The books below are found as print books in our SHS Learning Commons, on MackinVIA, and in Libby, the digital platform of the Scott County Library.
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.
Bombay Blues by
Dimple Lala, an Indian-American, travels to Bombay for a family wedding with her boyfriend Karsh, where she gets rejected by Karsh, embarks on a fling with a fellow photographer, and learns about a number of family secrets as she struggles to define her own identity.
Butterfly Yellow by
At the end of the Vietnam War, hundreds of children were airlifted out and taken to America as refugees. Hang and her three-year-old brother Linh were to be two of those children, but Hang was deemed too old and denied a spot on the helicopter. Linh, however, was torn away from her and taken to family in Texas. Now eighteen, Hang travels to Texas to find her brother but is devastated to learn that he does not remember her or Vietnam, and has no interest in either. Along with an aspiring cowboy named LeeRoy, Hang gets a job at a ranch and tries to reconnect with her brother with LeeRoy's help.
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.
The Downstairs Girl by
By day, seventeen-year-old Jo Kuan works as a lady's maid for the cruel daughter of one of the wealthiest men in Atlanta. But by night, Jo moonlights as the pseudonymous author of a newspaper advice column for the genteel Southern lady, \"Dear Miss Sweetie.\" When her column becomes wildly popular, she uses the power of the pen to address some of society's ills, but she's not prepared for the backlash that follows when her column challenges fixed ideas about race and gender. While her opponents clamor to uncover the secret identity of Miss Sweetie, a mysterious letter sets Jo off on a search for her own past and the parents who abandoned her as a baby. But when her efforts put her in the crosshairs of Atlanta's most notorious criminal, Jo must decide whether she, a girl used to living in the shadows, is ready to step into the light. With prose that is witty, insightful, and at times heartbreaking, Stacey Lee masterfully crafts an extraordinary social drama set in the New South.
Every Reason We Shouldn't by
Sixteen-year-old figure skater Olivia Kennedy's competitive skating career ends in disaster and she's trying to be a normal teen who just happens to have Olympians Midori Nakashima and Michael Kennedy as parents. Then Jonah Choi starts training at her family's struggling ice rink. The talented handsome teen is trying for the Olympics in speed skating. Olivia finds her competitive spirit returning, but she wonders if her rivalry with Jonah will help their relationship or hurt it.
Farewell to Manzanar by
During World War II a community called Manzanar was created in the high mountain desert country of California. Its purpose was to house thousands of Japanese Americans. Among them was the Wakatsuki family, who were ordered to leave their fishing business in Long Beach and take with them only the belongings they could carry. Jeanne Wakatsuki Houston, who was seven years old when she arrived at Manzanar in 1942, recalls life in the camp through the eyes of the child she was.
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?
A Girl Like That by
In Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, sixteen-year-old half-Hindu/half-Parsi Zarin Wadia is the class troublemaker and top subject for the school rumor blogs, regularly leaving class to smoke cigarettes in cars with boys, but she also desperately wants to grow up and move out of her aunt and uncle's house, perhaps realizing too late that Porus, another non-Muslim Indian who risks deportation but remains devoted to Zarin, could help her escape. When the two end up dead in a car on a highway in Jeddah, it becomes clear she was far more than a "girl like that."
If I Tell You the Truth by
After a sexual assault that leaves her pregnant, young Kiran leaves Punjab to start life over in Canada. There, her daughter Sahaara is born and grows up, but faces her own difficulties when authorities discover her mother has overstayed her visa and become undocumented. Seeking justice, Sahaara learns the truth about Kiran's past and determines to challenge a dangerous man's power.
Last Night at the Telegraph Club by
Seventeen-year-old Lily Hu is living in Chinatown, in 1950s era San Francisco when she meets and befriends her first white friend, Kathleen Miller through a mutual interest in aerospace. When the pair express their desire to see a performer at a well-known lesbian bar, they sneak out and it's there that they explore their sexuality and begin a relationship with each other in secret. However, with Lily's conservative Chinese family at her heels and McCarthyism threatening her family, Lily will need to make tough choices about her relationship with Kathy and who she wants to be.
Dial a for Aunties by
Meddelin Chan accidentally kills her blind date and her meddling mother calls on her even worse aunties to get rid of the body. A dead body, it turns out, is pretty hard to get rid of, though, especially when the meddling aunties accidentally ship the body to a billionaire wedding on an island resort where the four women are working.
My Heart Underwater by
When her Filipino father enters a coma after an accident, seventeen-year-old Cory Tagubio leans on the only one she thinks understands her--her history teacher at her Catholic school, Ms. Holden. As a Catholic, Cory knows that her feelings for Ms. Holden are forbidden, so when their relationship turns intimate and she's caught by her mother, Cory is sent away to live with a half-brother named Jun in the Philippines. Heartbroken and alone, Cory must come to terms with her identity, her family's roots, and what she wants for her future.
Outrun the Moon by
ust before the 1906 earthquake strikes San Francisco, Mercy Lee talks her way into the elite, all-white St. Clare's School for Girls by posing as a Chinese heiress—a remarkable feat for a 15-year-old girl from Chinatown. Determined to make a better life for herself and her sickly little brother, Jack, Mercy tries her best to fit in. And when the earthquake hits, it takes the quick wits of this strong-willed girl to pull the survivors together in the aftermath of the tragedy.
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.
A Pho Love Story by
For years, the Mais and the Nguyens have been at odds, having owned competing, neighboring pho restaurants. Teenagers Bao and Linh, who’ve avoided each other for most of their lives, both suspect that the feud stems from feelings much deeper than friendly competition. But then a chance encounter brings Linh and Bao in the same vicinity despite their best efforts and sparks fly, leading them both to wonder what took so long for them to connect. Can Linh and Bao find love in the midst of feuding families and complicated histories?
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.
Red, White, and Whole by
Reha feels like she's living in two worlds. One at school where she is the only Indian-American kid, and one at home with her family's Indian traditions. But her worlds are shattered when she learns her mother has leukemia. Reha hopes that being a dutiful daughter will make her mother well again, but she soon learns that she must bridge the gap between her two lives in order to face the uncertainty of the future.
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.
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.
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.
An Arrow to the Moon by
Seventeen-year-olds Hunter Yee and Luna Chang meet when Hunter transfers to Luna's high school. Instantly, they're drawn to each other and learn they were born on the same day. The more time they spend together, the more they are aware of strange occurrences happening around them. When they learn their families have been in a generations-long feud with each other, they embark on a quest to uncover the truth about their families and the magic that's causing a widening crack in their town when they are together.
