In honor of Asian/Pacific American Heritage Month, we celebrate the vibrant and diverse traditions with a collection of Asian and Pacific Islander stories and themes.

  1. The Sea of Japan by Keita Nagano

Starting over with a new teaching job in a Hime, Japan comes with its challenges. For Lindsey, her struggle came after she attempted to capture the morning sun, but instead she slipped off a rock headfirst into the ocean. When she comes to, bandaged in a hospital bed, she discovers that a young man, Ichiro, saved her life. Lindsey starts to spend time with him, becoming engrossed in her new life in the small fishing community. The more time she spends on the land, the more she discovers the dangers of the town and the war brewing with the neighboring town over stealing the fish in the shared bay. Now, with the help of Ichiro and her best friend Judy, Lindsey begins searching for ways to rescue her new home. Soon she learns that she’ll need to become a skilled fisherman to save all that she holds dear.

  1. Engineering a Life by Krishan Bedi

In December 1961 when author Krishan Bedi left his small village in India, he came to the US with just $300 in his pocket and a determination to receive an education in the states. It was his faith and discipline that allowed him to enter into a new world and succeed. He found a start in Knoxville, Tennessee, a city filled with a culture that shocked the Punjabi man.

Engineering a Life examines Bedi’s life, and how he took on the different curve balls thrown his way with grit, a sense of humor, and a solid foundation in his faith that everything would work out. His tale talks about the importance of friendship, values, family, and the hard work it takes to achieve the American Dream. Bedi proves that no matter where life takes you, the route is bound to take you where you’re meant to be.

  1. Purple Lotus by Veena Rao

Three years after Tara is set up on an arranged marriage to Sanjay, she finds herself living in the American South, lonely and left alone. Tara remembers this feeling as a child when her parents left her in Mangalore with her grandparents and a schizophrenic uncle, only to start a new life in Dubai. Abandonment and isolation are at the center of her adult life—and now her husband has increased his physical abuse.

But in a moment of realization Tara breaks free and discovers self-worth and the courage to leave her husband and find her childhood love, Cyrus. Tara is now rebuilding her life with Cyrus until her issues reappear, jeopardizing her new beautiful relationship. Ultimately, Tara must come to terms with her fears and confront her victim-blaming society if she wants her new marriage to succeed.

  1. Wave Woman by Vicky Heldreich Durand

Wave Woman is the tale of an adventurer whose enthusiasm for learning and life kept her on the road to adventure for ninety-eight years. Betty Pembroke Heldreich Winstedt studied dentistry at USC where she also eloped to a man she barely knew, having two daughters with him.

As a middle-aged woman Betty fulfilled her dreams by moving to Hawaii to live oceanside. By 41, she took up surfing at Waikiki and became a pioneer surfer at Makaha Beach. Eventually she became competitive, entering into surfing competitions and championships. She was one of the first women to compete in Lima Peru, winning first place. Betty lived a life that would give any woman self-confidence, happiness, and fulfillment.

  1. The Forbidden Temptation of Baseball by Dori Jones Yang

The American life can be a struggle to adapt to; just ask twelve-year-old Leon, a Chinese native. In the process he discovers baseball, a temptation that he must resist if he wishes to stick with his Emperor’s rule—live with an American family, study very hard, and go back home to China. As Leon adjusts, his elder brother is left alone, isolated. Eventually, Leon must face the truth and make a tough decision, between the loyalty he has to his birth country and the increasing love for his new home in America.

  1. Heart Radical by Anne Liu Kellor

Anne, a young multiracial American woman, tours China searching for ties to her mother’s birth country and a connection to her. During her journey she takes on different positions: teacher, girlfriend, seeker, daughter, and artist. Her biggest question along the way: why do I feel called to make this journey?

Soon Anne settles in a comfortable routine in her boyfriend’s apartment and regains her Chinese tongue, one that she used only as a child. But her yearning to learn about who she was resurfaces, and her life takes a twist. Ultimately, she learns that to live life as a mixed bilingual woman she needs to embrace both sides of herself, American and Chinese.

  1. Ninety-Nine Fire Hoops by Allison Hong Merrill

Allison Hong isn’t your average Taiwanese fifteen-year-old girl: She steps outside of her conditions Chinese culture that demands women submit to men, and disobeys her father’s orders to remain in the traditional Buddhist faith. Instead, Hong joins the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Soon after she drops out of college to serve a mission—causing her father to disown her from the family.

Now years later Hong is experiencing life on her own. She marries her Chinese-speaking American boyfriend, only to have him take all of her money, file for divorce, and move out sixteen months later. On a last attempt at love and acceptance, Hong travels to Utah where she joins the world of dating and an unforgiving war with the bachelorettes at Brigham Young University, where all bets are off and winning doesn’t bring her the joy she assumed it would.