A good book can take you places. To some authors, a great book also has characters that look like its readers. Finding these characters can be hard for some book lovers. Four writers wanted to help.
Vincent Yee, Yobe Qiu, Tracy Guan, and Serena Li are all Asian American authors. They met in 2021. The writers were worried. They didn’t think enough books had AAPI characters in them. “When you don’t see yourself as the hero, it becomes limiting,” Yee said. “AAPI characters help us overcome this.”
May is AAPI Heritage Month. To celebrate, the four authors came up with a plan. They are sending 500 of their books to libraries. Yee’s book is on that list. It’s called Clara Wu and the Portal Book. It’s about a Chinese American girl. She gets sucked into a magical world. Yee said that he hopes Asian American readers can “see themselves doing amazing” things.
Yobe Qiu’s book is called Our Lunar New Year. “It’s about Asian American communities,” she said. “They share their ways to ring in the New Year.” The author added, “I hope students will appreciate the .” She explained that it is important to learn about other .
Author Tracy Guan agreed. “There are many ways to learn about culture,” she said. “That includes food!” Her book is Lunchtime with Samnang. It stars a boy from the Asian nation of Cambodia. He munches on Cambodian foods. The grub helps him learn about where he comes from!
AAPI stories show characters from different backgrounds. For example, there’s A Gift for Amma by Meera Sriram. It’s about a young girl in India. She looks for a present for her mother. And Kao Kalia Yang’s The Most Beautiful Thing tells the story of a .
But no matter where people come from, author Serena Li said, “I hope my readers learn to celebrate differences.” Her book, I Love You More, is all about showing kindness.
The author said that “everyone’s story is worth telling.”
Updated May 3, 2023, 5:02 P.M. (ET)
By Tyler Burdick
