#OwnVoices is a term coined by the writer Corinne Duyvis, and refers to an author from a marginalized or under-represented group writing about their own experiences/from their own perspective, rather than someone from an outside perspective writing as a character from an underrepresented group.
Below is a small sample of books written by AAPI authors from our SHS Learning Commons and Libby to read during Asian American Pacific Islander Heritage Month--and the rest of the year too!
After the Shot Drops by
When Bunny takes a scholarship to a prestigious prep school with a championship basketball team, his relationship with his best friend Nasir is ruined. When Nasir learns that his cousin, Wallace, and his grandmother are being evicted, he tries to get over Bunny's betrayal. But as Wallace's situation becomes desperate, both Bunny and Nasir will have to face bigger and bigger consequences and decide just how much they're willing to risk.
Amal Unbound by
In Pakistan, Amal holds onto her dream of being a teacher even after becoming an indentured servant to pay off her family's debt to the wealthy and corrupt Khan family.
American Panda by
At seventeen, Mei should be in high school, but skipping fourth grade was part of her parents’ master plan. Now a freshman at MIT, she is on track to fulfill the rest of this predetermined future: become a doctor, marry a preapproved Taiwanese Ivy Leaguer, produce a litter of babies. With everything her parents have sacrificed to make her cushy life a reality, Mei can’t bring herself to tell them the truth—that she (1) hates germs, (2) falls asleep in biology lectures, and (3) has a crush on her classmate Darren Takahashi, who is decidedly not Taiwanese. But when Mei reconnects with her brother, Xing, who is estranged from the family for dating the wrong woman, Mei starts to wonder if all the secrets are truly worth it. Can she find a way to be herself, whoever that is, before her web of lies unravels? From debut author Gloria Chao comes a hilarious, heartfelt tale of how, unlike the panda, life isn’t always so black and white.
The Astonishing Color of After by
After her mother's suicide, fifteen-year-old Leigh travels to Taiwan where she will finally meet the grandparents she never knew and come to terms with her mother's death. As she immerses herself the culture, she finds signs and hidden meanings all around her, and begins to believe that her mother has been reincarnated as a giant red bird.
Down and Across by
Sixteen-year-old Iranian American Scott Ferdowsi has a history of quitting things and he has no idea what he wants to do with his life. His parents want him to choose a career and apply for college. But when they visit Iran for a month and leave him home to focus on his internship, Scott skips town and travels to Washington, D.C. to visit a famous professor for advice about success. There he meets college student Fiora Buchanan who writes crossword puzzles. During Scott's summer of freedom, he finds answers about who he is and what he wants in unexpected places.
Emergency Contact by
After an awkward and accidental meeting, strangers Penny and Sam exchange numbers and begin texting. The painfully shy duo then find themselves falling in love even though their relationship is entirely digital.
Finding My Voice by
As she tries to enjoy her senior year and choose which college she will attend, Korean American Ellen Sung must deal with the prejudice of some of her classmates and pressure from her parents to get good grades.
Forward Me Back to You by
Katina King is the reigning teen jujitsu champion of Northern California, but she’s having trouble fighting off the secrets in her past.
Robin Thornton was adopted from an orphanage in India and is reluctant to take on his future. If he can’t find his roots, how can he possibly plan ahead?
Robin and Kat meet in the most unlikely of places—a summer service trip to Kolkata to work with survivors of human trafficking. As bonds build between the travelmates, Robin and Kat discover that justice and healing are tangled, like the pain of their pasts and the hope for their futures. You can’t rewind life; sometimes you just have to push play.
In turns heart wrenching, beautiful, and buoyant, Mitali Perkins's Forward Me Back to You focuses its lens on the ripple effects of violence—across borders and generations—and how small acts of heroism can break the cycle.
Frankly in Love by
As the son of Korean immigrants in Southern California, high school senior Frank Li is expected to find a nice Korean girl to marry. But instead, Frank falls for a white classmate who his parents will never approve of. He meets another Korean American, Joy Song, who is in a similar situation. They agree to be a couple in front of their parents in order for Frank and Joy to be with who they really want, but as their fake relationship becomes more real, they both wonder if they really know anything about love.
