Just a few of the books I’m looking forward to for my Year of the Asian Readathon. A lot of these are repeats from last year, but I’m making them a priority on my TBR this year.
1) The Name Jar by Yangsook Choi
I’ve been wanting to read this book for a while. This book deals with a girl coming to a new school after she comes to the United States from Korea. She feels like she has to change her name to fit in because her Korean name is too ‘different’ and hard for her class to pronounce.
So she has her class help her pick a new name but what will she decide to use for her name in the end?
2) Peasprout Chen Future Legend of Skate and Sword by Henry Lien
I’m working on this book right now and it’s very cute. It combines ice skating and martial arts. A girl and her brother from a rural country head to a famous school and must make a name for themselves.
3) Front Desk by Kelly Yang
This book was one of my favorites of 2018. If not my very favorite and the chance to give it a re-read is one I’m not passing up. It’s about Mia Tang and her family who come from China with big dreams and end up running a motel for a corrupt boss. When a chance for Mia to make her family’s dreams come up in the form of a writing contest, will she be able to make their American Dream happen?
4)The Way To Bea
I picked this up last year but just didn’t get around to reading it. Beatrix Lee is going through a lot of changes as 7th grade rolls around. Everything from becoming a big sister to losing friends. Bea finds solace in the written word and learns who she wants to be with the help of poetry and a new group of friends.
I’m also planning to read a few graphic novels by Asian authors the first of which is:
5)NewsPrints
An orphan girl disguises herself as a boy so she can deliver newspapers. Set in a fictional country with 1920’s esque technology. Blue finds herself in the middle of some important secrets and makes a new friend who isn’t what he seems. But when authorities come looking for her new friend, will Blue with the help of a renegade scientist and some of her friends from the paper be able to get them out of trouble before they are drawn up into a larger conflict.
This will be mostly a re-read as well, but I never got around to finishing it. I’m also hoping to read the second book, Endgames which came out last year.
Are you participating in any reading challenges this year?