May Is Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month
Preschool
Tiny Feet Between the Mountains
by Hanna Cha
Soe-In is a tiny child in a village full of large people. She struggles with completing chores due to her size, but she never gives up.
One day, when the sky grows dark and full of smoke, Soe-In volunteers to travel into the tall mountains to investigate. She is surprised to find a spirit tiger there and to learn that he has swallowed the sun by mistake!
To help the spirit tiger and her village, Soe-In must come up with a clever idea to solve this gigantic problem. And while she's at it, she just may prove that the smallest people often have the biggest, bravest hearts.
Home in a Lunchbox
by Cherry Mo
When Jun moves from Hong Kong to America, the only words she knows are "hello," "thank you," "I don't know," and "toilet." Her new school feels foreign and terrifying.
But when she opens her lunchbox to find her favorite meals — like bao, dumplings, and bok choy — she realizes that home isn't so far away after all.
Cherry Mo's breathtakingly beautiful debut picture book reminds readers that friendship and belonging can be found in every bite.
Primary (Kindergarten–Grade 2)
Tricky Chopsticks
by Silvia Chen, illustrations by Fanny Liem
Jenny Chow struggles with chopsticks — aiya, those slippery, oh-so-tricky chopsticks! But cousin Victor's birthday party is just around the corner, along with her family's annual chopsticks challenge. Jenny doesn't want to be the only Chow who never learns how to use the utensils. She will do whatever it takes to prove that she can hold her own in her family's long-held tradition — no matter how many experiments she wobbles and fumbles through.
The Smell of Wet Dog and Other Dog Poems and Drawings
by Barney Saltzberg
Beloved author and illustrator Barney Saltzberg offers up twenty-seven poems on the evergreen topic of humans' best friend. Many poems have all the humor of a Shel Silverstein classic. Others are unexpectedly poignant, about separation anxiety or older dogs growing less spry. All are accompanied by Saltzberg's lively and loveable artwork.
Whether you are a dog lover, love a dog lover, or are simply dog-curious, The Smell of Wet Dog is for someone in your life. One thing is for sure: you will leave this book inspired to write an ode to a furry friend of your own!
Intermediate (Grades 3–5)
Finally Heard
by Kelly Yang
When ten-year-old Lina Gao sees her mom's social media video take off, she is captivated by the potential to be seen and heard. Maybe online she can finally find the confidence she craves, whereas in real life she is growing so fast that she feels like microwave popcorn — bursting out of her skin.
With the help of her two best friends, Carla and Finn, and her little sister Millie, Lina sets off to go viral. Except that there is a lot more to social media than Lina ever imagined, like these things:
1. Seeing inside her classmates' lives! Is she really the only person on the planet who doesn't have a walk-in closet?
2. Group chats! Disappearing videos! What is everyone talking about in the secret chats? And how can she join?
3. A bazillion stories about what to eat, wear, and put on her face. Could they all be telling the truth? Everyone sounds so sure of what they are saying!
As Lina descends deeper and deeper into social media, it will take all her strength to break free from the "likes" and find the courage to be her authentic self in this fast-paced world.
Gigi Shin Is Not a Nerd
by Lyla Lee
Jiyoung "Gigi" Shin loves to create . . . from her zany outfits to self-executed haircuts. She dreams of becoming an artist and doodles every chance she gets — instead of taking notes at school, instead of singing in choir, and instead of doing homework at home. Art is her way of escaping from her boring life in suburban Middle of Nowhere, Texas. Unfortunately, her working-class immigrant parents want her to focus on her studies and pursue something more "practical." Gigi really feels like herself only in art class and at lunch with her best friends, Carolina and Zeina.
When Gigi learns about an elite art camp on the east coast, she is determined to go. But she knows that her parents won't let her, much less pay for it. After overhearing her little brother Tommy complain about how hard math is and how his teacher goes too fast for him, Gigi has a brilliant idea: forming a tutoring club with her friends to make enough money for the art camp.
With Carolina, Zeina, and Carolina's friend Emma, the girls go all in, each with a reason for wanting the business to succeed. But the first few sessions with their classmates are a little chaotic, and Gigi wonders whether she will end up sacrificing more than she bargained for to achieve her dreams.
Middle School (Grades 6–8)
The Many Masks of Andy Zhou
by Jack Cheng
Andy Zhou is used to being what people need him to be: the good kid for his parents and now for his grandparents who are in from Shanghai, or the helpful sidekick for his best friend Cindy, with her plans and schemes. So when Cindy decides that they should try out for movement on the first day of sixth grade, how can Andy say no? But between feeling out of place with the dancers after school, being hassled in class by his new science partner Jameel, and sensing tension between his dad and grandfather at home, Andy feels all kinds of weird. Then over anime, Hi-Chews, and art, things start to shift between Andy and Jameel, opening up new doors — and new problems. Because no matter how much Andy cares about his friends and family, it's hard not to feel pulled by all the ways he is meant to be, all the different faces he wears, and it is harder still to figure out whether any of these masks is the real him.
Something Like Home
by Andrea Beatriz Arango
Laura Rodríguez Colón wants to live with her parents again, not with her aunt. Struggling to fit in as the new kid, she finds hope in training a puppy as a therapy dog — maybe it can help heal her family. More than anything, Laura just wants to belong and go back to the home she misses.
High School (Grades 9–12)
I'll Be Waiting for You
by Mariko Turk
Natalie and Imogen are inseparable and wildly different — Imogen is infuriatingly humble and intelligent while Natalie is brave, jumping into danger and new adventures. Still, one thing ties them together: their love of the supernatural. Every summer, they vacation with their parents at the famously haunted Harlow Hotel. Imogen is a true believer, while Natalie sees ghost stories as nothing but pure fun.
Then Imogen suddenly passes away from an undiagnosed heart condition that no one saw coming, and Natalie is left alone to take on the summer before senior year.
Without Imogen, Natalie throws herself into her senior project. Her passion is still horror, so she plans to spend her summer back at the Harlow Hotel recording fun fake footage that will get her on the teen ghost-hunting show of her dreams. And her plans would be a lot less complicated if Leander, her irritatingly attractive archrival from school, wasn't working on his senior project at the very same hotel.
The longer that Natalie stays at the Harlow Hotel, the more she realizes that Leander might be helpful for her project. After all, she could use an extra hand to help record her fake footage.
But when strange things start happening at the Harlow, Natalie wonders: could there really be something to these ghosts after all?
The Other Half of Happy
by Rebecca Balcárcel
Quijana feels caught between cultures, family expectations, and growing up. Her Guatemalan cousins' arrival sparks tension with her dad, while new friendships — and a crush on Jayden — add to the mix. As she supports her sick grandma from afar, Quijana must navigate identity, heritage, and change to discover which parts of herself matter most and how they fit together to form who she truly is.
Books in Spanish
La trenza o el viaje de Lalita (K a secundo grado)
de Laetitia Colombani, ilustraciones de Clémence Pollet
Como todas las mañanas, Smita le desenreda el pelo a su hija Lalita. Nunca se lo ha cortado: en India, las mujeres no suelen cortarse el pelo; algunas no lo hacen jamás desde que nacen hasta que mueren. Smita divide la melena en tres mechones que luego entrelaza en una trenza.
Hoy, sin embargo, no es un día cualquiera. Hoy es el primer día que Lalita va a la escuela.
To access the books on our monthly MPS Reads book lists, visit your school library or local library, or go online to Sora* (formerly OverDrive) and log in with your MPS student ID number.
*Some titles are not available through Sora.