BOOK MARKED
Celebrating Asian/
Pacific American
Heritage Month
Whether they’re about favorite foods, problems at school,
family relations or finding love, these 12 children’s books
explore the wide range of cultures, traditions and history
of Asians and Pacific Islanders in the United States.

BY JENNIFER ROTHSCHILD, COLLECTION ENGAGEMENT
LIBRARIAN, ARLINGTON PUBLIC LIBRARY
PRESCHOOL ‘Bilal Cooks Daal’
‘Alvin Ho: Allergic to Girls, School,
and Other Scary Things’
By Aisha Saeed
Illustrated by Anoosha Syed
By Lenore Look
Illustrated by Leuyen Pham
Bilal invites his friends over to make his favor-
ite food, daal, a slow-cooked lentil dish from
South Asia. After waiting and waiting for it to
finish, Bilal worries his friends won’t like it as
much as he does.

The first book in a series for fans of “Diary of
a Wimpy Kid” introduces Alvin Ho, an Asian-
American second-grader who is so afraid of
school that he can’t he can’t speak. At home,
however, Alvin is a very loud superhero named
Firecracker Man.

‘Amy Wu and the Perfect Bao’
By Kat Zhang
Illustrated by Charlene Chua
Amy loves eating steamed bao buns but strug-
gles to make them as well as the other mem-
bers in her family. Her determination to
master the skill will inspire readers to try the
bao recipe in the back of the book.

‘Ohana Means Family’
By Debbi Michiko Florence
Illustrated by Elizabet Vukovic
Everyone over the age of 10 in Jasmine’s
Japanese-American family makes mochi by
hand for New Year’s. Although she’s only
eight—and a girl—Jasmine hatches a plan to
help pound the mochi rice.

By Illima Loomis
Illustrated by Kenard Pak
MIDDLE GRADE
In this gently rhyming cumulative poem,
a Native Hawaiian family goes through all
the necessary steps to make poi for their
lu’au. Includes a glossary of Hawaiian
terms. By Kelly Yang
EARLY ELEMENTARY
‘Meet Yasmin!’
By Saadia Faruqi
Illustrated by Hatem Aly
In four different stories, second-grader
Yasmin, a Pakistani-American, navigates
school projects, boredom, and family outings
with her own creativity and imagination.

38 Washington FAMILY MAY 2020
‘Jasmine Toguchi: Mochi Queen’
‘Front Desk’
Ten-year-old Mia must balance school with
helping her parents manage a motel, where
they secretly shelter recent immigrants.

Despite not being a native English speaker
(her family moved to America from China
when she was eight), Mia is determined to
win a writing contest to give her family more
financial security.

‘This is Just a Test’
By Wendy Wan-Long Shang and
Madelyn Rosenberg
In the early 1980s, David Da-Wei Horowitz