Books by Asian Authors for AAPI Heritage Month
Representation in the media is very important because it allows people to understand the world around them and discover new cultures. For underrepresented communities, it also provides an opportunity to strengthen a sense of identity and community. With Asian American Pacific Islander Heritage month just around the corner, we wanted to share some books with AAPI authors and characters that we enjoyed!
The Poppy War by R.F. Kuang
Rin is a war orphan from a poor town in the Rooster Province of the Nikara Empire. Everyone is surprised when she aces the Keju, an empire-wide test to discover the most talented youth to study at the Academies, and secures herself a place at Sinegard, the most elite military school in Nikan. At Sinegard, while she is targeted because of gender, skin color, and poverty, she also discovers that she possesses an aptitude for shamanism. During her time at Sinegard, war breaks out, and Rin must use her shamanic powers to help her people at the cost of her humanity. The Poppy War is a brilliant criticism of not only Western Imperialism and its impacts on East Asia, but also the horrors within East Asia. R.F. Kuang does not shy away from the brutal history of China and Japan through depictions of the Rape of Nanjing and the Opium Wars (coined the Poppy Wars in the novel), while also highlighting the loss of humanity during war.
TWs: substance abuse, genocide, torture, sexual assault, animal cruelty
The Girl Who Fell Beneath the Sea by Axie Oh
Storms and floods have wreaked havoc in Mina’s homeland for many generations. Her people believe in the Sea God, and it is said that when the Sea God receives his “true bride”, the storms and floods will stop. Thus, every year, they sacrifice a young girl in an attempt to appease him. Shim Cheong, the most beautiful girl in Mina’s village, is chosen to be sacrificed. However, Cheong is the beloved of Mina’s brother, so Mina throws herself into the ocean in Cheong’s stead. She is swept into the Spirit Realm where she discovers that the Sea God is in an enchanted sleep. With the help of other spirits, Mina sets out to discover how to wake the Sea God. The Girl Who Fell Beneath the Sea is for lovers of Studio Ghibli (especially for those who enjoyed Spirited Away), and it is loosely based on a Korean folktale. It is said to never judge a book by its cover, but this novel is just as magical as the cover suggests.
The Village by the Sea by Anita Desai
Lila lives with her parents and three siblings in the fishing village of Thul, India. Hari, her brother and the only son, must work every day to pay off their father’s debts. One day, he runs away to Bombay—the name for Mumbai at the time—leaving Lila to try and take care of her family. Her father is an alcoholic and her mother is ill and bed-ridden. The vivid descriptions transport the readers right into the village, which is ridden with poverty and hunger. Desai depicts the struggles children go through while learning to face the adult word and the story is about adapting to change. Hope is also a prevalent theme throughout the book and readers are able to experience it—along with a wide range of other emotions, including despair—along with the characters. This book, complete with picturesque writing, is about how two children hold their family together despite seemingly impossible odds.
TW: substance abuse
My Mechanical Romance by Alexene Farol Follmuth
Bel is forced into joining the robotics club at her school after accidentally displaying a talent for engineering to her physics teacher. Mateo Luna, captain of the robotics team, recognizes Bel’s potential, but they soon begin to butt heads due to their differing values and personalities. Bel doesn’t care about college applications or making it to robotics Nationals while Teo does. Although she doesn’t care about Nationals, Bel works long hours after-school with Teo on their robot, and they begin to form a friendship despite their previous differences. They soon begin to realize how important their collaborations have been for the team, and a romance begins to develop. My Mechanical Romance is Alexene Farol Fullmuth’s YA debut, and she has written novels such as The Atlas Six and Alone With You in the Ether under the pseudonym Olivie Blake. This novel explores the challenges of being a woman of color in STEM, while also implementing an adorable story of first-love and high school romance.
On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous by Ocean Vuong
Ocean Vuong is a poet, and it shows in On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous, a novel which contains incredibly lyrical writing. The novel reads like a collection of prose poems and is written in the form of a letter from Little Dog—a nickname given to him by his grandmother—to his mother, who is illiterate. All three of them are Vietnamese refugees after the Vietnam War. It discusses themes of sexuality, masculinity, grief, immigration, race, and language. Each chapter captures a moment, memory, feeling, or idea so beautifully and strings them all together into a powerful, raw novel packed with emotions. This book is almost impossible to categorize and explain because it truly is one of its kind and can only be fully understood after being read, but one thing is for certain: it is both brief and gorgeous.
