Asian/Pacific American Awards for Literature

A boy and his grandfather cross a language and cultural barrier using their shared love of art, storytelling, and fantasy.

Recent immigrants from China and desperate for work and money, ten-year-old Mia Tang's parents take a job managing a rundown motel in Southern California, even though the owner, Mr. Yao is a nasty skinflint who exploits them; while her mother (who was an engineer in China) does the cleaning, Mia works the front desk and tries to cope with demanding customers and other recent immigrants--not to mention being only one of two Chinese in her fifth grade...

Abandoned by their father and living in poverty with their heartless stepmother in Louisiana, two sisters from the Philippines, twelve-year-old Sol and six-year-old Ming, learn the true meaning of family.

"A mother and son use their imagination to have fun on a rainy day"--

In 1969 twelve-year-old Mimi and her family move to an all-white town in Vermont, where Mimi's mixed-race background and interest in "boyish" topics like astronomy make her feel like an outsider. "Change can start with just one brave person speaking up. As the Apollo 11 mission prepares to go to the moon, Mimi Yoshiko Oliver gets ready to move to a new state. But in 1969, Vermont is mostly white, and for half-black, half-Japanese Mimi, her appearance...

Wabi Sabi, a cat living in the city of Kyoto, learns about the Japanese concept of beauty through simplicity as she asks various animals she meets about the meaning of her name.

A young Korean girl and her family find it difficult to learn English and adjust to life in America.

"When Lily and her family move in with her sick grandmother, a magical tiger straight out of her halmoni's Korean folktales arrives. The tiger offers Lily a deal- if Lily will open her grandmother's star jars and return what she stole, the tiger will heal her grandmother. But deals with tigers are never what they seem! With the help of her sister and her new friend Ricky, Lily must find her voice . . . and the courage to face a tiger. Tae Keller,...

"In this beautifully written picture book, Hana Hashimoto has signed up to play her violin at her school's talent show. The trouble is, she's only a beginner, and she's had only three lessons. Her brothers insist she isn't good enough. "It's a talent show, Hana," they tell her. "You'll be a disaster!" Hana remembers how wonderfully her talented grandfather, or Ojiichan, played his violin when she was visiting him in Japan. So, just like Ojiichan,...

In 1841, rescued by an American whaler after a terrible shipwreck leaves him and his four companions castaways on a remote island, fourteen-year-old Manjiro, who dreams of becoming a samurai, learns new laws and customs as he becomes the first Japanese person to set foot in the United States.