Non-Fiction Books By & About Asian and Pacific Americans

Every May, the U.S. observes Asian/Pacific American Heritage Month. This month celebrates the history and contributions of Asian and Pacific Islander Americans and those living in the U.S. with heritage from the Asian continent and Pacific islands of Melanesia, Micronesia, and Polynesia.

This blog post highlights some of the non-fiction books in our collection either by or about Asian and Pacific Americans and includes books for a range of readers and interests.

Read more about Asian/Pacific American Heritage Month at asianpacificheritage.gov

Picture Books

It Began with a Page: How Gyo Fujikawa Drew the Way

Written by Kyo Maclear, illustrated by Julie Morstad
Where to find it: Juvenile biography under “J B F955m”
View it on our catalog

Summary from our catalog: Gyo Fujikawa’s iconic children’s books are beloved all over the world. Now it’s time for Gyo’s story to be told–a story of artistic talent that refused to be constrained by rules or expectations. Growing up quiet and lonely at the beginning of the twentieth century, Gyo learned from her relatives the ways in which both women and Japanese people lacked opportunity. Her teachers and family believed in her and sent her to art school and later Japan, where her talent flourished. But while Gyo’s career grew and led her to work for Walt Disney Studios, World War II began, and with it, her family’s internment. But Gyo never stopped fighting–for herself, her vision, her family and her readers–and later wrote and illustrated the first children’s book to feature children of different races interacting together.

Maya Lin: Artist-Architect of Light and Lines: Designer of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial

Written by Jeanne Walker Harvey, illustrated by Dow Phumiruk
Where to find it: Juvenile biography under “J B L625h”
View it on our catalog

Summary from our catalog: The bold story of Maya Lin, the artist-architect who designed the Vietnam War Memorial.

Love in the Library

Written by Maggie Tokuda-Hall, illustrated by Yas Imamura
Where to find it: Juvenile non-fiction under J 940.5317 T139″ or as a Wonderbook under “Love”
View it on our catalog

Summary from our catalog: Based on a true story of love and resilience at the Minidoka incarceration camp.

For Older Readers

A First Time for Everything: A True Story

Written and illustrated by Dan Santat
Where to find it: Juvenile graphic novels under “J GRAPHIC Santat”
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Summary from our catalog: A middle grade graphic memoir based on bestselling author and Caldecott Medalist Dan Santat’s awkward middle school years and the trip to Europe that changed his life. Dan’s always been a good kid. The kind of kid who listens to his teachers, helps his mom with grocery shopping, and stays out of trouble. But being a good kid doesn’t stop him from being bullied and feeling like he’s invisible, which is why Dan has low expectations when his parents send him on a class trip to Europe. At first, he’s right. He’s stuck with the same girls from his middle school who love to make fun of him, and he doesn’t know why his teacher insisted he come on this trip. But as he travels through France, Germany, Switzerland, and England, a series of first experiences begin to change him–first Fanta, first fondue, first time stealing a bike from German punk rockers… and first love. Funny, heartwarming, and poignant, A First Time for Everything is a feel-good coming-of-age memoir based on New York Times bestselling author and Caldecott Medal winner Dan Santat’s awkward middle school years. It celebrates a time that is universally challenging for many of us, but also life-changing as well.

They Called Us Enemy

Written by George Takei with Justin Eisinger and Steven Scott, art by Harmony Becker
Where to find it: Young adult non-fiction graphic novels under “YGN 940.53 T139”
View it on our catalog

Summary from our catalog: George Takei has captured hearts and minds worldwide with his captivating stage presence and outspoken commitment to equal rights. But long before he braved new frontiers in Star Trek, he woke up as a four-year-old boy to find his own birth country at war with his father’s — and their entire family forced from their home into an uncertain future. In 1942, at the order of President Franklin D. Roosevelt, every person of Japanese descent on the west coast was rounded up and shipped to one of ten “relocation centers,” hundreds or thousands of miles from home, where they would be held for years under armed guard. They Called Us Enemy is Takei’s firsthand account of those years behind barbed wire, the joys and terrors of growing up under legalized racism, his mother’s hard choices, his father’s faith in democracy, and the way those experiences planted the seeds for his astonishing future. What is American? Who gets to decide? When the world is against you, what can one person do? To answer these questions, George Takei joins co-writers Justin Eisinger & Steven Scott and artist Harmony Becker for the journey of a lifetime.

All You Can Ever Know

Written by Nicole Chung
Where to find it: Adult non-fiction under “362.734 C472”
View it on our catalog

Summary from our catalog: Nicole Chung was born severely premature, placed for adoption by her Korean parents, and raised by a white family in a sheltered Oregon town. She was told her biological parents had made the ultimate sacrifice in the hope of giving her a better life, that forever feeling slightly out of place was her fate as a transracial adoptee. But Nicole grew up facing prejudice her adoptive family couldn’t see, and wondered if the story she’d been told was the whole truth. Here Chung tells of her search for the people who gave her up, and chronicles the repercussions of unearthing painful family secrets.

