Books to Celebrate AAPI Heritage Month

Plus book events for Tic-Tac-Toe Chicken and more!

I was blessed to kick off AAPI Heritage Month with a writing retreat at the Highlights Foundation hosted by Debbi Michiko Florence and Grace Lin with 25 other AAPI kidlit authors and illustrators. Just by looking at the photos, you can tell we are having a glorious time together. This is my third year going, and each year I think that I should stop because it can't get any better, or at least it certainly can't be as good. And yet it always is.

There's a waitlist for this retreat long enough to fill it twice over, which is heartening because that means there are many of us out there. It’s incredibly satisfying to see a growing collection of books where AAPI children can see themselves and be the main characters in stories that cast them in a positive and powerful light.

Please check out my recommendation list of AAPI books for children (that’s an affliate link through Bookshop.org). Some of them are books that affirm our identities, some that celebrate our cultures, some that document the histories of the Asian diaspora, and some that are just kids having adventures and happen to be AAPI. The list is by no means exhaustive, but I do think there is a little something for everyone.

I’d also like to highlight an amazing podcast by the daughter-father team Gen and Ted Lai called Asian American History 101. It’s more than a survey course; it’s a really deep dive into the diverse experiences of Asian Americans past and present.

And for those of you who read grown-up books and love true crime or Los Angeles history, I highly recommend Dr. Anne Soon Choi’s book, L.A. Coroner, a gripping true crime biography of Dr. Thomas Noguchi, the controversial “Coroner to the Stars,” who performed the autopsies of Marilyn Monroe, Robert F. Kennedy, Natalie Wood, and hundreds of other notable personalities. While countless books have been written about those famous deaths, L.A. Coroner is the first to put the spotlight on Dr. Noguchi and tell his quest for influence and fame in the context of continued discrimination following Japanese American mass incarceration. I found the detailed inner workings of the AAPI and Black American coalition that came together to defend him fascinating. Publisher’s Weekly said in their review, “The author’s portrait of Noguchi is satisfyingly complex…At once a lurid collection of true crime stories and an edifying glimpse at midcentury California, this fascinates.” Go read it!

SAVE THE DATE! My first book signing!

On Saturday, August 23rd at 11am, Once Upon a Time bookstore in Montrose, CA has kindly offered to host my first book signing. This independent bookstore is the oldest children’s bookstore in the country. We will be doing tic-tac-toe themed activities, so please bring some special little folks in your life and join us (you can also come without little folks, too). Some folks asked about signed pre-order copies of Tic-Tac-Toe Chicken and those are being arranged through Once Upon a Time bookstore and will be available in the summer. But if you want to pre-order now, you can do so here.

For those of you living closer to the Los Angeles coast, I also have a book signing in Long Beach in collaboration with Bel Canto Books, a woman-owned and BIPOC bookstore. That will be on Saturday, September 6th at 11am in their event space, KUBO LB (3976 Atlantic Ave, Long Beach, CA 90807). Would love to see you and your families there! More details to come.

My publisher and I are working on dates for San Francisco and New York, so stay tuned for those announcements.

SCHOOL VISITS

I'm looking to do up to five in-person school visits in the Los Angeles area, particularly in the San Gabriel Valley. For my debut year, the fee will be waived for any school serving more than 30% Title I students. Please spread the word with any of your teacher or school librarian or PTA leader friends and let them know to contact me for more information.

Introducing...Ellie!

We adopted Ellie this April. She likes books about dogs that sit in yellow chairs. Maybe she’ll grow up to be one of those library dogs that kids can read books to. First, she will have to learn to calm down.

Thanks for reading! I’ll post again in July as I begin the countdown to the August 19th publication of Tic-Tac-Toe Chicken!