From Twinkle, with Love by
Aspiring filmmaker and wallflower Twinkle Mehra has stories she wants to tell and universes she wants to explore, if only the world would listen. So when fellow film geek Sahil Roy approaches her to direct a movie for the upcoming Summer Festival, Twinkle is all over it. The chance to publicly showcase her voice as a director? Dream come true. The fact that it gets her closer to her longtime crush, Neil Roy—a.k.a. Sahil’s twin brother? Dream come true x 2. When mystery man “N” begins emailing her, Twinkle is sure it’s Neil, finally ready to begin their happily-ever-after. The only slightly inconvenient problem is that, in the course of movie-making, she’s fallen madly in love with the irresistibly adorkable Sahil. Twinkle soon realizes that resistance is futile: The romance she’s got is not the one she’s scripted. But will it be enough?
How It All Blew Up by
Fleeing to Rome in the wake of coming out to his Muslim family, a failed relationship, and blackmail, eighteen-year-old Amir Azadi embarks on a more authentic life with new friends and dates in the Sistine Chapel before an encounter with a U.S. Customs officer places his hard-won freedom at risk.
Inside Out and Back Again by
After a back-breaking straight-A school year filled with too many extracurricular activities to count, twelve-year-old Mai's parents "reward" her by sending her to Vietnam, so she can get in touch with her roots. At first miserable, not knowing the language or customs, Mai spends time with her grandmother and learns to love her heritage, and even discovers secrets about her family's past, such as what happened to her grandfather during the war.
Internment by
Set in the near-future United States, Muslim Americans are being taken to internment camps, which followed book burnings, curfews, and mandatory viewing of the new president's national security addresses. Seventeen-year-old Layla Amin watches with contempt at the complicity of the community and her own parents who accept their current plight. She makes friends both within and outside the camp intent on starting a revolution that will end the violence and Islamophobia.
The Kingdom of Back by
Nannerl Mozart, sister of the famous Wolfgang, has a gift for music and wishes to be remembered forever--but for a woman in eighteenth-century Europe, that is never going to happen. She is allowed to perform only until she is of marriageable age--on order of her tyrannical father--but when her younger brother begins to eclipse her skills, she begins to despair of her life. Then, a mysterious stranger from a magical world arrives with an irresistible offer, but one that comes with a terrible cost.
Little Fires Everywhere by
In a perfect community based on rules, order, and conformity, a single mother named Mia and her daughter Pearl rent a house from the Richardsons.
Love, Hate and Other Filters by
Seventeen-year-old Maya Aziz is caught between her India-born parents' world of college and marrying a suitable Muslim boy and her dream world of film school and dating her classmate Phil when a terrorist attack changes her life.
Lovely, Dark, and Deep by
While chatting with Josh, a cute boy at her bake sale, Viola gets dizzy and faints-and wakes up in the hospital. Diagnosed with a rare and severe form of photosensitivity, her skin can no longer tolerate light, even from her phone. Her whole life changes, and she is afraid she will have to give up her dream of becoming a journalist. When a romance blooms with Josh, she rebels, and when she lands in the hospital again, Josh leaves. Viola has two options: withdraw from the world or come to terms with her new reality.
Mad, Bad, & Dangerous to Know by
It’s August in Paris and 17-year-old Khayyam Maquet—American, French, Indian, Muslim—is at a crossroads. This holiday with her parents should be a dream trip for the budding art historian. But her maybe-ex-boyfriend is probably ghosting her, she might have just blown her chance at getting into her dream college, and now all she really wants is to be back home in Chicago figuring out her messy life instead of brooding in the City of Light.Two hundred years before Khayyam’s summer of discontent, Leila is struggling to survive and keep her true love hidden from the Pasha who has “gifted” her with favored status in his harem. In the present day—and with the company of a descendant of Alexandre Dumas—Khayyam begins to connect allusions to an enigmatic 19th-century Muslim woman whose path may have intersected with Alexandre Dumas, Eugène Delacroix, and Lord Byron. Echoing across centuries, Leila and Khayyam’s lives intertwine, and as one woman’s long-forgotten life is uncovered, another’s is transformed.
