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Spotlight Books

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05/27/2025

June is Pride month! UVM Libraries is celebrating with these new books in our collection featuring LGBTQIA+ stories and histories. Check-out our physical display in the Howe Library Lobby for even more books like these!


Cover ArtQueer as folklore : the hidden queer history of myths and monsters by Coward, Sacha

Leaving no headstone unturned, Sacha Coward will take you on a wild ride through the night from ancient Greece to the main stage of RuPaul's Drag Race, visiting cross-dressing pirates, radical fairies and the graves of the 'queerly departed' along the way. Queer communities have often sought refuge in the shadows, found kinship in the in-between and created safe spaces in underworlds; but these forgotten narratives tell stories of remarkable resilience that deserve to be heard. Join any Pride march and you are likely to see a glorious display of papier-ḿcȟ unicorn heads trailing sequins, drag queens wearing mermaid tails and more fairy wings than you can shake a trident at. But these are not just accessories: they are queer symbols with historic roots. To truly understand who queer people are today, we must confront the twisted tales of the past and Queer as Folklore is a celebration of queer history like you've never seen it before.
 
 
 

Cover ArtHow we make each other : trans life at the edge of the university by Zurn, Perry

Perry Zurn's How We Make Each Other reframes the common narrative of trans life in the university, centering not on trans-inclusive policies, but on the community building that takes places at the edges of campus life. Building on extensive archival and interview work in and around the Five Colleges of Massachusetts's Pioneer Valley-Amherst, Hampshire, Mount Holyoke, Smith, and UMass-Zurn examines the ways in which quotidian trans relationships produce moments collective resistance, such as protests, as well as tangible advancements in inclusivity, such as gender neutral bathroom signs.
 
 
 
 
 

Cover ArtThe fox spirit, the stone maiden, and other transgender histories from late imperial China by Sommer, Matthew Harvey

In Transgender in Imperial China, Matthew Sommer offers a close reading of a series of remarkable, well-documented court cases from the 18th and 19th century Qing dynasty legal archives that deal with sex and gender difference. The book explores practices in their specific historical context and avoids imposing trans-historical identities on people in the past, understanding, in the vein of Susan Stryker's work, that "transgender people" are those who "move away from" the gender assigned at birth and "cross over" the gender boundaries imposed by their society, without assuming any specific motivation or destination for that movement. Sommer details the experience of individuals assigned male at birth who were living as women (and were punished very harshly for the crime of "masquerading in women's attire"), but also includes under the sign "transgender" a range of personae not usually considered in this context, such as cross-dressing "boy actresses" of the opera and those who "left the family" by becoming Buddhist or Daoist clergy or eunuchs in imperial service and renouncing normative gender roles based on marriage and procreation. These cases explore a range of themes in Chinese law, society, and culture, and illuminate how many forms of gender transgression were sanctioned by law in Qing society. In considering all of these scenarios together, Sommer's book unpacks the full story of how sex and gender were understood in the Qing era.
 

Cover ArtQueer spaces an atlas of LGBTQIA+ places and stories by Furman, Adam Nathaniel (Editor); Mardell, Joshua (Editor)

An independent bookshop in Glasgow. An ice cream parlour in Havana, where strawberry is the queerest choice. A cathedral in ruins in Managua, occupied by the underground LGBTQIA+ community. Queer people have always found ways to exist and be together, and there will always be a need for queer spaces. In this lavishly illustrated volume, Adam Nathaniel Furman and Joshua Mardell have gathered together a community of contributors to share stories of spaces that range from the educational to the institutional to the re-appropriated, and many more besides. With historic, contemporary and speculative examples from around the world, Queer Spaces recognises LGBTQIA+ life past and present as strong, vibrant, vigorous, and worthy of its own place in history. Looking forward, it suggests visions of what form these spaces may take in the future to continue uplifting queer lives. Featured spaces include: Black Lesbian and Gay Centre, London Category Is Books, Glasgow Christopher Street, New York Coppelia, Havana New Sazae, Tokyo ONE Institute for Homophile Studies, Los Angeles Pop-Up spaces, Dhaka Queer House Party, Online Santiago Apóstol Cathedral, Managua Trans Memory Archive, Buenos Aires Victorian Pride Centre, Melbourne

