A selected list of notable fiction, nonfiction, and graphic novels for young adults by and about Asian Americans, chosen by LAPL librarians. More books for young adults are at LAPL Teen Web.
All That I Can Fix
Always and forever, Lara Jean
American Born Chinese
This book explores different facets of Chinese American identity with pop culture and alternating points of view and style.
American panda
The astonishing color of after
Batman: Nightwalker
The Beauty of the Moment
The Best We Could Do: An Illustrated Memoir
Boxers
The first of two companion graphic novels about the Boxer Rebellion in China. Boxers tells the story of Little Bao, a farmer's son who joins the rebellion, while Saints is told from the point of view of Four-Girl, a young Chinese girl who has visions of Joan of Arc and converts to Christianity. The difference in perspectives adds a greater depth to the story and makes for a very compelling read.
Control
In 2150, when genetic manipulation has been outlawed, seventeen-year-old Zelia must rescue her kidnapped sister with the help of a band of outcasts with mutated genes.
Darius the Great is Not Okay
Descendant of the Crane
Dragon Pearl
Dust of Eden
Thirteen-year-old Mina Tagawa and her Japanese-American family are forced to evacuate their Seattle home and are relocated to an internment camp in Idaho in this novel in verse.
An ember in the ashes : a novel
Emergency Contact
Escape to gold mountain : a graphic history of the Chinese in North America
Everything I never told you
This slender debut novel is deceptively quiet and elegantly restrained on the surface, but packs a knock-out punch. The story of how and why teenager Lydia Lee, the beautiful, brilliant, best-loved child of a 1970's mixed-race Ohio family, meets her shocking death is much more than just a Midwestern mystery. Within her very specific rendering of one family's tragedy, author Celeste Ng illuminates America's poisonous history of racism, sexism, and homophobia, but never at the expense of a suspenseful plot and a compellingly original cast of characters.
For a Muse of Fire
From Twinkle, With Love
Gaijin : American prisoner of war : a graphic novel
Girl Code: Gaming, Going Viral, and Getting It Done
Girl in reverse
The Girl King
A Girl Like That
The heart forger
Hulk Vol 1: Deconstructed
I Am Malala: How One Girl Stood up for Education and Changed the World
Learn the story of the youngest Nobel Peace Prize winner ever, who risked her life to fight for the rights of girls in Pakistan to attend school. Malala was a young girl who would not be denied an education, despite being threatened by the Taliban, who shot her in the head. She lives in exile and continues to speak out for justice and human rights. In 2014, she was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.
I Believe in a Thing Called Love
If You Could Be Mine : a novel
Seventeen-year-old Sahar has been in love with her best friend, Nasrin, since they were six. They’ve shared stolen kisses and romantic promises. But Iran is a dangerous place for two girls in love—Sahar and Nasrin could be beaten, imprisoned, even executed if their relationship came to light.
Ink & ashes
When Japanese American Claire Takata finds out that her deceased father was once a member of the yakuza, a Japanese crime syndicate, danger enters her life that could end up killing someone. (2016 Asian/Pacific American Librarians Association Literature Award - Honor Titles in Young Adult Category)
The inker's shadow
The kidney hypothetical, or, how to ruin your life in seven days
Kingdom of the Blazing Phoenix
The Library of Fates
Love, Hate & Other Filters
Lovely, Dark, and Deep
Mariam Sharma Hits the Road
Monstress
Maika Halfwolf is used to being called a monster. As an Arcanic, creatures who can sometimes pass as human, she and her kind are hunted and enslaved by humans, led by the Cumea, a sisterhood of sorceresses who consume Arcanics in order to steal their supernatural abilities. But Maika Halfwolf isn’t just any monster. An ancient evil is living in her skin, fighting to get out. Maika must discover what this creature inside of her is and how it relates to the murder of her mother. Set in a lush, art-deco steampunk alternate of 1900s Asia, this beautiful but brutal world from Liu and Takeda is not to be missed.
