Asian Pacific American Award for Literature for Children and Young AdultsLike this list

54 items

• The Red Car to Hollywood

  Liu, Jennie,

  Add The Red Car to Hollywood to your for later shelf

  (Ages 14 and up) - 2026 Young Adult Literature Winner - Los Angeles, 1924 Sixteen-year-old Ruby Chan considers herself a modern, independent American girl. But when her secret relationship with a white boy implodes-and then is revealed to her very…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Hungry Bones

  Hung, Louise,

  Add Hungry Bones to your for later shelf

  (Ages 9-12) - 2026 Children's Literature Winner - Molly Teng sees things no one else can. By touching the belongings of people who have died, she gets brief glimpses into the lives they lived.

• Many Things at Once

  Hiranandani, Veera,

  Add Many Things at Once to your for later shelf

  (Ages 4-8) - 2026 Picture Book Winner - A young girl with a Jewish mother and a South Asian father learns more about her family's history and embraces her multifaceted identity.

• Everything We Never Had

  Ribay, Randy,

  Add Everything We Never Had to your for later shelf

  (Ages 13 and up) - 2025 Young Adult Literature Winner - Set in the 1930s to today, four generations of Filipino American boys grapple with identity, masculinity, and father-son relationships.

• Continental Drifter

  MacLeod, Kathy

  Add Continental Drifter to your for later shelf

  (Ages 8-12) - 2025 Children's Literature Winner - With a Thai mother and an American father, Kathy lives in two different worlds. She spends most of the year in Bangkok, where she's secretly counting the days till summer vacation. That's when her…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Aloha Everything

  George, Kaylin Melia,

  Add Aloha Everything to your for later shelf

  (Ages 5-8) - 2025 Picture Book Winner - Aloha Everything, is a magical story that will take you on a thrilling journey through the breathtaking islands of Hawaiʻi!

• I'd Rather Burn Than Bloom

  Rogers, Shannon C. F.

  Add I'd Rather Burn Than Bloom to your for later shelf

  (Ages 14 and up) - 2024 Young Adult Literature Winner - Alternating between present day and flashbacks, multiracial Filipina-American teen Marisol tries to figure out who she really is in the wake of her mother's sudden death.

• Ruby Lost and Found

  Li, Christina,

  Add Ruby Lost and Found to your for later shelf

  (Ages 8-12) - 2024 Children's Literature Winner - After Ruby gets in major trouble at school, her parents decide she has to spend the summer at a local senior center, with her grandmother, Nai-Nai, and Nai-Nai's friends for company. When a new boy…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• The Truth About Dragons

  Leung, Julie

  Add The Truth About Dragons to your for later shelf

  (Ages 4-8) - 2024 Picture Book Winner - An unforgettable lyrical picture book that celebrates biracial identity.

• Himawari House

  Becker, Harmony,

  Add Himawari House to your for later shelf

  (Ages 14 and up) - 2023 Young Adult Literature Winner - When Nao returns to Tokyo to reconnect with her Japanese heritage, she books a yearlong stay at the Himawari sharehouse. There she meets Hyejung and Tina, two other girls who came to Japan to…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Maizy Chen's Last Chance

  Yee, Lisa,

  Add Maizy Chen's Last Chance to your for later shelf

  (Ages 8-12) - 2023 Children's Literature Winner - Eleven-year-old Maizy Chen visits her estranged grandparents, who own and run a Chinese restaurant in Last Chance, Minnesota; as her visit lengthens, she makes unexpected discoveries about her…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• From the Tops of the Trees

  Yang, Kao Kalia, 1980-

  Add From the Tops of the Trees to your for later shelf

  (Ages 5-9) - 2023 Picture Book Winner - Young Kalia has never known life beyond the fences of the Ban Vinai Refugee Camp. The Thai camp holds many thousands of Hmong families who fled in the aftermath of the little-known Secret War in Laos that was…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Last Night at the Telegraph Club

  Lo, Malinda,

  Add Last Night at the Telegraph Club to your for later shelf

  (Ages 14 and up) - 2022 Young Adult Literature Winner - When Lily realizes she has feelings for a girl in her math class, it threatens Lily's oldest friendships and even her father's citizenship status and eventually, Lily must decide if owning her…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Amina's Song

  Khan, Hena

  Add Amina's Song to your for later shelf

  (Ages 9-13) 2022 Children's Literature Winner - Feeling pulled between two cultures after a month with family in Pakistan, Amina shares her experiences with Wisconsin classmates through a class assignment and a songwriting project with new student…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Watercress

  Wang, Andrea

  Add Watercress to your for later shelf

  (Ages 4-8) - 2022 Picture Book Winner - A story about the power of sharing memories—including the painful ones—and the way our heritage stays with and shapes us, even when we don't see it.

• This Light Between Us

  a Novel of World War II

  Fukuda, Andrew Xia,

  Add This Light Between Us to your for later shelf

  (Ages 13 and up) - 2021 Young Adult Literature Winner - In 1935, ten-year-old Alex Maki of Bainbridge Island, Washington, is horrified to discover that his new pen pal, Charlie Lévy of Paris, France, is a girl, but in spite of his initial…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• When You Trap a Tiger

  Keller, Tae

  Add When You Trap a Tiger to your for later shelf

  (Ages 8-12) - 2021 Children's Literature Winner - When Lily, her sister Sam, and their mother move in with her sick grandmother, Lily traps a tiger and makes a deal with him to heal Halmoni.

• Paper Son

  the Inspiring Story of Tyrus Wong, Immigrant and Artist

  Leung, Julie

  Add Paper Son to your for later shelf

  (Ages 4-8) - 2021 Picture Book Winner - An inspiring picture-book biography of animator Tyrus Wong, the Chinese American immigrant responsible for bringing Disney's Bambi to life.

• They Called Us Enemy

  Takei, George, 1937-

  Add They Called Us Enemy to your for later shelf

  (Ages 14 and up) - 2020 Young Adult Literature Winner - A stunning graphic memoir recounting actor/author/activist George Takei's childhood imprisoned within American concentration camps during World War II.

• Stargazing

  Wang, Jen, 1984-

  Add Stargazing to your for later shelf

  (Ages 8-12) - 2020 Children's Literature Winner - Moon is everything Christine isn't. She's confident, impulsive, artistic . . . and though they both grew up in the same Chinese-American suburb, Moon is somehow unlike anyone Christine has ever known.