More Contemporary Asian-American Fiction for Young Readers
Discover the best contemporary Asian-American fiction books for young readers! Explore our curated list of engaging and diverse stories that celebrate culture, identity, and modern experiences.
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The Jade Dragon
by Carolyn Marsden
Ginny, a Chinese-American girl torn between her family's traditional values and the more modern ones in her second grade classroom, learns that friendship cannot be bought when a new girl named Stephanie arrives.
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Zen and the Art of Faking it
by Jordan Sonnenblick
Upon moving to a new town yet again, thirteen-year-old San Lee looks for a way to stand out and finds it in his knowledge of Zen Buddhism, but he will have some work to do if he is to be a convincing Zen master.
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Peiling and the Chicken-Fried Christmas
by Pauline Chen
Fifth-grader Peiling Wang wants to celebrate "a real American Christmas," much to the displeasure of her traditional, Taiwanese-born father.
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Yen Shei and the American Bonsai
by Jennifer Anna
Pronouncing her name for everyone is the least of Yen Shei's troubles when her family moves from their apartment in Chinatown to a house in suburbia. But her new fifth grade teacher helps Yen Shei that she's not an outsider, after all.
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Looking for Bapu
by Anjali Banerjee
Anu's beloved grandfather Bapu moved from India to Anu's home in the Pacific Northwest when Anu was small, and Anu is devastated when Bapu dies. But when he is visited by Bapu's ghost, he knows that there must be a way to bring him back to life -- he's just not sure how. Anu enlists his friends Izzy and Unger to help him. From shaving his head to making up fortunes in the hope of becoming more holy, Anu tries everything. He even journeys to the island of the Mystery Museum. Perhaps there, Karnak the Magician will be able to help?
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Girl Overboard
by Justina Chen Headley
After a snowboarding accident, Syrah Cheng, a billionaire's daughter, must rehabilitate both her knee and her self-esteem while forging relationships with those who accept her for who she is.
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Hiroshima Dreams
by Kelly Easton
Lin O'Neil, a talented but shy girl growing up in Providence, Rhode Island, develops a close relationship with her Japanese grandmother, who shares Lin's gift of precognition.
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Chloe Leiberman (sometimes Wong)
by Carrie Rosten
Chloe, an aspiring fashion designer, dreams of going to design school in London, but first has to tell her parents that she does not plan to go to college.
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First Daughter
by Mitali Perkins
During her father's presidential campaign, sixteen-year-old Sameera Righton, who was adopted from Pakistan at the age of three, struggles with campaign staffers who want to give her a more "all-American" image and create a fake weblog in her name.
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Seeing Emily
by Joyce Lee Wong
Relates in free verse the experiences of sixteen-year-old Emily, a gifted artist and the daughter of immigrants to the United States, as she tries to reconcile her American self with her Chinese heritage.
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Saying Goodbye
by Marie G. Lee
In this sequel to "Finding My Voice, " Ellen Sung explores her interest in creative writing and in her Korean heritage during her freshman year at Harvard.
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American Born Chinese
by Gene Luen Yang
"Alternates three interrelated stories about the problems of young Chinese Americans trying to participate in the popular culture. Presented in comic book format." -- Title page verso
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Necessary Roughness
by Marie G. Lee
Chan Kim has never felt like an outsider in his life. That is, not until his family moves from L.A. to a tiny town in Minnesota--Land of 10,000 Lakes--and probably 10,000 hicks,too. The Kims are the only Asian family in town, and when Chan and his twin sister, Young, attend high school, it's a blond-haired, blue-eyed whiteout. Chan throws himself into the only game in town--football--and the necessary roughness required to make a player. On the field it means "justifiable violence," but as Chan is about to discover, off the field it's a whole different ballgame . . .Chan Jung Kim has always been popular. But that was when he lived in L.A. and was the star of his soccer team. Now his family’s moved—to a tiny town in Minnesota, where football’s the name of the game and nobody has ever seen an Asian American family before. Desperate to fit in, Chan throws himself into the game—but he feels like an outsider. For the first time in his life, he finds himself thinking about what it really means to be Korean—and what is really important. By turns gripping, painful, funny, and illuminating, Necessary Roughness introduces a major new talent and a fresh young voice to the Harper list. 1997 Best Books for the Teen Age (NY Public Library) 1998 Best Books for Young Adults (ALA)Chan Jung Kim has always been popular. But that was when he lived in L.A. and was the star of his soccer team. Now his family’s moved—to a tiny town in Minnesota, where football’s the name of the game and nobody has ever seen an Asian American family before. Desperate to fit in, Chan throws himself into the game—but he feels like an outsider. For the first time in his life, he finds himself thinking about what it really means to be Korean—and what is really important. By turns gripping, painful, funny, and illuminating, Necessary Roughness introduces a major new talent and a fresh young voice to the Harper list. 1997 Best Books for the Teen Age (NY Public Library) 1998 Best Books for Young Adults (ALA)
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Lowji Discovers America
by Candace Fleming
A nine-year-old East Indian boy tries to adjust to his new life in suburban America.
