It’s Finish that Post Friday! This is a post that I started in 2022, when we were still checking out towers of picture books from the libraries. The five year old is now almost ten. He is mostly out of the picture book phase, but he still loves reading. I guess I need to investigate middle grade books featuring Asian Boys. Let me know if you have suggestions!
The five year old loves books. He will sit with a book and just look at it for hours. He can’t read himself yet, so we do a lot of picture books.
Even though there is a lot more attention given these days to diverse books, I still find it quite difficult to find picture books with Asian boys. The vast majority of books that I find with Asian characters are girls. Grace Lin, the children’s book author says that books should be windows and mirrors – that is to say they allow us to see into different worlds but also allow us to see ourselves reflected back to us. It makes me sad and frustrated that there are so few books that my son can see himself, or kids that look like himself on the page.
I grew up wanting to be blond because my books and media were populated by blond girls. I don’t want that for my kids. I want them to know that faces like theirs also belong in the content they consume.
So I’ve been trying to specifically find books with Asian boys in them.
Here is a list of some of the books featuring Asian boys that I have really enjoyed. In some of them, being Asian is ingrained in the story, and some of them, it’s completely incidental.
A Big Bed For Little Snow by Grace Lin – a little boy won’t go to bed. This is one of my favorite books to read the the 5 year old because the boy looks so much like him and he has such a sweet relationship with his mother. I’m a big fan of Grace Lin. She and book Editor Alvina Ling have a podcast called Book Friends Forever where they talk about children’s books, publishing, and diversity in children’s literature. Every episode is like having coffee with a friend.
Still Stuck by Shinsuke Yoshitake – Hilarious book about a boy who gets stuck in his shirt. I love all of Yoshitake’s books – they are funny and warm and lean into the absurdity that kids must find in life. There’s one called the Boring Book that is a gem.
The First Day by Huynh Kim Lien and Nguyen Quang – this book by a Vietnamese author-illustrator duo details a boy’s journey down the Mekong River to get to school The illustrations are stunning.
Eye that Speak to the Stars by Joanna Ho – This is a book that’s about looking different from other kids in your class. Luckily my kids’ don’t really have this issue because their classroom is pretty diverse. When I was growing up, there were for sure cruel jokes about me having slanty eyes. The boy in this story experiences some of the same mean behavior, and I love how he turns to the men in his life when he is sad.
Ocean Meets Sky by the Fan Brothers – I am a huge fan of the Fan brothers (pun!). Their illustrations are always so detailed and their stories are full of adventure. I sometimes find children’s book big on life lessons but lacking in adventure, but this one for sure takes the protagonist on a journey. This is a book where the characters being Asian isn’t a plot point, but just an subtle presence.
My Tree by Hope Lim , illustrated by Il Sung Na -This is a sweet book about a boy that moves to the States from Korea. I love books about trees.
Drawn Together by Minh Lê, illustrated by Dan Santat – This is a quirky colourful book about how art can bridge generational and language divides. Another book with lovely grandfather/grandson relationship.
The Many Colors Of Harpreet Singh By Supriva Kelkar, illustrated by Alea Marley – This was a really sweet story about a boy who uses his patka – or turban – to express himself. The story is about home and how culture can help define home. The illustrations are so joyful.
Redwoods by Jason Chin -This book is so cool because it combines non-fiction and fiction as a boy finds himself transported from a subway car into a Redwood forest. The fact that the boy is Asian is incidental; this book is about discovery and nature and how cool really big trees are.
Do you have any books or children’s books that you feel reflect yourself back to you?