The Joy Luck Club By Amy Tam (Grades 10+)

Born to immigrant parents from China, Amy Tan grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area. When she returned home from her first trip to China, she learned that she had received several offers based on her submission of three short stories, which turned into The Joy Luck Club. Four Chinese women, recent immigrants to San Francisco, begin meeting to eat dim sum, play mahjong, and talk. Amy Tan examines the sometimes painful, often tender, and always deep connection between mothers and daughters. As each woman reveals her secrets, trying to unravel the truth about her life, the strings become more tangled, more entwined.

Golden Girl By Reem Faruqi (Grades 7-9)

Golden Girl tells the story of 7th grader Aafiyah who has an unusual problem of "borrowing" pretty things without permission. However, when her father is falsely accused of a crime, she devises a plan to help him and reunite her family. That might mean giving up her bad habit though. This book received a Bank Streets Best Children's Book of the Year Award in 2023.

Reem Faruqi is an ALA notable author who also wrote Unsettled and Lailah's Lunchbox. She is also a seasonal photographer and a stay-at-home mom, though she also used to be a second grade teacher. Her website mentions that she loves to doodle, eats apples from the bottom up, and doesn't trust opaque shampoo.

The Best Worst Summer of Esme Sun By Wendy Wan-Long Shang (Grdes 4-6)

The Best Worst Summer of Esme Sun is an upcoming middle grade book that tells the story of Esme Sun, a girl who lives in the shadow of her three older sisters until she discovers that she is good at swimming after a winter growth spurt. As the school year begins, she must navigate friendships and competition as well as the expectations of her parents.

Wendy Wan-Long Shang has also written The Great Wall of Lucy Wu and The Secret Battle of Evelyn Pao. She attended the University of Virginia and actually received a Law Degree from there as well. She is the recipient of an Asian/Pacific American Award for Literature and wrote the first ever Chinese-American title character for the Girl of the Year series from the American Girl Company.

A Banquet for Cecilia By Julie Leung & Melissa Iwai (Grades 1-3)

A Banquet for Cecilia Chiang tells the story of how Cecilia Chiang, escaped from war with her family to revolutionize Chinese food in the west where her family owned a Chinese restaurant in San Francisco.

This book was written by Julie Leung who is a Caldecott Award nominee and has also written the APALA award winning Paper Son: The Inspiring Story of Tyrus Wong, Immigrant and Artist. It was illustrated by Melissa Iwai, who has over 30 picture books to her credit, including a Theodore Seuss Geisel Honor-winning series.

When You Ask Me Where I'm Going By Jasmin Kaur (Grades 10+)

A book full of poetry, written in six parts, that elaborate on what it is like living as a young women who isn't always heard. This book is centered around Kiran, an undocumented women in North America, who has fled from her traumatic past to raise her daughter. It touches on many sensitive topics such as sexual assault, racism, mental health, feminism, and immigration. However, it is a story of resilience, healing, empowerment, and love. This book was Shortlisted for the Goodreads Choice Awards 2019 and A CBC Books Best YA Book of 2019. There is also a sequel titled If I Tell You The Truth, about how Kiran came to be with child, and it follows the life of that child as she seeks justice for her mother.

I Make Promises Before I Dream By Tongo Eisen-Martin (Grades 7-9)

Tongo Eisen-Martin is a California born poet and recipient of the 2018 American Book Award, the California Book Award, among other awards. He grew up in a revolutionary family, has taught at detention centers, including San Quentin, and extends his revolutionary practice into his writing. His most recent book, 2021's Blood on the Fog, was published by the famed San Francisco press City Lights.

Shaking Things Up By Susan Hood, Selina Alko, Lisa Brown, and Hadley Hooper (Grades 4-6)

Shaking Things Up features one-page poetry that tells the inspiring stories of fourteen revolutionary women.

Home is a Window By by Stephanie Parsley Ledyard (Grades 1-3)

Home can be many things—a window, a doorway, a rug . . . or a hug. At home, everything always feels the same: comfortable and safe.
But sometimes things change, and a home must be left behind.
Follow a family as they move out of their beloved, familiar house and learn that they can bring everything they love
about their old home to the new one, because they still have each other.

The Danger Of Silence By Clint Smith (Grades 10+)

In his powerful TED Talk “The Danger of Silence,” poet and educator Clint Smith urges us to recognize the cost of staying silent in the face of injustice. Drawing from personal experience and social history, Smith argues that silence is not merely the absence of speech—it is a form of complicity. With measured intensity and poetic rhythm, he reflects on moments when he failed to speak up and how those moments shaped his understanding of responsibility. Smith challenges his audience to reconsider how they use their voice, emphasizing that speaking truth—even when it is uncomfortable—is an act of courage and necessary change. The talk is a call to action: to listen more carefully, think more critically, and speak more honestly. Smith uses the tools of poetry to convey a powerful message and illustrates how our language, the way we shape our words, shapes our world.

