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In this book there are many different types of families. The book relates to the difference in families such as a family with one parent, two parents and extended family. It talk about family playing together as well as eating, cooking , and learning the cultures of the difference in the way many people live, play, and love each other. I enjoyed this book because it shows that being different doesn't define you.

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Eyes That Kiss in the Corners by Joanna Ho (2021)

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Eyes That Kiss in the Corners by Joanna Ho (2021)

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Eyes That Kiss in the Corners by Joanna Ho (2021)

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This book reflects the lived experiences of Asian and Asian American children by celebrating physical features, cultural traditions, and family connections. The young narrator noticed how her eyes look different from her friends but recognizes that they are the same as her mother, grandmother, and sister. This reflection shows pride in heritage, beauty in generational ties, and the importance of family traditions such as storytelling and shared wisdom. For Asian and Asian American readers, the book serves as a mirror that affirms their identity and validates features that are often underrepresented or misunderstood in children’s literature. For children from other backgrounds, it provides a window into Asian cultural values, such as respect for elders, inter generational bonds, and pride in one’s appearance. By blending the poetic text with the very descriptive illustrations, this story really helped open up new insights into self-acceptance, resilience, and cultural pride. It challenges narrow beauty standards and invites all readers to see the richness and diversity of Asian and Asian American experiences.

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First off, this book, The Truth about Dragons by Julie Leung, is gorgeous-both in rich illustrations and the beautiful and poetic written words. It reflects and honors Asian and Asian American experiences by weaving together the dragon mythology of two cultures. It also explores the bicultural identity and heritage of the main character in the book. Both of the boy’s grandmothers share a different truth or story about dragons-fearsome and dangerous or wise and protective. The boy learns to honor both traditions instead of choosing between them. It validates his choice (and any reader with a mixed cultural heritage) of embracing multiple cultural truths. It also invites readers to better understand the richness of Asian traditions. I myself never considered how dragons are seen in different Asian cultural contexts. It challenges the reader to reconsider their preconceptions about Asian culture by presenting both dragon truths with nuance and depth. Cultural identity is viewed as layered, not limited. It really made me think about how we can create space in the classroom for students to explore and affirm their own cultural identities.

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This book is called Eyes That Kiss in the Corners. It goes through the feelings of a little girl who is Asian, how her eyes have the corners and glow like warm tea. It talks about how her eyes are just like her mama’s. and then continues to talk about how her mom‘s eyes light up and how they crinkle into the shape of crescent moons. It goes through times where she’s explaining her mother‘s love through the way that her eyes look at her. It goes on to talk about how her grandma and her sister have eyes just like hers and how it makes her feel. All in all, this book is just about empowering this young Asian girl to love her eyes and know that her eyes are special and the shape of them has a purpose.

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Alex Good Fortune by Benson Shum ( 2020)

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This book explores the Chinese New Year, as it is the most important holiday for the character Alex and her family. It's even more special when she gets to share her favorite traditions with her best friend, Ethan. Together, they join the Chinese New Year parade and prepare for the festivities by tidying up, decorating, and making dumplings. This book even has fun facts about the holiday in the back. It is an exciting and easy-to-read book for early readers. It is a way for diversity in the classroom, celebrating pride in heritage and family traditions. Allowing other children to understand Asian culture and their values in a wonderful, colorful text.

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Home in A Lunchbox is a wonderful picture book about a young girl who does not know much English, this causes her to struggle in day to day conversations and school. We see her sitting alone, and not knowing how to answer questions on a "Get to know me" sheet at school. This makes her sad because she is not making friends; we see that the majority of the book is grey; until lunch. She sits down, opens her lunchbox, and then the book is filled with color and joy. She is reminded of home because of the cultural food inside her lunchbox. This book shows the struggle of not just Asian American people, but all people who speak a different language primarily, it can be hard to understand, hard to make friends, and it can be very upsetting. With the colors of the book changing we can see how bright and wonderful culture can make us and the world around us. With showing the different foods in the lunchbox it opens up different ideas to children about how we are all beautifully different, this could be a wonderful book to use to foster discussion about culture and people since there are so few words in this book.