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Somebody's Daughter
by Marie Myung-Ok Lee
A "heartwarming and heartbreaking"* story of a Korean American girl's search for her roots Somebody's Daughter is the story of nineteen-year-old Sarah Thorson, who was adopted as a baby by a Lutheran couple in the Midwest. After dropping out of college, she decides to study in Korea and becomes more and more intrigued by her Korean heritage, eventually embarking on a crusade to find her birth mother. Paralleling Sarah's story is that of Kyung-sook, who was forced by difficult circumstances to let her baby be swept away from her immediately after birth, but who has always longed for her lost child.
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What I Meant--
by Marie Lamba
Having to share her home with her demanding and devious aunt from India makes it all the more difficult for fifteen-year-old Sang to deal with such things as her parents thinking she is too young to date, getting less than perfect grades, and being shut out by her long-time best friend.
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Wait for Me
by Na An
Mina is the perfect daughter. Bound for Harvard, she’s Honor Society president and a straight-A student, even as she works at her family’s dry-cleaning store and helps care for her hearingimpaired little sister. On the outside, Mina does everything right. On the inside, Mina knows the truth. Her life is a lie. Then, the summer before her senior year, Mina meets someone to whom she cannot lie. Ysrael, a young migrant worker who dreams of becoming a musician, comes to work for her family, and asks Mina the one question that scares her the most. What does she want?
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The Year of the Rat
by Grace Lin
Between her best friend's move to California and on-going dramas at the family store, Pacy begins to consider the year of the rat a complete disaster, but when she uses her writing and drawing to get in touch with her feelings, Pacy discovers a hidden talent that turns everything around.
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The Fold
by An Na
Korean American high school student Joyce Kim feels like a nonentity compared to her beautiful older sister, and when her aunt offers to pay for plastic surgery on her eyes, she jumps at the chance, thinking it will change her life for the better.
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She's So Money
by Cherry Cheva
Maya, a high school senior bound for Stanford University, goes against her better judgement when she and a popular but somewhat disreputable boy start a profitable school-wide cheating ring in order to save her family's Thai restaurant, which she fears will be shut down due to her irresponsible actions.
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A Step from Heaven
by Na An
A young Korean girl and her family find it difficult to learn English and adjust to life in America.
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The Secret Life of Maeve Lee Kwong
by Kirsty Murray
Sent to live with her strict Chinese grandparents, and uncertain of her future and where she belongs, Maeve fights to cling to her earlier life and find her true self.
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Children of the River
by Linda Crew
Sundara fled Cambodia with her aunt's family to escape the Khmer Rouge army when she was thirteen, leaving behind her parents, her brother and sister, and the boy she had loved since she was a child. Now, four years later, she struggles to fit in at her Oregon high school and to be "a good Cambodian girl" at home. A good Cambodian girl never dates; she waits for her family to arrange her marriage to a Cambodian boy. Yet Sundara and Jonathan, an extraordinary American boy, are powerfully drawn to each other. Haunted by grief for her lost family and for the life left behind, Sundara longs to be with him. At the same time she wonders, Are her hopes for happiness and new life in America disloyal to her past and her people?