Cover ArtQueer style : including a chapter on trans* and fluid style by Geczy, Adam

Queer Style: Revised and Updated Edition by Adam Geczy and Vicki Karaminas explores the evolution of queer fashion and its cultural significance. The book examines historical and contemporary styles within the LGBTQ+ community, including lesbian, gay, and transgender fashion. It discusses the impact of media, film, and popular culture on queer visibility and expression. The authors aim to highlight the diversity and fluidity of queer styles, while addressing issues of identity and representation. This updated edition includes new chapters on trans* and fluid fashion, making it relevant for scholars, students, and those interested in fashion studies and queer culture.
 
 
 
 
 

Cover ArtThe deep dark by Ostertag, Molly Knox

High school senior Magdalena Herrera already has adult responsibilities and a deadly secret hidden in the dark of the basement, one that drains her of energy and leaves her bleeding--until the return of her childhood friend, Nessa, forces her to face her secrets.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Cover ArtThe secret public : how LGBTQ performers shaped popular culture (1955-1979) by Savage, Jon

This monumental history of the LGBTQ influence on popular culture is an electrifying account of key moments in music and entertainment history between 1955 and 1979. From the secret sexuality of stars such as Little Richard in the 1950s through to the ambiguity of David Bowie, glam rock and Sylvester's 'You make me feel (Mighty Real)', Jon Savage reflects on the figures and events that helped move LGBTQ culture from the margins to the mainstream and changed the face of pop forever. The secret public is a searching examination of the fortitude and resilience of the LGBTQ community through the lens of popular music and culture. It reflects on the freedom found in divergence from the norm and reminds us of the need to be vigilant against those seeking to roll back the rights of marginalized groups.
 
 
 
 

Cover ArtIn transition : young adult literature and transgender representation by Corbett, Emily

The first book-length work of its kind, In Transition: Young Adult Literature and Transgender Representation examines the shift in the young adult book market towards increased representation of transgender characters and authors. Through a comprehensive exploration of historical conventions, genres, character diversity, and ideologies of trans representation, Emily Corbett traces the roots of trans literature from its beginnings in a cisgender-dominated publishing world to the recent rise in trans creators, characters, and implied readers. Corbett describes how trans-ness was initially perceived as an issue to be overcome by cisgender authors and highlights the ways in which the market has changed. Through careful analysis of texts that have until now received little scholarly attention, Corbett weaves together different theoretical approaches and fields of study to provide a map of the textual and cultural histories of this twenty-first-century publishing phenomenon. Focusing on trans authorship, authentic storytelling, and intersectional diversity, this book charts changing public attitudes, the YA book market, and the unique sociocultural moment in which these books are published. In Transition contributes new perspectives on the intersections of adolescence and trans-ness and sheds light on a dynamic subset of YA literature that has yet to receive sustained analysis.
 

Cover ArtSpent : a comic novel by Bechdel, Alison

In Alison Bechdel's hilariously skewering and gloriously cast new comic novel confection, a cartoonist named Alison Bechdel, running a pygmy goat sanctuary in Vermont, is existentially irked by a climate-challenged world and a citizenry on the brink of civil war. She wonders: Can she pull humanity out of its death spiral by writing a scathingly self-critical memoir about her own greed and privilege? Meanwhile, Alison's first graphic memoir about growing up with her father, a taxidermist who specialized in replicas of Victorian animal displays, has been adapted into a highly successful TV series. It's a phenomenon that makes Alison, formerly on the cultural margins, the envy of her friend group (recognizable as characters, now middle-aged and living communally in Vermont, from Bechdel's beloved comic strip Dykes to Watch Out For). As the TV show Death and Taxidermy racks up Emmy after Emmy--and when Alison's Pauline Bunyanesque partner Holly posts an instructional wood-chopping video that goes viral--Alison's own envy spirals. Why couldn't she be the writer for a critically lauded and wildly popular reality TV show...like Queer Eye...showing people how to free themselves from consumer capitalism and live a more ethical life?!! Spent's rollicking and masterful denouement--making the case for seizing what's true about life in the world at this moment, before it's too late--once again proves that "nobody does it better" (New York Times Book Review) than the real Alison Bechdel.
 

