May Multicultural Children's Books: Asian Pacific Heritage Month Edition

This post contains affiliate links, meaning if you decide to purchase any of the books from the link I receive a teeny percentage of the sale. Thanks for your support! I personally purchased or borrowed these books from my library.

For May’s multicultural children’s book round up, I’m featuring books with Asian American characters/stories in honor of Asian Pacific American Heritage Month. Got your library card or mouse ready so you can add these books to your shelves?

Reading Auntie Yang’s Great Soybean Picnic (Lee & Low) by Ginnie Lo to my kids made me smile. It’s such a cute story about finding family in a strange place. A young girl tells the story of how her immigrant mother and Auntie Yang discover a soybean field in the Midwest. Soybeans were one her parents’ favorite food from China and they finally found it in the United States! Thus begins the tradition of the great soybean

picnic.

I haven’t read Going Home, Coming Home/Ve Nha, Tham Que Huong by Truong Tran yet, but I’m buying it for our library. This book tells the story Am Chi who travels to Vietnam with her parents, who still call Vietnam home. The country is simultaneously strange and familiar to Am Chi. My kids have asked more and more questions their grandparents’ life in Vietnam. I think this book will be a great way to begin the conversation. Bonus: This book is bilingual, written in both English and Vietnamese. Meaning my parents can read this book to their grandchildren!

With my current obsession with fortune cookies, Grace Lin’s Fortune Cookie Fortunes was a fun read for our family. Two sisters wait and wait to see if their fortune cookie fortunes come true and discover something magical along the way. Grace Lin’s picture books are in constant rotation in our home. Thankfully our library has a great collection of them. Now that Sophia’s reading chapter books, I’ll have to check out Lin’s Pacy Lin series.

Hannah and her family have recently immigrated to San Francisco in Hannah Is My Name by Belle Yang. Her American name “Hannah” doesn’t quite fit her yet. Adjust to live in the United States is hard for her, but Hannah’s family left Taiwan to pursue the American Dream. This novel has bright and beautifully illustrations.

Want more? My friend has a great list of Asian American children’s books on her blog HapaMama.

Do you have favorite Asian-American children’s books? Leave them in the comments so I can check them out with my kids!