TWs: child abuse, substance use, depictions of war/sexual assault, animal cruelty
Tokyo Ever After by Emiko Jean
Izumi “Izzy” Tanaka has never felt like she belonged in her small, predominantly white town in northern California. She was raised by her single mother and the two of them have always had a great relationship. However, Izzy soon discovers a clue about her unknown father’s identity, and it turns out he is actually the Crown Prince of Japan. This means that Izzy is an actual princess. She decides to travel to Japan to meet her father, but she is met with a hungry press, jealous cousins, traditions and etiquette to learn overnight, and a grumpy bodyguard. Emiko Jean’s novel Tokyo Ever After touches on the Asian-American experience of not belonging, while simultaneously introducing a forbidden romance between a princess and her bodyguard.
Portrait of a Thief by Grace D. Li
In Portrait of a Thief, five Chinese-American college students have been offered fifty million dollars to steal back five sculptures that were looted from China long ago and put in museums. Each is characterized to fit a traditional heist archetype while still being unique, and the book focuses just as much—if not more—on their own identities and being Chinese-American as the heist itself. For those who are Chinese-American, the characters may feel relatable in some way and it is interesting seeing their dreams, burdens, etc. play out and develop/change throughout the course of the book. This is Grace D. Li’s debut novel and it does show in some parts, such as slight repetitiveness in the writing itself, but that didn’t take away from the reading experience or the themes at all. A few of the main topics the story tackles are the Chinese diaspora, colonialism (through stolen art), and cultural/personal identity.
The Red Palace by June Hur
Set in Korea in the late 1750s, this story follows eighteen-year-old Hyeon, an illegitimate daughter of a powerful man. She has earned a position as a palace nurse through her hard work and just wants to make a life for herself. However, someone murders four women in the middle of the night and the main suspect is Hyeon’s mentor. She begins to investigate in order to try and prove her friend’s innocence, teaming up with a young police inspector—Eojin—to discover the answer. The writing in this book sucks the reader right in and makes it feel as if you are really there with the characters. It was particularly astounding how much the book really did feel as if it took place in the 1750s. The characters were multidimensional and the plot was fast-paced with an interesting mystery. In the author’s note at the end it is revealed that the story is loosely based on the real life of Korean Crown Prince Sado, and there are so many small historical details throughout the book that really tie everything together.
The Gilded Wolves by Roshani Chokshi
The Gilded Wolves is a historical fantasy set in 1889 in which Séverin, a treasure-hunter and hotelier, is coerced into hunting down an ancient artifact the Order of Babel seeks in order to reclaim his birthright. Séverin and the group he assembles to help him are diverse and well-written. With a larger cast of main characters, some characters often end up underdeveloped in favor of others, but this was not the case at all with this novel. Each character is given equal attention and each has a detailed background and personality. This book is rooted in several different mythologies and Chokshi weaves science, technology, and magic together for a final result that is both engaging and educational. There is a focus on the effects of colonialism and its racial prejudices, as well as the West’s disregard for other cultures. The writing is also beautiful, being poetic without being overly flowery. It also contains great quotes that truly enhance the reader’s experience.
If You Could See the Sun by Ann Liang
Alice Sun is the only student on a scholarship at her elite Beijing international boarding school. One day, Alice discovers that her parents can no longer afford her tuition despite being on a scholarship. Alice begins to turn invisible (yes, literally invisible), and devises a plan to make money from her newly gained power. However, in order for her plan to work, she must work with Henry Li, the heir to the second-largest tech company in the world and her academic rival. As a relationship begins to form between the two, Alice’s plan to make money also becomes more dangerous, and she must decide if making money for her tuition is worth the chaos that will follow. If You Could See the Sun is Ann Liang’s debut novel, and it touches on class struggles and the pressures of being a student while also developing a fluffy romance between two academic rivals. We also have a more in depth review of this book here!