Cover ArtThe rainbow age of television : an opinionated history of queer TV by Warner, Shayna Maci

With the last decade's television boom across a multitude of platforms, producing hundreds of network and streaming series, American audiences are being treated to a cascade of shows that some have trumpeted as a second Golden Age. But something completely new is stirring, too--the Rainbow Age. For the first time in the history of American television, we have shows in which LGBTQIA+ characters have evolved from being an anomaly to being an almost given and celebrated presence on the small screen. But what more can queer TV do? Is each new queer character really breaking ground? And has the curse of the fictional dead lesbian finally been defeated? The Rainbow Age of Television tackles these questions and more as author Shayna Maci Warner tracks the history and evolution of LGBTQIA+ icons across the televised ages and into the future of streaming--from the very first televised queer kiss (we think) to the shows that are making household names and heroes of queer characters today. Warner uses original interviews with queer TV icons such as Lilly Wachowski and Stephanie Beatriz along with detailed history to investigate the constraints under which queer people have been allowed to exist on American television. Surveying seventy-plus years of broadcasts, The Rainbow Age of Television explores why queer people are so invested in--and conflicted by--the kinds of storytelling that TV has to offer. Above all, it's a celebration of the LGBTQIA+ shows, their characters, and their creators that define this new age in television.
 

Cover ArtBoys weekend by Lubchansky, Mattie

Newly-out trans artist's assistant Sammie is invited to an old friend's bachelor weekend in El Campo, a hedonistic wonderland of a city floating in the Atlantic Ocean's international waters -- think Las Vegas with even fewer rules. Though they have not identified as a man for over a year, Sammie's old friends haven't quite gotten the message -- as evidenced by their former best friend Adam asking them to be his "best man." Arriving at the swanky hotel, Sammie immediately questions their decision to come. Bad enough that they have to suffer through a torrent of passive-aggressive comments from the groom's pals -- all met with zero pushpack from supposed "nice guy" Adam. But also, they seem to be the only one who's noticed the mysterious cult that's also staying at the hotel, and is ritually dismembering guests and demanding fealty to their bloodthirsty god. Part satire, part horror, Boys Weekend explores what it's like to exist as a transfemme person in a man's world, the difficulty of maintaining friendships through transition, and the more cult-like effects of masculinity, "hustle" culture, and capitalism -- all through the vibrant lens of a surreal, scary, and immensely imaginative romp.
 
 

Cover ArtCorey Fah does social mobility : a novel by Waidner, Isabel

This is the story of Corey Fah, a writer who has hit the literary jackpot: their novel has just won the prize for the Fictionalization of Social Evils. But the actual trophy, and with it the funds, hovers peskily out of reach. Neon-beige, with UFO-like qualities, the elusive trophy leads Corey, with their partner Drew and eight-legged companion Bambi Pavok, on a spectacular quest through their childhood in the Forest and an unlikely stint on reality TV. Navigating those twin horrors, along with wormholes and time loops, Corey learns--the hard way--the difference between a prize and a gift. Following the Goldsmiths Prize-winning Sterling Karat Gold, Isabel Waidner's bold and buoyant new novel is about coming into one's own, the labor of love, the tendency of history to repeat itself, and what ensues when a large amount of cultural capital is suddenly deposited in a place it has never been before.
 
 
 
 

Cover ArtOutskirts : queer experiences on the fringe by Compton, D'Lane R. (Editor); Stone, Amy L. (Editor)

Outskirts is an edited volume from sociology scholars that addresses the complexity of the queer experience in diverse spaces, places, and identities in the United States.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Cover ArtLGBT Victorians : sexuality and gender in the nineteenth-century archives by Joyce, Simon

We think of those whose primary self-definition is in terms of sexuality (lesbians, gay men, bisexuals) and those for whom it is gender identity (intersex and transgender people, genderqueers) as simultaneously in coalition and distinct from each other. Re-examining how the Victorians considered such identity categories to have produced and shaped each other can ground a more durable basis for strengthening our present LGBTQ+ coalition. LGBT Victorians reconsiders the significance of sexology and efforts to retrospectively discover transgender people in historical archives, particularly in the gap between what the nineteenth century termed the sodomite and hermaphrodite. It highlights a broad range of individuals (including Anne Lister, and the defendants in the "Fanny and Stella" trial of the 1870s), key thinkers and activists (including Karl-Heinrich Ulrichs and Edward Carpenter), and writers such as Walt Whitman and John Addington Symonds to map the complicated landscape of gender and sexuality in the Victorian period.
 
