Readings for Every Season

May is Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander (AANHPI) Heritage Month, also known as Asian American Pacific Islander Heritage Month (AAPI)– a celebration of AA and NHPI individuals and communities in the United States. The library is offering reading challenges and book recommendations to recognize the history and achievements of Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders (AANHPIs)

READING CHALLENGE

Take part in the latest reading challenge on Beanstack for a chance to win a grand prize. Ask your English Teacher or Ms. Castellon at the library for login information.

READING RECOMMENDATIONS

Discover new books to read celebrating and exploring different cultures and voices of Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders (AANHPIs) through the lastest booklist:

This month’s picks include gems like:

An Emotion of Great Delight by Tahereh Mafi. This novel covers love and loneliness, navigating the hyphen of dual identity, and reclaiming your right to joy—even when you’re trapped in the amber of sorrow. An Emotion of Great Delight is a searing look into the world of a single Muslim family in the wake of 9/11. It’s about a child of immigrants forging a blurry identity, falling in love, and finding hope—in the midst of a modern war.

Tokyo Ever After by Emiko Jean. Ever After is a story of an ordinary Japanese American girl who discovers that her father is the Crown Prince of Japan. The novel covers Izumi’s struggle as she soon finds herself caught between worlds, and between versions of herself—back home, she was never “American” enough, and in Japan, she must prove she’s “Japanese” enough.

Day of Distraction: A novel by Alexnadra Chang. A wry, tender portrait of a young woman—finally free to decide her own path, but unsure if she knows herself well enough to choose wisely. Equal parts tender and humorous, and told in spare but powerful prose, Days of Distraction is an offbeat coming-of-adulthood tale, a touching family story, and a razor-sharp appraisal of our times.

RESEARCH

Many of the library databases can be used to explore and research different histories and important figures of Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders.

There many resources through the Gale Cengage Learning Databases:

Gale in Context: U.S. History has various articles and research guides relating to Asian American and Pacific Islanders, including biographies on historical figures like Daniel Inouye and Chien-Shiung Wu and historical events such as the Chinese Exclusion Act, the Korean War, Japanese American Internment during WWII and many more.

Gale in Context: Biography also has a section on historical and current important Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders figures, which includes biographies on figures such as Grace Lee Boggs, Keanu Reeves, Urvashi Vaid and many more.