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When Lola Visits (2021) Michelle Sterling

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For one young girl, summer means collecting golden limes from the trees, spending days at the pool, and not attending school. However, summer doesn't officially begin until her lola, her Filipino grandmother, pays her yearly visit. Summertime is special because her Lola's calm, lovely singing in Tagalog, humorous tales of baking accidents, and the smell of mango jam fill the house. Her granddaughter then takes Lola to the beach, the park for fireworks, and the lake for fishing. The entire family gets together to cook, dine, and celebrate another season spent together when Lola comes to visit. However, her lola has to return home as summer gives way to fall, but not before giving her granddaughter a gift to extend their memorable vacation.

This book examines how a Filipino-American girl's summer experience is shaped by the arrival of a grandmother from the Philippines known as "Lola," emphasizing issues of family, culture, and identity. It highlights shared activities (beach, fireworks, fishing, Kamayan feast), sensory experiences (aroma of mango jam, storytelling, music), and the joyous representation of Asian ancestry through the grandmother's presence and the family's customs.

I love how this book reflects on Asian descent through the experiences that Lola brings to them, but also how the culture of America is shared with Lola during her Summer spent with her family. This book is full of cultural values and honors the tender ties of family love that span across generations and oceans.

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The book Tofu Takes Time by Helen H. Wu reflects aspects of Asian and Asian American culture by showing how food connects family, tradition, and patience. In the story, a young girl and her grandmother are making tofu together, and through this it highlights the importance of intergenerational learning and cultural heritage. The book allows for new insights on how traditional foods carry meaning, history, and love. It also highlights values such as midfulness and having respect for the process. This book shows appreciation for how every day activities, such as cooking, can preserve identity and strengthen family bonds across generations.

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I loved this little book! It is a picture book about a little girl who is struggling to speak English. However, every time she opens her lunch box she forgets about the world and the kids around her. She feels home, she feels loved. In the end the food in her lunch box brings in all different kinds of friends who love and care for one another.

This book Home in a Lunch Box reflects and opens up new insights about the people of Asian or Asian American descents by showing the children the experiences of a young girls who has recently come to America from an Asian country. Through Jun's story, us as readers see the challenges of adjusting to a new culture and language while holding onto pieces of home such as traditional foods in Juan's lunch box. The story uses food as a symbol of comfort, identity and connection, which shows how something as simple as sharing a lunch can bring others together from different cultures. It highlights the importance of embracing one's culture and heritage and helps teach children to appreciate the amazing wonders of culture diversity. Helping both Asian and non-Asian children see that being different can be something to be proud of. And sometimes a simple Hello can change the world for someone. :)

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Rainbow Shopping (2023) both written and illustrated by Qing Zhuang

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First things first, when you open this book you are given a synopsis of the journey you will take along the story. Here, we also find out that this book explores how preparing and sharing a meal connects us to loved ones and places near and far, reflecting the experience of the author and illustrator Qing Zhuang!

The book begins with lots of gray and muted - color imagery and starts with, "I feel as gray as a pigeon on this rainy saturday. Not long ago, China was home. But here in New York everything is different and everyone is busy". Additionally, the young girl reflects on how different life is in America: there is huge geographical difference sure, but her families' working lives are different, as well as the language and culture shift. Zhuang underlines just how gray being separated from country of origin, language, and family is and how it impacts young children. The young girl and her mother set out to Chinatown to retrieve ingredients for a very special dinner. The author / illustrator is sure to juxtapose the gloominess and gray of NYC with the vibrance and color of Chinatown, its food, people, and culture. Identifying that the color in this girl's world is her connection to home!

Zhuang introduces us to various Chinese dishes and ingredients used for cooking, not just introducing us to new foods, but highlighting the characteristics of food and how it resembles the Chinese people and connects to home: bamboo as flexible, strong, resilient like Chinese - American immigrants, the medicinal herbs and spices used to cure aliments.

Through shared grocery shopping, cooking, and eating this young girl is reminded that her connection to China is still there, no matter how far away she is. When I read this book I see how important cultural food and sharing of meals is. It is a way to reconnect with families after a long day of work, or school, and it is also a way to feel connected to home when immigrating somewhere foreign. I believe it is important to share this literature with families and to create meaningful and supportive places for children to eat and even share the food important to them.