 

Cover ArtHeartstopper by Oseman, Alice

Boy meets boy. Boys become friends. Boys fall in love. A sweet and charming coming-of-age story that explores friendship, love, and coming out. This edition features beautiful two-color artwork. Absolutely delightful. Sweet, romantic, kind. Beautifully paced. I loved this book. -- Rainbow Rowell, author of Carry On. Shy and softhearted Charlie Spring sits next to rugby player Nick Nelson in class one morning. A warm and intimate friendship follows, and that soon develops into something more for Charlie, who doesn't think he has a chance. But Nick is struggling with feelings of his own, and as the two grow closer and take on the ups and downs of high school, they come to understand the surprising and delightful ways in which love works.

Cover ArtIn memoriam by Winn, Alice

It's 1914, and World War I is ceaselessly churning through thousands of young men on both sides of the fight. The violence of the front feels far away to Henry Gaunt, Sidney Ellwood and the rest of their classmates, all of whom are safely ensconced in their idyllic boarding school in the English countryside. They receive weekly dispatches from The Preshutian, their school newspaper, informing them of older classmates killed or wounded in action. Their heroic deaths only make the war more exciting. Gaunt, half-German, is busy fighting his own private battle -- an all-consuming infatuation with his best friend, the gorgeous, rich, charming Ellwood -- not having a clue that Ellwood is pining for him in return. Meanwhile, Gaunt's German mother and twin sister ask him to enlist as an officer in the British army to protect the family from the anti-German attacks they're already facing. Gaunt signs up immediately, relieved to escape his overwhelming feelings for Ellwood. The front is horrific, of course, and though Gaunt tries to dissuade Ellwood from joining him on the battlefield, Ellwood soon rushes to join him, fueled by his education in Greek heroics and romantic wartime poetry. Before long, most of their classmates have followed suit. Once in the trenches, the boys become intimately acquainted with the harsh realities of war. Ellwood and Gaunt find fleeting moments of solace in one other, but their friends are all dying, often in front of them, and no one knows when they'll be next.
 
 

Cover ArtVicious and immoral : homosexuality, the American Revolution, and the trials of Robert Newburgh by McCurdy, John Gilbert

On the eve of the American Revolution, the British army considered the case of a chaplain, Robert Newburgh, who had been accused of having sex with a man. Newburgh's enemies cited his flamboyant appearance, defiance of military authority, and seduction of soldiers as proof of low character. Consumed by fears that the British Empire would be torn asunder, his opponents claimed that these supposed crimes against nature translated to crimes against the king. Historian John Gilbert McCurdy tells this compelling story of male intimacy and provides a glimpse inside eighteenth-century perceptions of queerness. By demanding to have his case heard, Newburgh invoked Enlightenment ideals of equality, arguing passionately that his style of dress and manner should not affect his place in the army or society. His accusers equated queer behavior with rebellion, and his defenders would go on to join the American cause. Newburgh's trial offers some clues to understanding a peculiarity of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth century: while gay acts were prohibited by law in much of the British Empire, the newly formed United States was comparatively uninterested in legislating against same-sex intimacy. McCurdy imagines what life was like for a gay man in early America and captures the voices of those who loved and hated Newburgh, revealing how sexuality and revolution informed one another. The book places homosexuality in conversation with the American Revolution, and it dares us to rethink the place of LGBTQ+ people in the founding of the nation.
 

Cover ArtPride puppy! by Stevenson, Robin

A rhyming alphabet book featuring a family who have lost their dog at a Pride parade.
 