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Half and Half
by Lensey Namioka
FIONA CHENG IS half and half: Her father is Chinese and her mother is Scottish. Fiona looks more like her father than her mother, so people always expect her to be more interested in her Chinese half than her Scottish half. Lately even Fiona’s confused about who she really is. “A realistic, gentle and funny tale.”—Detroit News & Free Press “Readers will identify with Fiona’s struggle to fit in.”—Publishers Weekly
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Shadow of the Dragon
by Sherry Garland
High school sophomore Danny Vo tries to resolve the conflict between the values of his Vietnamese refugee family and his new American way of life.
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Black Mirror
by Nancy Werlin
After her brother Daniel's death, sixteen-year-old Frances uncovers surprising truths about their boarding school's charitable group, of which Daniel was a member.
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Slant
by Laura E. Williams
Lauren, a Korean-American adoptee, has been saving for years to pay for a special eye surgery that will deepen the crease of her eyelids. However, Lauren wonders whether the operation will make her more confident and popular, or if she can find that confidence within herself.
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Dancing Naked
by Shelley Hrdlitschka
Kia is sixteen and pregnant. Her world crumbles as she attempts to come to terms with the life growing inside her and what she must do. Initially convinced that abortion is her only option, Kia comes to understand that for her, the answers are not always black and white. As the pregnancy progresses, Kia discovers who her real friends are and where their loyalties lie. It is through her relationship with the elderly Grace that she learns what it means to take responsibility for one's life and the joy that can come from trusting oneself. Faced with the most difficult decision of her life, Kia learns that the path to adulthood is not the easily navigable trail she once thought, but a twisting labyrinth where every turn produces a new array of choices, and where the journey is often undertaken alone.
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Kim/Kimi
by Hadley Irwin
Despite a warm relationship with her mother, stepfather, and half brother, sixteen-year-old Kim feels the need to find answers about the Japanese American father she never knew.
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Good Enough
by Paula Yoo
Paula Yoo scores big in her hilarious debut novel about an overachiever who longs to fit in and strives to stand out. The pressure is on! How to make your Korean parents happy: 1. Get a perfect score on the SATs. 2. Get into HarvardYalePrinceton. 3. Don't talk to boys.* Patti's parents expect nothing less than the best from their Korean-American daughter. Everything she does affects her chances of getting into an Ivy League school. So winning assistant concertmaster in her All-State violin competition and earning less than 2300 on her SATs is simply not good enough. But Patti's discovering that there's more to life than the Ivy League. To start with, there's Cute Trumpet Guy. He's funny, he's talented, and he looks exactly like the lead singer of Patti's favorite band. Then, of course, there's her love of the violin. Not to mention cool rock concerts. And anyway, what if Patti doesn't want to go to HarvardYalePrinceton after all? *Boys will distract you from your studies.
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Split Image
by Mel Glenn
A series of poems reflect the thoughts and feelings of various people--students, the librarian, parents, the principal, and others--about the seemingly perfect Laura Li and her life inside and out of Tower High School.
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Dance for the Land
by Clemence McLaren
When twelve-year-old Kate, who is half-white, moves to Hawaii with her brother and father, she becomes a victim of racial prejudice but also learns the meaning of her middle name.
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Finding My Voice
by Marie G. Lee
As she tries to enjoy her senior year and choose which college she will attend, Korean American Ellen Sung must deal with the prejudice of some of her classmates and pressure from her parents to get good grades.
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The Face in My Mirror
by Maureen C. Wartski
As an infant, Mai was adoped straight off a boat from Hong Kong by Leo and Vivian Houston in Serena, Iowa. Now, at fifteen, a painful racial incident spurs her to find out more about her Vietnamese roots. The search takes her to Boston, where Mai's biological aunt, Lien Van Tranh, owns a restaurant. But her aunt proves to be less than cordial. Now Mai is more confused than ever, and the worst is yet to come . . .
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Candle in the Wind
by Maureen C. Wartski
When Harris Mizuno, a Japanese-American teenager, is shot dead by an elderly white man who mistakes him for an intruder it's up to fifteen-year-old Terry Mizuno to take charge chen her family falls apart in grief and anger over the murder of her brother.
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Night of the Chupacabras
by Marie G. Lee
When Mi-Sun and her younger brother spend the summer in Mexico with their friend Lupe, they become convinced that there is a mysterious vampire-like monster killing Tio Hector's goats.