Staff Picks: AAPI Voices

Author

Description

During the summer before seventh grade, Kaia, who enjoys living in Southern California, visiting the beach with her family, and creating movie make-up effects, makes a film with her friends to win a contest and hopefullly prevent her beloved great-grandtather from moving back to the Philippines.

2) Arsenic and adobo

Author

Manansala, Mia P

Series

A Tita Rosie's kitchen mystery

Formats:

Book - Paperback, eAudiobook

Description

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"The first book in a new culinary cozy series full of sharp humor and delectable dishes-one that might just be killer.... When Lila Macapagal moves back home to recover from a horrible breakup, her life seems to be following all the typical rom-com tropes. She's tasked with saving her Tita Rosie's failing restaurant, and she has to deal with a group of matchmaking aunties who shower her with love and judgment. But when a notoriously nasty food critic...

3) Babel: or the necessity of violence : an Arcane history of the Oxford translators' revolution

Author

Kuang, R. F. (Rebecca F.)

Formats:

Book - Hardback, Book - Paperback, eAudiobook, eBook, Kindle

Description

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Instant #1 New York Times Bestseller from the author of The Poppy War

"Absolutely phenomenal. One of the most brilliant, razor-sharp books I've had the pleasure of reading that isn't just an alternative fantastical history, but an interrogative one; one that grabs colonial history and the Industrial Revolution, turns it over, and shakes it out." — Shannon Chakraborty, bestselling author of The City of Brass

From

...

4) Biting the hand: growing up Asian in Black and White America

Author

Lee, Julia Sun-Joo

Description

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"A passionate, no-holds-barred memoir about the Asian American experience in a nation defined by racial stratification When Julia Lee was fifteen, her hometown went up in smoke during the 1992 Los Angeles riots. The daughter of Korean immigrant store owners in a predominantly Black neighborhood, Julia was taught to be grateful for the privilege afforded to her. However, the acquittal of four white police officers in the beating of Rodney King, following...

5) Daughter of the Moon goddess: a novel

Author

Tan, Sue Lynn

Series

Celestial Kingdom

Formats:

Book - Hardback, eAudiobook, eBook, Kindle

Description

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The acclaimed national and international bestseller

"Epic, romantic, and enthralling from start to finish."—Stephanie Garber, #1 New York Times bestselling author of the Caraval series

"An all-consuming work of literary fantasy that is breathtaking both for its beauty and its suspense."—BookPage, starred review

A captivating and romantic debut epic fantasy

...

6) Days at the Morisaki Bookshop: a novel

Author

Yagisawa, Satoshi

Series

Days at the Morisaki Bookshop

Formats:

Book - Paperback, eAudiobook, eBook

Description

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The wise and charming international bestseller and hit Japanese movie about a young woman who loses everything but finds herself, a tale of new beginnings, romantic and family relationships, and the comfort that can be found in books. Twenty-five-year-old Takako has enjoyed a relatively easy existence, until the day her boyfriend Hideaki, the man she expected to wed, casually announces he's been cheating on her and is marrying the other woman. Suddenly,...

7) Dogeaters

Author

Hagedorn, Jessica Tarahata

8) Everlasting Nora: a novel

Author

Cruz, Marie Miranda

Description

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After a family tragedy results in the loss of both father and home, 12-year-old Nora lives with her mother in Manila?s North Cemetery, which is the largest shantytown of its kind in the Philippines today. When her mother disappears mysteriously one day, Nora is left alone. With help from her best friend Jojo and the support of his kindhearted grandmother, Nora embarks on a journey riddled with danger in order to find her mom. Along the way she also...

9) Flame in the Mist

Author

Ahdieh, Renée

Series

Flame in the Mist

Formats:

Audiobook CD, eBook, Kindle

Description

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The daughter of a prominent samurai, Mariko has long known her place, and because she is not a boy, her future has always been out of her hands. At just seventeen years old, Mariko is promised to Minamoto Raiden, the son of the emperor's favorite consort--a political marriage that will elevate her family's standing. But en route to the imperial city of Inako, Mariko narrowly escapes a bloody ambush by a dangerous gang of bandits known as the Black...