 
 
 

Cover ArtCanto contigo : a novel by Garza Villa

In a twenty-four-hour span, Rafael Alvarez led North Amistad High School's Mariachi Alma de la Frontera to their eleventh consecutive first-place win in the Mariachi Extravaganza de Nacional; and met, made out with, and almost hooked up with one of the cutest guys he's ever met. Now eight months later, Rafie's ready for one final win. What he didn't plan for is his family moving to San Antonio before his senior year, forcing him to leave behind his group while dealing with the loss of the most important person in his life--his beloved abuelo. Another hitch in his plan: The Selena Quintanilla-Perez Academy's Mariachi Todos Colores already has a lead vocalist, Rey Chavez--the boy Rafie made out with--who now stands between him winning and being the great Mariachi Rafie's abuelo always believed him to be. Despite their newfound rivalry for center stage, Rafie can't squash his feelings for Rey. Now he must decide between the people he's known his entire life or the one just starting to get to know the real him.
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05/01/2025

May is Asian American and Pacific Islander heritage month. Check out these new titles featuring AAPI voices in fiction, non-fiction, and poetry. These titles and more can be found on display in the Howe Library lobby. 


Cover ArtCat and bird : a memoir by Mori, Kyoko

A “sweet, touching” memoir about animals, loss, and finding a home in the world by the author of Shizuko’s Daughter and Yarn ( Kirkus Reviews ). Cat and Bird , a “memoir in animals,” is anchored around Kyoko Mori’s relationship with the six house cats who defined the major eras of her life as a writer: Dorian, Oscar, Ernest, Algernon, Miles, and Jackson. As she details the rhythms and routines of their days together, she weaves a narrative tapestry out of her past: the deep family tragedy and resilience that marked her childhood in Japan, her move to the American Midwest as a young adult, her experiences as a bird rehabilitator and cat trainer, her marriage and divorce, and the joys and profound heartbreaks that come with pet ownership. Full of razor-sharp observations and generous prose, Cat and Bird whirls into a moving meditation about grief, writing, the imagination, the solitary life, and the wonders of companionship with creatures both domestic and wild.
 
 

Cover ArtAsian American is not a color : conversations on race, affirmative action, and family

A mother and race scholar seeks to answer her daughter's many questions about race and racism with an earnest exploration into race relations and affirmative action from the perspectives of Asian American.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Cover ArtWhen the hibiscus falls : stories by Galang, M. Evelina

Seventeen stories traverse borderlines, mythic and real, in the lives of Filipino and Filipino American women and their ancestors. Moving from small Philippine villages of the past to the hurricane-beaten coast of near-future Florida, When the Hibiscus Falls examines the triumphs and sorrows that connect generations of women. Daughters, sisters, mothers, aunties, cousins, and lolas commune with their ancestors and their descendants, mourning what is lost when an older generation dies, celebrating what is gained when we safeguard their legacy for those who come after us. Featuring figures familiar from M. Evelina Galang's other acclaimed and richly imagined novels and stories, When the Hibiscus Falls dwells within the complexity of family, community, and Filipino American identity. Each story is an offering, a bloom that unfurls its petals and holds space in the sun.
 
 

Cover ArtNature unfurled : Asian American environmental histories by Chiang, Connie Y.

As immigrants and laborers, gardeners and artists, activists and vacationers, Asian Americans have played, worked, and worshipped in nature for almost two centuries, forging enduring relationships with diverse places and people. In the process, their actual or perceived ties to the environment have added to and amplified xenophobia and racist tropes. Indeed, white constructions of Asian Americans as the yellow peril, the perpetual foreigner, and the model minority were often intertwined with their environmental activities. At the same time, Asian Americans also harnessed environmental resources for their own needs, challenging restrictions and outmaneuvering their detractors in the process. This volume examines the links between Asian American and environmental history from the late nineteenth to the early twenty-first century. With essays on topics such as health in urban Chinatowns, Japanese oysters on Washington tidelands, American Indian and Japanese American experiences at the Leupp boarding school and isolation center, Southeast Asian community gardens, and contemporary Asian American outdoor recreation, this collection underscores the vibrancy of the field of Asian American environmental history.
 
