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TEENS

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Asian American Lives

Find these books and more online at https://catalog.coolcat.org

A Magic Steeped in Poison by  Judy I Lin
Ning enters a cutthroat magical competition to find the kingdom's greatest master of the art of brewing tea, but political schemes and secrets make her goal of gaining access to royal physicians to cure her dying sister far more dangerous than she imagined.
Arya Khanna's Bollywood Moment by  Arushi Avachat
As her sister's wedding approaches, high school senior Arya must navigate fraught family dynamics, the fallout of her two best friends breaking up, and a tense partnership with her rival, the frustratingly attractive student council president.
Darker by Four by  June CL Tan
Rui has one goal in mind, honing her magic to avenge her mother's death. Yiran is the black sheep of an illustrious family. The world would be at his feet, had he been born with magic. Nikai is a Reaper, serving the Fourth King of Hell. When his master disappears, the underworld begins to crumble, and the human world will be next if the King is not found. When an accident causes Rui's power to transfer to Yiran, everything turns upside down. Without her magic, Rui has no tool for vengeance. With it, Yiran finally feels like he belongs. That is, until Rui discovers she might hold the key to the missing death god and strikes a dangerous bargain with another King. As darkness takes over, three paths intersect in the shadows. And three lives bound by fate must rise against destiny before the barrier between worlds falls and all Hell breaks loose, literally.
Dear Wendy by  Ann Zhao
Aromantic and asexual students Sophie and Jo, engaged in an online feud as the creators of popular relationship advice accounts "Dear Wendy" and "Sincerely Wanda," unwittingly become real-life friends and navigate their shared aroace identities as they face the challenges of college life.
Dragonfruit by  Makiia Lucier
In the old tales, it is written that the egg of a seadragon, dragonfruit, holds within it the power to undo a person's greatest sorrow. But as with all things that offer hope when hope has gone, the tale comes with a warning. Every wish demands a price. Hanalei of Tamarind is the cherished daughter of an old island family. But when her father steals a seadragon egg meant for an ailing princess, she is forced into a life of exile. In the years that follow, Hanalei finds solace in studying the majestic seadragons that roam the Nominomi Sea. Until, one day, an encounter with a female dragon offers her what she desires most: a chance to return home, and to right a terrible wrong. Samahtitamahenele, Sam, is the last remaining prince of Tamarind. But he can never inherit the throne, for Tamarind is a matriarchal society. With his mother ill and his grandmother nearing the end of her reign, Sam is left with two choices: to marry, or to find a cure for the sickness that has plagued his mother for ten long years. When a childhood companion returns from exile, she brings with her something he has not felt in a very long time--hope. But Hanalei and Sam are not the only ones searching for the dragonfruit. And as they battle enemies both near and far, there is another danger they cannot escape . . . that of the dragonfruit itself.
Fake Dates and Mooncakes by  Sher Lee
Dylan Tang wants to win a Mid-Autumn Festival mooncake-making competition for teen chefs--in memory of his mom, and to bring much-needed publicity to his aunt's struggling Chinese takeout in Brooklyn. Enter Theo Somers: charming, wealthy, with a smile that makes Dylan's stomach do backflips. AKA a distraction. Their worlds are sun-and-moon apart, but Theo keeps showing up. He even convinces Dylan to be his fake date at a family wedding in the Hamptons. In Theo's glittering world of pomp, privilege, and crazy rich drama, their romance is supposed to be just pretend . . . but Dylan finds himself falling for Theo. For real. Then Theo's relatives reveal their true colors--but with the mooncake contest looming, Dylan can't risk being sidetracked by rich-people problems. Can Dylan save his family's business and follow his heart--or will he fail to do both?
Flamer by Mike Curato
It's the summer between middle school and high school, and Aiden Navarro is away at camp. Everyone's going through changes--but for Aiden, the stakes feel higher. As he navigates friendships, deals with bullies, and spends time with Elias (a boy he can't stop thinking about), he finds himself on a path of self-discovery and acceptance.
Gorgeous Gruesome Faces by  Linda Cheng
THEN: Sunny Lee is on the top of the world. She's one third of Sweet Cadence, the hottest up-and-coming teen pop group, alongside her new BFFs, Candie and Mina. The three are inseparable as they ride their way to the top of the charts, even as Candie and Sunny fight to resist the growing spark between them. But when a shocking scandal breaks, the group is suddenly torn apart. Then the unthinkable - Mina dies tragically right before Sunny and Candie's eyes. And Sunny suspects the dark and otherworldly secrets she and Candie were keeping may have had something to do with it . . . NOW: For the past two years, Sunny has spent her days longing for her former life and her nights wondering just what caused Mina's death. So when she discovers that Candie is attending a new K-pop workshop right in her hometown, Sunny has no choice but to follow her there. Candie might be chasing stardom again, but Sunny is only after one thing: answers. At the workshop, the lines between nightmare and reality start to blur as Sunny is haunted by ghostly visions and her competitors' bodies turn up bizarrely maimed and mutilated. To survive the twisted carnage, Sunny will have to expose the ugly truth behind the workshop's spotlights and the sinister forces swirling around Candie. Stitched with cutting commentary on the ugly side of stardom and impossible beauty standards, Linda Cheng's mind-bending thriller will have readers screaming and swooning for more.