10) The Girl and the Ghost

Author

Alkaf, Hanna

Formats:

eAudiobook, eBook

Description

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A Malaysian folk tale comes to life in this emotionally layered, chilling middle grade debut, perfect for fans of The Book of Boy and The Jumbies. I am a dark spirit, the ghost announced grandly. I am your inheritance, your grandmother’s legacy. I am yours to command. Suraya is delighted when her witch grandmother gifts her a pelesit. She names her ghostly companion Pink, and the two quickly become inseparable. But Suraya doesn’t know that...

11) The girl who fell beneath the sea

Author

Oh, Axie

Formats:

Audiobook CD, Book - Hardback, eAudiobook, eBook, Kindle

Description

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In this retelling of the Korean legend The tale of Shim Cheong, sixteen-year-old Mina is swept away to the Spirit Realm, where, assisted by a motley crew of demons, gods, and lesser spirits, she sets out to awaken the sleeping Sea God and save her homeland and family from deadly storms.

12) The god of small things

Author

Roy, Arundhati

Series

Reader's circle (Random House (Firm))

Formats:

Audiobook CD, Book - Paperback, eAudiobook, eBook, Kindle

Description

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Two twins in Kerala, on the southernmost tip of India, fashion a childhood for themselves in the shade of the wreck that is their family. When their English cousin and her mother arrive for a visit, the twins learn that things can change in a day.

13) Grandfather's journey

Author

Say, Allen

Series

Weston Woods read-along CD

Formats:

Book, eAudiobook, eBook

Description

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A Japanese American man recounts his grandfather's journey to America which he later also undertakes, and the feelings of being torn by a love for two different countries.

14) Happiness falls: a novel

Author

Kim, Angie

Formats:

Book - Hardback, eAudiobook, eBook, Kindle

Description

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"'We didn't call the police right away.' When Mia's father doesn't come home from a walk in the local nature reserve, she doesn't think much of it. He must've turned off his phone. Or his battery died. Or he probably stopped for an errand-but doing what exactly? Soon more questions arise and it becomes clear to Mia and her family that he is missing. Or is he?"-- Provided by publisher.

15) A history of burning

Author

Oza, Janika

Description

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"At the turn of the twentieth century, Pirbhai, a teenage boy looking for work, is taken from his village in India to labor on the East African Railway for the British. One day Pirbhai commits an act to ensure his survival that will haunt him forever and reverberate across his family's future for years to come. Pirbhai's children are born and raised under the jacaranda trees and searing sun of Kampala during the waning days of British colonial rule....

16) Ho'onani: hula warrior

Author

Gale, Heather (Children's author)

Description

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An empowering celebration of identity, acceptance and Hawaiian culture based on the true story of a young girl in Hawaiʻi who dreams of leading the boys-only hula troupe at her school.

17) How to read now: essays

Author

Castillo, Elaine

Description

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"An exploration and manifesto investigating the power of reading--and our potential to become radically better readers in the world"-- Provided by publisher.

18) In the country: stories

Author

Alvar, Mia

Formats:

Book - Hardback, eBook, Kindle

Description

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"A powerful, globe-trotting debut short-story collection from an exciting new writer--vivid, character-driven stories about Filipinos from every walk of life. Mia Alvar's stunning debut gives us a vivid, insightful picture of the Filipino diaspora: exiles and emigrants and wanderers uprooting their families to begin new lives in the Middle East and America--and, sometimes, turning back. One man smuggles drugs from his pharmacy in New York to Manila...

19) Insurrecto

Author

Apostol, Gina

Formats:

Book, eBook, Kindle

Description

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"Histories and personalities collide in this literary tour-de-force about the Philippines' present and America's past by the PEN Open Book Award-winning author of Gun Dealer's Daughter. Two women, a Filipino translator and an American filmmaker, go on a road trip in Duterte's Philippines, collaborating and clashing in the writing of a film script about a massacre during the Philippine-American War. Chiara is working on a film about an incident in...

20) The kiss quotient

Author

Hoang, Helen

Series

Kiss Quotient

Formats:

Book, eAudiobook, eBook, Kindle

Description

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"A heartwarming and refreshing debut novel that proves one thing: there's not enough data in the world to predict what will make your heart tick. Stella Lane thinks math is the only thing that unites the universe. She comes up with algorithms to predict customer purchases--a job that has given her more money than she knows what to do with, and way less experience in the dating department than the average thirty-year-old. It doesn't help that Stella...