 

Cover ArtCrying in H Mart : a memoir

From the indie rockstar of Japanese Breakfast fame, and author of the viral 2018 New Yorker essay that shares the title of this book, an unflinching, powerful memoir about growing up Korean American, losing her mother, and forging her own identity. In this exquisite story of family, food, grief, and endurance, Michelle Zauner proves herself far more than a dazzling singer, songwriter, and guitarist. With humor and heart, she tells of growing up one of the few Asian American kids at her school in Eugene, Oregon; of struggling with her mother's particular, high expectations of her; of a painful adolescence; of treasured months spent in her grandmother's tiny apartment in Seoul, where she and her mother would bond, late at night, over heaping plates of food. As she grew up, moving to the East Coast for college, finding work in the restaurant industry, and performing gigs with her fledgling band--and meeting the man who would become her husband--her Koreanness began to feel ever more distant, even as she found the life she wanted to live. It was her mother's diagnosis of terminal cancer, when Michelle was twenty-five, that forced a reckoning with her identity and brought her to reclaim the gifts of taste, language, and history her mother had given her. Vivacious and plainspoken, lyrical and honest, Zauner's voice is as radiantly alive on the page as it is onstage. Rich with intimate anecdotes that will resonate widely, Crying in H Mart is a book to cherish, share, and reread.
 

Cover ArtThe immortal King Rao : a novel by Vara, Vauhini

Will you, dear Shareholder, set Athena free? Athena Rao must reckon with the memory of her father, King Rao-literally. Through biotechnological innovation, he has given her his memories. His Dalit childhood on an Indian coconut plantation in the 1950s is as alive to her as her own existence in a prison cell, accused of her father's murder. Egocentric, brilliant, a little damaged, King Rao had a visionary idea: the personal computer known as the Coconut. His wife, Margie, was an artist with a marketing genius. Together they created a new world order, led by a corporate-run government. Athena's future is now in the hands of its Shareholders--unless she can rejoin the Exes, a resistance group sustaining tech-free lifestyles on low-lying islands. Lyrical, satirical, and profound, The Immortal King Rao obliterates genre to confront the digital age. This gripping, brilliant debut poses an urgent question: can anyone--peasant laborers, convention-destroying entrepreneurs, radical anarchists, social-media followers--ever get free?
 
 

Cover ArtFamily style : memories of an American from Vietnam by Pham, Thien

Thien's first memory isn't a sight or a sound. It's the sweetness of watermelon and the saltiness of fish. It's the taste of the foods he ate while adrift at sea as his family fled Vietnam. After the Pham family arrives at a refugee camp in Thailand, they struggle to survive. Things don't get much easier once they resettle in California. And through each chapter of their lives, food takes on a new meaning. Strawberries come to signify struggle as Thien's mom and dad look for work. Potato chips are an indulgence that bring Thien so much joy that they become a necessity. Behind every cut of steak and inside every croissant lies a story. And for Thien Pham, that story is about a search-- for belonging, for happiness, for the American dream"-- Back cover.
"A moving young adult graphic memoir about a Vietnamese immigrant boy's search for belonging in America, perfect for fans of American Born Chinese and The Best We Could Do! Thien's first memory isn't a sight or a sound. It's the sweetness of watermelon and the saltiness of fish. It's the taste of the foods he ate while adrift at sea as his family fled Vietnam. After the Pham family arrives at a refugee camp in Thailand, they struggle to survive. Things don't get much easier once they resettle in California. And through each chapter of their lives, food takes on a new meaning. Strawberries come to signify struggle as Thien's mom and dad look for work. Potato chips are an indulgence that bring Thien so much joy that they become a necessity. Behind every cut of steak and inside every croissant lies a story. And for Thien Pham, that story is about a search-- for belonging, for happiness, for the American dream.
 

Cover ArtStay true : a memoir by Hsu, Hua

From the New Yorker staff writer Hua Hsu, a gripping memoir on friendship, grief, the search for self, and the solace that can be found through art. In the eyes of 18-year-old Hua Hsu, the problem with Ken-with his passion for Dave Matthews, Abercrombie & Fitch, and his fraternity-is that he is exactly like everyone else. Ken, whose Japanese American family has been in the United States for generations, is mainstream; for Hua, a first-generation Taiwanese American who has a 'zine and haunts Bay Area record shops, Ken represents all that he defines himself in opposition to. The only thing Hua and Ken have in common is that, however they engage with it, American culture doesn't seem to have a place for either of them. But despite his first impressions, Hua and Ken become best friends, a friendship built of late-night conversations over cigarettes, long drives along the California coast, and the textbook successes and humiliations of everyday college life. And then violently, senselessly, Ken is gone, killed in a carjacking, not even three years after the day they first meet. Determined to hold on to all that was left of his best friend-his memories-Hua turned to writing. Stay True is the book he's been working on ever since. A coming-of-age story that details both the ordinary and extraordinary, Stay True is a bracing memoir about growing up, and about moving through the world in search of meaning and belonging.
 