Mad, Bad and Dangerous to Know by
Seventeen-year-old Khayyam Maquet is spending the summer in Paris with her parents, but she'd rather be in Chicago dealing with her maybe-ex-boyfriend and her blown chance at getting into her dream college. After a chance meeting with a cute descendant of Alexandre Dumas, Khayyam tries to track down the real-life nineteenth-century Muslim woman who inspired Alexandre Dumas, Eugène Delacroix, and Lord Byron with her tragic love story.
My So-Called Bollywood Life by
Betrayed by Raj, who she thought she was fated to marry, seventeen-year-old Winnie Mehta teams with fellow film fan Dev to get her life back on track and find her true soul mate.
Not the Girls You're Looking For by
In this coming-of-age novel, Lulu Saad considers herself both American and Arab, which in her American classmates' eyes makes her a terrorist, while her Muslim family disapproves of her American lifestyle. Tackling her junior year at her Texas prep school with a chip on her shoulder, Lulu makes a significant, impetuous mistake that could cost her more than she bargained for.
Parachutes by
Mia Tang and her immigrant parents are not exactly living the American dream since moving here from China--they live in the Calivista Motel, and Mia must tend to its guests. Her parents, meanwhile, have been hiding illegal immigrants in the motel's empty rooms, risking the wrath of the owner, Mr. Yao. On the personal life front, Mia wants to become a writer, but her mother is being very discouraging because she is better at math and English is not her first language. No matter what, however, Mia vows to follow her dreams.
Patron Saints of Nothing by
Beautiful Sophie and ugly Agatha, best friends, are taken by the School Master to the School for Good and Evil, where children are trained to be fairy tale heroes and villains. But when Sophie is sent to the School for evil, and Agatha to princess classes, the shocked girls think it's a mistake and try to switch; but unseen forces work to reveal their true identities.
Rani Patel in Full Effect by
Seventeen-year-old Rani Patel's outer appearance is that of a rocking Indian girl breaking cultural norms in her hip-hop performances. On the inside she feels like a nobody, separated from her school peers by her Indian culture where "husband is God," made all the worse by her father's incestuous advances toward her. Meeting Mark, a hot older man who frequents her parents' store, Rani discovers an underground hip-hop crew that fuels her imagination, but she ignores the red flags of Mark's intentions toward her and is led down a dark path.
The Reader by
Sefia knows what it means to survive. After her father is brutally murdered, she flees into the wilderness with her aunt Nin, who teaches her to hunt, track, and steal. But when Nin is kidnapped, leaving Sefia completely alone, none of her survival skills can help her discover where Nin's been taken, or if she's even alive. The only clue to both her aunt's disappearance and her father's murder is the odd rectangular object her father left behind, an object she comes to realize is a book-a marvelous item unheard of in her otherwise illiterate society. With the help of this book, and the aid of a mysterious stranger with dark secrets of his own, Sefia sets out to rescue her aunt and find out what really happened the day her father was killed-and punish the people responsible.
The Reader by
Sefia knows what it means to survive. After her father is brutally murdered, she flees into the wilderness with her aunt Nin, who teaches her to hunt, track, and steal. But when Nin is kidnapped, leaving Sefia completely alone, none of her survival skills can help her discover where Nin's been taken, or if she's even alive. The only clue to both her aunt's disappearance and her father's murder is the odd rectangular object her father left behind, an object she comes to realize is a book-a marvelous item unheard of in her otherwise illiterate society. With the help of this book, and the aid of a mysterious stranger with dark secrets of his own, Sefia sets out to rescue her aunt and find out what really happened the day her father was killed-and punish the people responsible.
Somewhere Only We Know by
Lucky is a K-pop star in Hong Kong about to make her American debut on "The Later Tonight Show." Jack is a tabloid reporter always trying to find the next big story. When the two have a chance encounter at the hotel she's staying at, they embark on a night together that could just have them falling in love.