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This book is told by a little girl from Guatemala. Her parents ran a little store that sold paper, art supplies and different kinds of books. She tells of teachers, artists and people that made the store busy and full of life. This little shop was always full of life and they had pride the family has for the work they do . For me I thought the book was a great book to explore with the children. They got to see how a family can come together to make something great.

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The Truth About Dragons (2023) Julie Leung

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This book offers a meaningful look into Asian and Asian American identity by showing how cultural stories and symbols can hold different meanings depending on a child's perspective. The book’s portrayal of dragons, one rooted in Asian tradition and the other shaped by Western imagination, reminded me that identity can feel like moving between two different worlds. For many Asian and Asian American children, these two “dragons” represent the expectations, values, and stories they encounter at home compared to those in school or American culture. The book does not force the child to choose one side; instead, it shows how both can coexist. This reflects a very real bicultural experience. One thing that stood out to me was how Asian dragons are shown as wise, protective, and connected to ancestry. Growing up, most of the dragon stories I knew came from the West and are portrayed as fierce, dangerous, something to fight or tame. Reading this book made me realize how different and rich cultural symbols can be based on tradition. It pushed me to think more about how often Asian cultures are simplified or misrepresented in mainstream texts. This story corrected that for me by presenting Asian cultural imagery in a way that feels meaningful and respectful.On a personal level, I connected with the emotional aspect of navigating multiple identities, even though my background isn’t Asian. I understand what it feels like to switch between different environments and adjust parts of myself depending on where I am. The child in the story quietly figuring out how both dragons belong to him made me think about the times I have felt torn between different expectations from home, school, or various communities. This book made me reflect on how important it is for children to see their inner struggles validated, even if those feelings are subtle or hard to express.

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This book is centered around the "Bindi" which is a cultural symbol commonly worn in South Asian communities. This book explains the cultural pride of everyday practices and the beauty and meaning behind it. The boy in the story did not just receive a Bindi a built a personal connection to it. He shows us that cultural is not just inherited but lived in personal ways.

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This book reflects how scary it can be for Asian American people when they are not only learning a new language, but a new place. In this story we see June struggle to commuicate with her peers. The laugh at her at first as she attempts to talk with them. By the end of the story, June is able to bond with her classmates by sharing foods from her culture and vice versa.

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This book tells a story of a little girl embracing her differences through her parents' stories of their ancestors and Asian mythology. I didn’t think about it before reading this book, but I didn’t realize that the children in immigrant families can often be the bridge between their culture and their new home. I think this story does a great job explaining how those differences can be hard, but embracing them only makes you stronger.

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Eyes that Kiss in the Corners by Joanna Ho. Illustrated by Dung Ho. Published by HarperCollins on January 5, 2021. 

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Eyes That Kiss in the Corners is a book that shows the experiences of Asian and Asian American people by celebrating eyes that look different from Western beauty standards. The book shows how these features connect to family, culture, and heritage, which gives readers a positive and proud view of Asian identity. It also highlights the importance of family stories, elders, and cultural traditions, which can be meaningful for many Asian and Asian American families. For children who are not Asian, the book opens up new insights by showing how physical features can carry cultural history, love, and strength. The warm language and rich illustrations help children see beauty in diversity and understand how cultural pride can shape someone’s sense of self. The story invites all readers to appreciate Asian identity in a respectful and joyful way.

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I loved this book! The Name Jar, by Yangsook Choi, is a book for children about a girl who is the new kid in school. Nobody can pronounce her name, and she just moved here from Korea. Instead of introducing herself by her name, she chooses an American name from a jar. But when she really thinks about changing her name, it just doesn't feel right. Throughout the course of the story, she learns that her name is the best name for her. It reflects/opens up new insights by exploring the experience of immigrating through a child's lens. This allows children to see that moving, especially to a new country, can have lots of emotional challenges and helps them to recognize that it is important to be a friend during these times. It also reflects identity, and highlights the power of your name and how everyone's name has meaning and all names are beautiful. This opens up conversations about how in other traditions and cultures, namely Asian cultures, a name is not just a name, it can be tied to family heritage and history. Lastly, this book challenges stereotypes powerfully. Unhei, the little girl in the story feels pressured to fit in and so she wants to change her name. Her classmates try to help by starting the name jar to help her pick a new name, which reflects a common problem I assume a lot of Asian and other immigrant children face. This book challenges the stereotype that Asian people should conform to Western norms in order to be accepted.