I Kick and I Fly by  Ruchira Gupta
Instead of being sold into Bihar, India's sex trade, fourteen-year-old Heera stays at a local hostel for at-risk girls where she learns, through the practice of martial arts, that her body is a vessel through which she can protect herself and those around her.
Imposter Syndrome and Other Confessions of Alejandra Kim by  Patricia Park
Alejandra Kim doesn't feel like she belongs anywhere. At her wealthy Manhattan high school, her super Spanish name and super Korean face do not compute to her mostly white "woke" classmates and teachers. In her Jackson Heights neighborhood, she's not Latinx enough. Even at home, Ale feels unwelcome. And things at home have only gotten worse since Papi's body was discovered on the subway tracks. Ale wants nothing more than to escape the city for the wide-open spaces of the prestigious Wyder University. But when a microaggression at school thrusts Ale into the spotlight--and into a discussion she didn't ask for--Ale must discover what is means to carve out a space for yourself to belong.
Last Night at the Telegraph Club by Malinda Lo
Seventeen-year-old Lily Hu can't remember exactly when the question took root, but the answer was in full bloom the moment she and Kathleen Miller walked under the flashing neon sign of a lesbian bar called the Telegraph Club. America in 1954 is not a safe place for two girls to fall in love, especially not in Chinatown. Red-Scare paranoia threatens everyone, including Chinese Americans like Lily. With deportation looming over her father--despite his hard-won citizenship--Lily and Kath risk everything to let their love see the light of day.
Loveboat Forever by  Abigail Hing Wen
In desperate need of a new image, seventeen-year-old music prodigy Pearl Wong attends Chien Tan, the Taipei summer program, but instead enters an extravagant world where there's more awaiting her than she ever could've imagined--like a romantic entanglement with a mysterious suitor.
Magic Has No Borders by  Sona Charaipotra and Samira Ahmed
From chudails and peris to jinn and goddesses, this lush collection of South Asian folklore, legends, and epics reimagines stories of old for a modern audience. This fantasy and science fiction teen anthology edited by Samira Ahmed and Sona Charaipotra contains a wide range of stories from fourteen bestselling, award-winning, and emerging writers from the South Asian diaspora that will surprise, delight, and move you. So read on, for after all, magic has no borders.
She is a Haunting by  Trang Thanh Tran
Seventeen-year-old bisexual Jade Nguyen is spending the summer in Vietnam at the French colonial house her estranged father is fixing up as a vacation rental, but unbeknownst to her family, the house and its ghosts have other plans.
Song of Six Realms by  Judy I Lin
Seventeen-year-old musician Xue faces a lifetime of servitude until Duke Meng offers her freedom in exchange for serving as a musician in residence, but Xue soon discovers the Duke is a celestial ruler with ulterior motives and she must unlock her past to prevent an impending war in the Six Realms.
Spice Road by  Maiya Ibrahim
When she learns that her brother is spreading the nation's secret spice magic to outsiders, sixteen-year-old Shield warrior Imani sets out on a dangerous mission to find him, discovering secrets that lie beyond the Forbidden Wastes--and in her own heart.
The Downstairs Girl by Stacey Lee
1890, Atlanta. By day, seventeen-year-old Jo Kuan works as a lady's maid for the cruel Caroline Payne, the daughter of one of the wealthiest men in Atlanta. But by night, Jo moonlights as the pseudonymous author of a newspaper advice column for 'the genteel Southern lady.
The Magic Fish by  Trung Le Nguyen
Real life isn't a fairytale. But Tiên still enjoys reading his favorite stories with his parents from the books he borrows from the local library. It's hard enough trying to communicate with your parents as a kid, but for Tiên, he doesn't even have the right words because his parents are struggling with their English. Is there a Vietnamese word for what he's going through? Is there a way to tell them he's gay?
We Are Not Free by  Traci Chee
For fourteen-year-old budding artist Minoru Ito, her two brothers, her friends, and the other members of the Japanese-American community in southern California, the three months since Pearl Harbor was attacked have become a waking nightmare: attacked, spat on, and abused with no way to retaliate--and now things are about to get worse, their lives forever changed by the mass incarcerations in the relocation camps.--Publisher's description.
Yolk by  Mary H. K. Choi
Struggling with emotional problems and an eating disorder, Jayne, a Korean American college student living in New York City, is estranged from her accomplished older sister June, until June gets cancer.
Updated 04/25/2024