Super Fake Love Song by
When new-girl Cirrus mistakes self-described nerd Sunny Dae as the lead in a rock band, Sunny rolls with it forming a fake band with his friends, but as the lies continue he risks losing both Cirrus and his friends.
Talon by
Long ago, dragons were hunted to near extinction by the Order of St. George, a legendary society of dragon slayers. Hiding in human form and growing their numbers in secret, the dragons of Talon have become strong and cunning, and they are positioned to take over the world with humans none the wiser.
This Time Will Be Different by
Seventeen-year-old CJ Katsuyama's family sold their flower shop to a white man for next to nothing while they were interned during World War II. Thirty years later, the family bought the store back from that family, the McAllisters, who had prospered in the interim. Now the shop is in financial trouble and CJ's mother works for McAllister Venture Capital. CJ's mother pushes CJ to make something of her life, but CJ only seems to excel at arranging flowers, and she feels aimless. When secrets about the McAllister patriarch come to light, CJ and a group of student activists find something to rally behind, though it causes friction in the community and between CJ and her mother.
Thorn by
To escape her cruel family and contemptuous court, fifteen-year-old Princess Alyrra is willing to marry Prince Kestrin but when she magically swaps lives her nemesis, she may find happiness as a commoner.
A Time to Dance by
Veda, a classical dance prodigy in India, lives and breathes dance—so when an accident leaves her a below-knee amputee, her dreams are shattered. For a girl who’s grown used to receiving applause for her dance prowess and flexibility, adjusting to a prosthetic leg is painful and humbling. But Veda refuses to let her disability rob her of her dreams, and she starts all over again, taking beginner classes with the youngest dancers. Then Veda meets Govinda, a young man who approaches dance as a spiritual pursuit. As their relationship deepens, Veda reconnects with the world around her, and begins to discover who she is and what dance truly means to her.
To All the Boys I've Loved Before by
What if all the crushes you ever had found out how you felt about them…all at once? Sixteen-year-old Lara Jean Song keeps her love letters in a hatbox her mother gave her. They aren’t love letters that anyone else wrote for her; these are ones she’s written. One for every boy she’s ever loved—five in all. When she writes, she pours out her heart and soul and says all the things she would never say in real life, because her letters are for her eyes only. Until the day her secret letters are mailed, and suddenly, Lara Jean’s love life goes from imaginary to out of control.
The Way You Make Me Feel by
When Clara Shin takes a practical joke too far, she's sentenced to working in her dad's food truck, the KoBra, all summer with her uptight classmate, Rose Carver. As the summer progresses and she starts dating a boy named Hamlet and becoming invested in her father's business, Clara starts to examine her relationships and if she can let go of the old, irresponsible Clara.
We Are Not Free by
Fourteen teens who have grown up together in Japantown, San Francisco. Fourteen teens who form a community and a family, as interconnected as they are conflicted. Fourteen teens whose lives are turned upside down when over 100,000 people of Japanese ancestry are removed from their homes and forced into desolate incarceration camps. In a world that seems determined to hate them, these young Nisei must rally together as racism and injustice threaten to pull them apart.
When Dimple Met Rishi by
When Dimple Shah and Rishi Patel meet at a Stanford University summer program, Dimple is avoiding her parents' obsession with "marriage prospects" but Rishi hopes to woo her into accepting arranged marriage with him.
Written in the Stars by
Growing up in Florida, Naila has always known her Pakistani parents would arrange her marriage, but then she falls in love with Saif. Her angry parents take her back to Pakistan to visit relatives and explore her roots. While there, Naila's parents find her a husband and make arrangements for her to marry him. Everything Naila has is taken away from her and she finds herself trapped in a foreign country against her will. Naila can only hope Saif will find her before it's too late.
You Bring the Distant Near by
From 1965 through the present, an Indian American family adjusts to life in New York City, alternately fending off and welcoming challenges to their own traditions.