Monstress Volume 2: The Blood
Ms. Marvel, Vol. 1: No Normal
Kamala Khan is like every other nerdy 16-year-old Muslim girl from Jersey City. That is, until she sneaks out to a party one night and gets caught in a green mist, giving her superpowers that once belonged to Carol Danvers, the original Ms. Marvel! The series follows Kamala as she comes to terms with her powers and the responsibilities that they bring, all the while trying to balance her undercover superhero life with school, her family, and life as a teenager in general.
The Night Diary
Out of the dragon's mouth
After the fall of South Vietnam, fourteen-year-old Mai is forced to flee to a refugee camp on an island off the coast of Malaysia, where she must navigate numerous hardships while waiting to find out if her uncle will sponsor her for entry into the United States.
Outrun the Moon
Fifteen-year-old Mercy Wong is determined to break from poverty in Chinatown, and she gains admittance to a prestigious finishing school through a mix of cunning and bribery. She soon discovers that getting in was the easiest part, and must carve a niche among the spoiled heiresses. When the earthquake strikes on April 18, Mercy and her classmates are forced to a survivor encampment, but her quick-witted leadership rallies them to help in the tragedy's aftermath.
Peasprout Chen: Future Legend of Skate and Sword
Picture Us in the Light
The Place Between Breaths
The Prince and the Dressmaker
Prince Sebastian likes to wear dresses. He hires a seamstress, Frances, to make them for him in secret, but no one else knows that he likes to go out at night as Lady Crystallia, fashion icon. But how long can they contain their secret before the world finds out and/or Frances leaves to pursue her own dreams?
The rose and the dagger.
Ruse
Sacrifice
Saints
Saving Montgomery Sole
The secret sky : a novel of forbidden love in Afghanistan
Serpentine
Skybright, a foundling taken in by a wealthy family, makes startling discoveries about her origins in this story inspired by Chinese mythology.
The shadow hero
Since You Asked...
When fifteen-year-old Holly Kim’s snarky article is accidentally published in the school newspaper, she lands a weekly column and rants her way through the school year. But can she manage mean girls, jocks, being a normal teenager, and her parents’ old-school Korean values without going completely insane? This smart, insightful debut will have you laughing so hard you cry.
A single shard
Smoke in the Sun
The star-touched queen.
Step from heaven
The Storyteller
Summer Bird Blue
The Takedown
Tell Me Again How a Crush Should Feel
Leila’s managed to get all the way to junior year without letting romance complicate her life, but when a beautiful new girl starts attending her school, Leila finds herself taking chances - and figuring out how to come out to her friends and family.
That Thing We Call a Heart
This One Summer
A Thousand Beginnings and Endings: 15 Retellings of Asian Myths and Legends
A time to dance
In India, a girl who excels at Bharatanatyam dance refuses to give up after losing a leg in an accident.
To All the Boys I've Loved Before
Lara Jean writes love letters to all the boys she has loved and then hides them in a hatbox until one day those letters are accidentally sent. Don’t miss the sequel, P.S. I Still Love You either, which was the winner of the Asian/Pacific American Librarians Association Literature Award - Winner of the Young Adult Category.
Under a painted sky
Two teenage girls - one of them Chinese American, the other African American - on the run from the law disguise themselves as boys and set out on the Oregon Trail in this tale of adventure and friendship set during the Gold Rush.
The Weight of Our Sky
When Dimple Met Rishi
Wildcard
The wrath and the dawn
In this reimagining of The Arabian Nights, Shahrzad volunteers to marry the vicious Khalid, but she has a plan to outlast him and to avenge the women he’s killed. However, once she is inside the palace, Shahrzad realizes that things are not what they seem. The sequel, The Rose and the Dagger was released in April 2016.
Written in the stars
The Young Elites
Adelina Amouteru survives a deadly illness only to be cast out of society for the strange markings that set her apart. With nowhere else to turn, Adelina joins The Dagger Society and learns that she may have supernatural gifts as well. The sequel, The Rose Society, was published in 2015.