The Poet X By Elizabeth Acevedo (Grades 7-9)

Elizabeth Acevedo resides in Washington, DC and is a National Poetry Slam Champion. She is the Young People’s Poet Laureate and the New York Times-bestselling author of The Poet X. Xiomara Batista feels unheard and unable to hide in her Harlem neighborhood. But Xiomara has plenty she wants to say, and she pours all her frustration and passion onto the pages of a leather notebook. With Mami’s determination to force Xiomara to obey the laws of the church, Xiomara understands that her thoughts are best kept to herself. However, in the face of a world that may not want to hear her, Xiomara refuses to be silent.

Whoo-ku Haiku: A Great Horned Owl Story By Maria Gianferrari and Jonathan Voss (Grades 4-6)

Stunning illustrations and gorgeous haikus lead young readers through the dramatic life cycle of one of America's most beloved wild animals. Pip. Pip. Pip. Poking A hole. Cracking. Cracking. Out Pecks the white owlet. Watch as a pair of great horned owlets peep and squeak in their feathered nest. Mama and Papa hunt for food and fend off predators while the chicks grow strong enough to hop and flap between the branches of their tree, then leap and fly away, ready to explore the wild world around them.

Monster Hands By Karen Kane, Jonaz McMillan, and Dion MBD (Grades 1-3)

When you first read MONSTER HANDS, you may not think it's a poem. Certainly not a rhyming poem. And it doesn't rhyme in spoken English--it rhymes in ASL, American Sign Language! In ASL rhymes are created when two words are signed using similar hand movements and rhythms. As the characters in the story create shadow puppets with their hands to scare away a spooky monster, they are also making ASL rhymes!

I Am a Body of Land By Shannon Webb-Campbell (Grades 10+)

Shannon Webb-Campbell is a Canadian writer, poet, and editor, descended from the Miꞌkmaq people of the Qalipu First Nation in Newfoundland. In I Am a Body of Land, she explores poetic responsibility and accountability, using poetry to reimagine and rethink the world. These poems focus on decolonizing, healing, and unlearning harm. Webb-Campbell’s confessional writing questions her settler-Indigenous identity, her sense of belonging, and her desire to connect with community through love and understanding.

In Praise of Mystery By Ada Limon (Grades 7-9)

Ada Limón is the 24th poet-laureate of the United States. She is the first Latina ever to hold this post. Her poem, In Praise of Mystery is engraved on the Europa Clipper spacecraft, launched in October 2024 by NASA to explore Jupiter’s moon, Europa.

Other Words for Home By Jasmine Warga (Grades 4-6)

Jasmine Warga is an American author of books for children and young adults. Her free verse book Other Words for Home received an award in 2020. Other Words for Home tells the story of 12 year old Jude and her mother immigrating to America from Syria, leaving the rest of her family and friends behind.

I Listen By Janet Wong (Grades 1-3)

Janet Wong is an American author of over thirty books for kids and teens. Her personal motto is "Be the Good" and her poem, I Listen, is gentle and comforting for kids who wake up afraid at night.

The Berry Pickers By Amanda Peters (Grades 10+)

Amanda Peters is a descendent of a revolutionary war sailor of Mi'kmaq ancestors, a Canadian, a reader of books, a teller of stories, and the author of The Berry Pickers. A four-year-old girl goes missing from the blueberry fields of Maine. She is last seen sitting on a favorite rock at the edge of a berry field. In Maine, a young girl named Norma grows up as the only child of an affluent family. She is often troubled by recurring dreams and visions that seem more like memories than imagination. Unwilling to abandon her intuition, she will spend decades trying to uncover this hunch as well as something her parents aren't telling her.

Spring By Yone Noguchi (Grades 7-9)

Yone Noguchi’s poem Spring captures the delicate beauty and ephemeral nature of the season. Through vivid imagery and lyrical language, the poem evokes a sense of renewal, joy, and the fleeting essence of springtime. Noguchi, known for his ability to blend Japanese aesthetics with Western poetic forms, uses nature as a central theme, celebrating the blooming flowers, gentle breezes, and the awakening of life. The poem’s tone is both serene and uplifting, inviting readers to embrace the season’s wonders. Spring reflects Noguchi’s deep appreciation for nature’s transient beauty, echoing themes found in traditional haiku and Japanese poetry.

Ten-Word Tiny Tales: To Inspire and Unsettle By Joseph Coelho (Grades 4-6)

Joseph Coelho is a master of rhythm and rhyme. He inspires and invites his young audiences to participate in the magic of english language through in his poems. In this little book, Coelho, collets 10 word stories to spark your imagination. It is a beautiful and interactive book to get your writer juices going. The same way Spring brings new beginnings and offers infinite possibilities, Ten-Word Tiny-Tales challenges you to create new stories and let your imagination soar.

A Magical Sturgeon By Joseph A. Dandurand & Elinor Atkins (Grades 1-3)

A Magical Sturgeon tells the story of two sisters who form a special bond with nature. The story begins with a sturgeon in the river, an ancient creature that has witnessed the passage of time. When the sisters disobey their mother's instructions, they meet the sturgeon, the spirit of the great river. Through their adventure, the book explores sharing, kinship, and our deep connection with all living things.
A Magical Sturgeon features illustrations by Elinor Atkins, an Indigenous artist from the Kwantlen First Nation, and is written by Joseph Dandurand, a member of the Kwantlen First Nation.