Reviews of books with Asian, Pacific Islander, and Desi representations.
Review by Rachel Jung
Imagine a small, fragile bead the size of your fist that contains your entire life energy (gi). Now, imagine that one day, its existence only becomes known to you after a messy interaction with a monster ejects it from your body and into the hands of a stranger. … More Wicked Fox by Kat Cho
Review by Logaine Navascués
Sons can bring good fortune and prosperity to a Taiwanese family, so what could be better than having ten of them? But if we look a little more closely, we see that their quiet sister also shines, despite growing up in the shadow of her siblings. … More Ten Little Dumplings by Larissa Fan, Illustrated by Cindy Wume
Review by Claudine Yip
Last time, she saved the city. Next up: the universe? Or worse: college applications?
… More The Iron Will of Genie Lo by F. C. Yee
Review by Lisa Matthewson
Did you think having to practice the piano was bad? Twelve-year-old Sora has to practice hiding her father in a hole in the ground. If she makes a mistake, he will be captured by the North Korean military. … More Brother’s Keeper by Julie Lee
Review by Logaine Navascués
When an adopted Korean girl decides to look back into her past to discover more about her biological parents, she uncovers a web of lies and systematic corruption behind Korea’s international adoption processes. … More Palimpsest: Documents of a Korean Adoption, by Lisa Wool-Rim Sjöblom
Review by Micah Killjoy
What would it be like to be eight-years-old during a massive societal upheaval? In Da Chen’s memoir for young readers, Girl Under a Red Moon, he tells the story of when China’s Cultural Revolution came to his home village, changing the lives of his family in surprising and horrifying ways. … More Girl Under a Red Moon by Da Chen
Review by Louise Brecht
Émigré Susan Thomas is intrigued by desi boy Malcolm Vakil. She wants to fit in the way he does: to her new country, her new city—Mississauga, Ontario—and especially to her new school. Arthur Eldridge High is a world away from her last institution in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, and even farther from the family’s home base in India, but her parent’s decree that Susan complete her senior year in Canada is absolute. … More The Beauty of the Moment by Tanaz Bhathena
Review by Logaine Navascués
Friends share a common language. Sometimes it’s in the words they speak or in the games they play. Others, in the small details of daily life, those instants when magic reveals itself, such as when cicada bugs leave the underground world and emerge into the sunlight. … More Natsumi’s Song of Summer by Robert Paul Weston, Illus. by Misa Saburi
Review by Jieun Lee
Nineteen-year-old Pablo Neruda Rind’s life is a complete and utter mess. He’s up over his eyebrows in student debt from a college degree he didn’t finish, and he’s stuck working a graveyard shift at a bodega—err, health food store—while his friends are all getting their lives together and starting real jobs. … More Permanent Record by Mary H.K. Choi
Review by Verena Rodriguez
Ho’onani wants to sing the traditional Hawaiian hula chant at her school festival, but there is one little problem: She is not a kane (boy). However, she doesn’t feel quite like a wahine (girl) either, so when her teacher opens auditions for everyone, Ho’onani is ready to participate enthusiastically. … More Ho’onani Hula Warrior by Heather Gale, Illus. by Mika Song
YOUNG ADULTING 