school gives Ajay a new rule to follow: get on seventh grade all-star Jacob Underson’s good side. When Jacob asks him to steal a Mercury bar from Scary Al’s convenience store, Ajay feels this is his chance to finally “get cool” and gain real friends. Maybe even stop eating lunch alone. But Jacob rejects the stolen chocolate bar, leaving Ajay to unwrap it and discover that it contains Mercury’s 25th Anniversary Grand Prize: one million dollars! Faced with an extreme dilemma, Ajay will have to bear the weight of his actions and battle his conscience in deciding whether or not to claim the prize that may change the life of his family forever.
Dreamslinger
by Graci Kim
Fourteen-year-old Aria Loveridge lives at the Resthaven Home for Dreamslingers, a safe haven for children born with a genetic mutation that transports them to a powerfully magical realm while they sleep, but this magic can be unpredictable–even deadly.
The Beasts Beneath the Winds
edited by Hanna Alkaf
Regular kids encounter the mythical creatures of Southeast Asia in this collection of seventeen stories.
Theo Chang is Not a Cat
by Mike Jung
Theo Chang, a third grader in Mrs. Z’d class, must prove to his feisty new cat Trainwhistle that he is a friend and not a foe before his family gives up and returns the misunderstood pet to the shelter.
You Are Here: Connecting Flights
edited by Ellen Oh
In a crowded Chicago airport, an incident at TSA impacts twelve young Asian Americans, all strangers to one another before this day. As events cause their journeys to intertwine, they discover the challenges of friendship, the perils of younger siblings, the power or words, and the unexpected significance of a blue Stratocaster electric guitar.
The Brothers: A Hmong Graphic Folktale
by Sheelue Yang
In this Hmong folktale, two brothers venture into a remote jungle, hunting food for their hungry family, but the jungle is full of dangerous wild animals, and the older brother vows to keep his younger brother safe, or die trying.
Boomi’s Boombox
by Shanthi Sekaran
Twelve-year-old Boomi accidentally travels back in time to 1986 Thumpton-on-Soar, England, where she meets her late father as a child, changing her life forever.
Dream, Annie, Dream
by Waka T. Brown
In this empowering deconstruction of the so-called American Dream, a twelve-year-old Japanese American girl grapples with, and ultimately rises above, the racism and trials of middle school she experiences while chasing her dreams.
The Tryout
by Christina Soontornvat
As one of the only Asian Americans in her school, Christina confronts both well-meaning ignorance and cruel racism, but in middle school fitting in is important, which is why she and her best friend Megan are both excited and nervous to try out for the popular cheerleading squad.
Nikhil Out Loud
by Maulik Pancholy
A middle grade novel about a gay Indian American boy who learns the power of using his voice.
The Comeback
by E.L. Shen
Twelve-year-old Maxine Chen dreams of being a figure skating champion, but a remarkably talented new girl at the arena and a racist classmate at school test her resolve.
Ahmed Aziz’s Epic Year
by Nina Hamza
A Indian American boy endures a family move from Hawaii to frigid Minnesota and, with the help of three life-changing books he reads in school, he learns to like reading, and ultimately, himself.
American as Paneer Pie
by Supriya Kelkar
When a racist incident rocks her small Michigan town, eleven-year-old Lekha must decide whether to speak up or stay silent, even as she struggles to navigate her life at home, where she can be herself, and at school, where she is teased about her culture.