On the Curry Trail: Chasing the Flavor That Seduced the World: In 50 Recipes

Written by Raghavan Iyer
Where to find it: New adult non-fiction under “641.3384 Iy9”
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Summary from our catalog: On the Curry Trail is an enlightening journey across Australia, Asia, Africa, Europe, and the Americas to explore the origins of curry and the signature, essential curries of each region. This diaspora of curry brings alive not only the most iconic, category-defining recipes from these continents, but also the history, lore, anecdotes, and familial remembrances that fashion each dish. It delves into the story of curry: What it was and what it is, the places to which it has traveled and the ways it has evolved (whether because of local ingredients, cultural tastes, or other factors). And the book embraces the many interpretations and definitions of this beloved dish. It makes the flavors of these scintillating curries accessible to the everyday home cook.On the Curry Trail is at once a mash note and an education (one rich in history and sense of place) that tells the definitive, delectable story of this beguiling dish in 50 irresistible recipes. Illustrations throughout.

Dear Girls: Intimate Tales, Untold Secrets, and Advice For Living Your Best Life

Written by Ali Wong
Where to find it: Adult non-fiction under “792.7 W846”
View it on our catalog

Summary from our catalog: In her hit Netflix comedy special Baby Cobra, an eight-month pregnant Ali Wong resonated so heavily that she became a popular Halloween costume. Wong told the world her remarkably unfiltered thoughts on marriage, sex, Asian culture, working women, and why you never see new mom comics on stage but you sure see plenty of new dads. The sharp insights and humor are even more personal in this completely original collection. She shares the wisdom she’s learned from a life in comedy and reveals stories from her life off stage, including the brutal singles life in New York (i.e. the inevitable confrontation with erectile dysfunction), reconnecting with her roots (and drinking snake blood) in Vietnam, tales of being a wild child growing up in San Francisco, and parenting war stories. Though addressed to her daughters, Ali Wong’s letters are absurdly funny, surprisingly moving, and enlightening (and disgusting) for all.

Rise: A Pop History of Asian America From the Nineties to Now

Written by Jeff Yang, Phil Yu, and Philip Yang, illustrated by Julia Kuo
Where to find it: Adult non-fiction under “306.095 Y16”
View it on our catalog

Summary from our catalog: RISE is a love letter to and for Asian Americans–a vivid scrapbook of voices, emotions, and memories from an era in which [their] culture was forged and transformed, and a way to preserve both the headlines and the intimate conversations that have shaped [their] community into who [they] are today.

Crying in H Mart: A Memoir

Written by Michelle Zauner
Where to find it: Adult non-fiction OR Large Print under “781.66 Z18”
View it on our catalog

Summary from our catalog: In this exquisite story of family, food, grief, and endurance, Michelle Zauner proves herself far more than a dazzling singer, songwriter, and guitarist. With humor and heart, she tells of growing up the only Asian-American kid at her school in Eugene, Oregon; of struggling with her mother’s particular, high expectations of her; of a painful adolescence; of treasured months spent in her grandmother’s tiny apartment in Seoul, where she and her mother would bond, late at night, over heaping plates of food. As she grew up, moving to the east coast for college, finding work in the restaurant industry, performing gigs with her fledgling band–and meeting the man who would become her husband–her Koreanness began to feel ever more distant, even as she found the life she wanted to live. It was her mother’s diagnosis of terminal pancreatic cancer, when Michelle was twenty-five, that forced a reckoning with her identity and brought her to reclaim the gifts of taste, language, and history her mother had given her.

Last Boat Out of Shanghai: The Epic Story of the Chinese Who Fled Mao’s Revolution

Written by Helen Zia
Where to find it: Adult non-fiction under “951.042 Z61”
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Summary from our catalog: The dramatic, real-life stories of four young people caught up in the mass exodus of Shanghai in the wake of China’s 1949 Communist Revolution–a precursor to the struggles faced by emigrants today. Shanghai has historically been China’s jewel, its richest, most modern and westernized city. The bustling metropolis was home to sophisticated intellectuals, entrepreneurs, and a thriving middle class when Mao’s proletarian revolution emerged victorious from the long civil war. Terrified of the horrors the Communists would wreak upon their lives, citizens of Shanghai who could afford to fled in every direction. Seventy years later, the last generation to fully recall this massive exodus have opened the story to Chinese American journalist Helen Zia, who interviewed hundreds of exiles about their journey through one of the most tumultuous events of the twentieth century. From these moving accounts, Zia weaves the story of four young Shanghai residents who wrestled with the decision to abandon everything for an uncertain life as refugees in Hong Kong, Taiwan, and the U.S. Young Benny, who as a teenager became the unwilling heir to his father’s dark wartime legacy, must choose between escaping Hong Kong or navigating the intricacies of a newly Communist China. The resolute Annuo, forced to flee her home with her father, a defeated Nationalist official, becomes an unwelcome young exile in Taiwan. The financially strapped Ho fights deportation in order to continue his studies in the U.S. while his family struggles at home. And Bing, given away by her poor parents, faces the prospect of a new life among strangers in America.