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Food unites people. My daughter is American-Asian so I think this book is pretty neat! I like how the author used alphabet letters to describe different foods that are specific to certain countries. Children may say things like, "ice-cream made with cheese?" This would be a way to explain that different cultures have different foods. Sometimes we as a nation forget that other countries exist. It's natural to think that another place would have the same foods as their country so this would be an enlightening introduction to another culture and country.

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Asian Adventures A-Z Foods_ Delicious Asian Foods From A-Z

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The Doll (2021) Written by Nhung N. Tran-Davies and Illustrated by Ravy Puth

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The Doll is a story about how one small act of kindness can change someone’s life forever. After a girl and her family came to North America as refugees, she was approached at the airport and gifted a doll by a stranger. This act of kindness gave the girl hope. “She had traveled far, suffered so much, and had so little… But this one act of kindness said that she was welcome. It told her she was home.” As the girl grew up, she kept the doll with her. She worked hard to achieve her dreams. She went to college and became a doctor to help people. Later, when the young woman saw horrible news footage of people fleeing their home country from war, she reflected on her own journey to North America. The woman went to the airport and waited for refugees to arrive. When a family of 5 children got off the plane, she gifted the doll to a little girl who just arrived to North America. This beautiful story highlights the importance of kindness. Kindness “welcomes weary travelers home.”

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Bee-bim-Bop! By Linda Sue Park, illustrated by Ho Baek Lee, uses the cooking of a traditional meal, bee-bit-bop, to highlight the daily lives and culture of a Korean American family. Young readers will find the book captivating due to its whimsical narrative and rhythmic, repeating language, which also reflects real family routines and cultural customs. Children witness a realistic depiction of food preparation, shared family chores, and cultural customs via both text and drawings, which serve as windows for others to learn and a way for Asian. American children to feel seen. The book promotes language development and literacy by introducing culturally appropriate terminology, such as ingredient and cooking terms.

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This book discusses self-love and confidence, focusing on how Asian American children often struggle to accept themselves because of the natural shape of their eyes. I chose this book because I had never read it before, and I appreciate how it explores fostering pride and finding joy in one's unique features. The book addresses the teasing that Asians endure due to their appearance, showing how family members support each other, overcome negativity, and reframe their self-perception.

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A Big Mooncake for Little Star by Grace Lin

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A Big Mooncake for Little Star by Grace Lin

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A Big Mooncake for Little Star reflects Asian American experiences by showing a family tradition as part of everyday life rather than something that needs explanation or special attention. The story centers on a child and her mother during the Mid-Autumn Festival, but the focus is on curiosity, routine, and parent-child relationships, which are things that many children can relate to. This allows Asian American children to see their culture represented in a normal, comforting way, making the book a strong mirror text.

The book also opens up new insights for children who may not be familiar with Asian or Asian American traditions. It introduces the idea of the mooncake and the Mid-Autumn Festival naturally through the story instead of presenting it as a lesson. The illustrations and simple storyline help children understand that cultural traditions are part of family life and can be joyful and meaningful.

I like this book because it shows culture through quiet moments and relationships rather than through big explanations. It helps children see that Asian American families share many of the same experiences as their own, while also celebrating traditions that may be new to them.

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A Big Mooncake for Little Star by Grace Lin

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In this book it shows the little girl that it is okay for everyone to look different. She may not look like her peers but she looks like her family members and that it makes her unique. I believe it can also show others that not everyone looks the same and everyone unique differences make them who they are.

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It shows the Korean American culture through the families everyday life, routines, and foods. It gives us insights of the families cultural practices around how they participate, sharing food, and how they go into preparing the cooking of their dish.

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Colors, Farsi (2010)- Unspecified Author. This book helps children learn about colors while also introducing Farsi, the language spoken by many people of Iranian and Persian descent. It reflects the experiences of Asian and Asian American families by showing a different language in a fun and simple way. Kids can see how other people speak and learn words in Farsi, which opens up new insights about language, culture, and diversity.I chose this book because it is colorful, simple, and a fun way to learn about another language. From my experience, children enjoy saying the words out loud and matching them to the colors they know. This book supports engagement in reading by combining learning with play and helping kids explore another culture in a positive and respectful way.