Celebrate: AAPI

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Fast Facts @ Asian American-Pacific Islander Heritage Month

  • May was annually designated as Asian/Pacific American Heritage Month in 1992
  • AAPI Heritage Month celebrates the unique experiences of all AAPI immigrants and citizens in the United States and their distinctive histories, traditions and cultures
  • Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders are the fastest growing group in the United States
  • The month of May was chosen for AAPI Heritage Month because it commemorates the immigration of the first Japanese people to the United States on May 7, 1843, and because it recognizes Golden Spike Day, May 10, 1869, marking the completion of the transcontinental railroad, built with significant contributions from Chinese workers.
  • The theme for AAPI Heritage Month 2022 is “Advancing Leaders Through Collaboration.” The focus is to encourage local and national governments to train AAPI communities to be better leaders.

A Magic Steeped In Poison (The Book of Tea #1) by Lin, Judy I

For Ning, the only thing worse than losing her mother is knowing that it’s her own fault. When Ning hears of a competition to find the kingdom’s greatest shennong-shi—masters of the ancient and magical art of tea-making—she travels to the imperial city to compete. The winner will receive a favor from the princess, which may be Ning’s only chance to save her sister’s life, but Ning might actually be the one in more danger.

Only A Monster (Monster #1) by Len, Vanessa

Sent to stay in London, sixteen-year-old Joan is determined to enjoy herself. She loves her nerdy job at the historic Holland House, and when her co-worker Nick asks her on a date, it feels like everything is falling into place. Her family aren’t just eccentric: they’re monsters, with terrifying, hidden powers. She’ll have to embrace her own monstrousness if she is to save herself, and her family. Because in this story . . .. . . she is not the hero

The Ivory Key by Raman, Akshaya

Vira is desperate to get out of her mother’s shadow and establish her legacy as a revered queen of Ashoka. Vira’s only hope is to find a mysterious object of legend: the Ivory Key, rumored to unlock a new source of magic. But in order to infiltrate enemy territory and retrieve it, she must reunite with her siblings, torn apart by the different paths their lives have taken. They must work together to survive the treacherous journey.


The Noh Family. by Shim, Grace K

When her friends gift her a 23-and-Me test as a gag, high school senior Chloe Kang doesn’t think much of trying it out. It’s been just Chloe and her mom her whole life. But the DNA test reveals something Chloe never expected–she’s got a whole extended family from her father’s side half a world away in Korea. Could joining the Noh family be worse than having no family at all?

I Guess I Live Here Now. by Ahn, Claire

Melody always wanted to get to know the Korean side of her Korean American heritage better, but not quite like this. Thanks to a tiny transgression after school one day, she’s shocked to discover that her parents have decided to move her and her mom out of New York City to join her father in Seoul–immediately! Life in Seoul is amazing…until cracks begin to form on its shiny surface.

Gold Mountain by Yee, Betty G

Growing up in 1860s China, Tam Ling Fan has lived a life of comfort. But Ling Fan’s life is upended when her brother dies of influenza and their father is imprisoned under false accusations. Hoping to earn the money that will secure her father’s release, Ling Fan disguises herself as a boy and takes her brother’s contract to work for the Central Pacific Railroad Company in America.


Wrong Side of the Court by Khan, H. N

Fifteen-year-old Fawad Chaudhry loves two things: basketball and his mother’s potato and ground-beef stuffed parathas. Both are round and both help him forget. Fawad has plans; all he has to do now is convince his mother to let him try out for the basketball team. And let him date girls from his school. Not to mention somehow get Omar, the neighborhood bully, to leave him alone …

The Forest of Stolen Girls by Hur, June

Hwani’s family has never been the same since she and her younger sister went missing. Years later, Detective Min—Hwani’s father—learns that thirteen girls have recently disappeared under similar circumstances, and so he returns to their hometown to investigate… only to vanish as well. Determined to find her father and solve the case that tore their family apart, Hwani returns home to pick up the trail.

A Clash of Steel : a Treasure Island Remix by Lee, C. B.

1826. The sun is setting on the golden age of piracy, and the legendary Dragon Fleet is no more. Xiang desperately wants to prove her worth to her parents. Her single memento of her father is a pendant she always wears. Rumor has it that the legendary Head of the Dragon had one last treasure. Xiang is convinced this map could lead to fabled treasure. She soon finds that the sea is far more dangerous than the legends led them to believe.


Hani and Ishu’s Guide to Fake Dating by Jaigirdar, Adiba

Everyone likes Humaira ‘Hani’ Khan ,but when she comes out to her friends as bisexual, they invalidate her identity, saying she can’t be bi if she’s only dated guys. Panicked, Hani blurts out that she’s in a relationship…with a girl her friends absolutely hate–Ishita ‘Ishu’ Dey. Despite their mutually beneficial pact, they start developing real feelings for each other, but some people will do anything to stop two Bengali girls from achieving happily ever after

American Betiya by Rajurkar, Anuradha D

Rani Kelkar has never lied to her parents, until she meets Oliver. They begin dating in secret, but when Oliver’s troubled home life unravels, he starts to ask more of Rani than she knows how to give, desperately trying to fit into her world, no matter how high the cost. When a twist of fate leads Rani from Evanston, Illinois to Pune, India for a summer, she has a reckoning with herself–and what’s really brewing beneath the surface of her first love.

Six Crimson Cranes by Lim, Elizabeth.

Shiori, the only princess of Kiata, has a secret. Forbidden magic runs through her veins. Normally she conceals it well, but on the morning of her betrothal ceremony, Shiori loses control. The exiled Princess Shiori must unravel the curse that turned her six brothers into cranes, and she is assisted by her spurned betrothed, a capricious dragon, and a paper bird brought to life by her own magic

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