AAPI Joy 2025

Effortlessly melding the fantastical with picturesque 1908 Manchuria, Choo depicts the journey of a heart-wrenching heroine named Snow seeking vengeance for her lost child. Bring in a world-weary detective, rumors of foxes, and deaths in the snow, and you'll be lost for days. Treat yourself to the author reading the audiobook—she's marvelous!

The sequel to Clark & Division continues the story of the Ito family, their struggles as they return to Los Angeles from Manzanar, and their attempt to build back their lives in a racist and corrupt post-WWII Los Angeles. Told in the first person viewpoint of a young newlywed nurse's aide, Aki Ito Nakamura, this is an engaging, rich historical novel with strong details. The fascinating views of parts of Los Angeles that are no more: Little Tokyo when it was known as Bronzeville; the melting pot neighborhood of Boyle Heights; and the Japanese American resettlement camps of Burbank.

Ash runs away from home with their dog to find their grandfather's secret cabin in the wilderness, determined to make it into a home for themselves far away from the rest of the world.

A powerful, lyrical novel about Soma, a sixteen-year-old Cambodian American girl from Lowell, Massachusetts, home to the second largest Cambodian community in the United States. Soma’s father has been deported to Cambodia and her mother has traveled to join him, claiming she’ll return in time for her sister’s upcoming wedding. Her sister has returned home and insists on taking on the disciplinary role of Ma and Ba, much to Soma’s annoyance. Soma turns to her spoken-word poetry as she learns to deal with her father’s absence.

In a world of magic and consequences, old friends Hanalei and Sam reunite on a search for seadragons—but while Sam wants to use the seadragon egg, Hanalei is determined to protect it.

Indu, a boy who was adopted when his mom found him on the moon, doesn't feel at home on Earth. With a new blended family, crushes, and the new school he’s had to start, Indu doesn’t feel like he belongs anywhere. He asks the moon to take him back but then starts to fit into his life, and he is not sure what to do. Utterly gorgeous and heartwarming.

Jun moves from Hong Kong to America and feels lost and alone, only knowing a few words and phrases and unsure how to make friends. She moves through a grayed-out world until lunchtime, when nostalgia, joy, and the love of her family bring her comfort through the delicious lunches her mother makes for her in warm, rainbow illustrations. Eventually, she connects with her classmates by sharing food and feels at home in this new place. A beautiful immigration story that transcends the "scary lunchbox" tropes we often see.