 

Cover ArtAsian American histories of the United States by Choy, Catherine Ceniza

Asian American Histories of the United States illuminates how an over-century-long history of Asian migration, labor, and community formation in the United States is fundamental to understanding the American experience and its existential crises of the early twenty-first century"--Provided by publisher.
"Original and expansive, Asian American Histories of the United States is a nearly 200-year history of Asian migration, labor, and community formation in the US. Reckoning with the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic and the surge in anti-Asian hate and violence, award-winning historian Catherine Ceniza Choy presents an urgent social history of the fastest growing group of Americans. The book features the lived experiences and diverse voices of immigrants, refugees, US-born Asian Americans, multiracial Americans, and workers from industries spanning agriculture to healthcare. Despite significant Asian American breakthroughs in American politics, arts, and popular culture in the 21st century, a profound lack of understanding of Asian American history permeates American culture. Choy traces how anti-Asian violence and its intersection with misogyny and other forms of hatred, the erasure of Asian American experiences and contributions, and Asian American resistance to what has been omitted are prominent themes in Asian American history. This ambitious book is fundamental to understanding the American experience and its existential crises of the early 21st century.
 

Cover ArtEverything we never had by Ribay, Randy

The Maghabol family journey begins with sixteen-year-old Francisco, who has left everything behind in the Philippines to seek his fortune in California. Following this life-changing decision, each generation of Maghabol boys must forge a path forward while contending with the past. Watsonville, CA, 1930. Francisco barely ekes out a living picking apples. As he spends what little he earns at dance halls and faces increasing violence from white men in town, Francisco wonders if he should've never left the Philippines. Stockton, CA, 1965. Emil works hard and keeps his head down despite the prejudice he faces at school and the long shifts he takes at a restaurant to make ends meet. He refuses to be like his unreliable labor organizer father, Francisco. He's going to make it in this country, no matter what or who he has to leave behind. Denver, CO, 1983. Chris is determined to prove that his overbearing father, Emil, can't control him. But when an assignment on family roots sends Chris out of the football field and into the library, he discovers a hunger to know more about Filipino history -- even if his father dismisses his interest as un-American and unimportant. Philadelphia, PA, 2020. Enzo struggles with anxiety as a global pandemic breaks out and his abrasive grandfather moves in. While tensions are high between his dad and his lolo, Enzo's daily walks with Lolo Emil have him wondering if maybe he can help bridge the decades-long rift between the two men. From National Book Award finalist Randy Ribay comes a poignant intergenerational saga about Filipino American men passing down flaws, values, and virtues until it's up to Enzo to see how he can braid all those strands and stories together.
 

Cover ArtThis book won't burn by Ahmed, Samira

While still coping with her parents' sudden divorce and having to start at a new school midway through her senior year, Noor and two new friends take a stand against book bans at their small-town Illinois high school.
"I'm Noor. And I read banned books. After her dad abruptly abandons her family and her mom moves them far from their Chicago home, Noor Khan is forced to start the last quarter of her senior year at a new school, away from everything and everyone she knows and loves. Reeling from being uprooted and deserted, Noor is certain the key to survival is to keep her head down and make it to graduation. But things aren't so simple. At school, Noor discovers that hundreds of books have been labeled "obscene" or "pornographic" and are being removed from the library in accordance with a new school board policy. Even worse, virtually all the banned books are by queer and BIPOC authors. Noor can't sit back and do nothing, because that goes against everything she believes in, but challenging the status quo just might put a target on her back. Can she effect change by speaking up? Or will small-town politics -- and small-town love -- be her downfall? This Book Won't Burn is a timely and gripping social-suspense novel about the American book-banning movement.
 
 

Cover ArtTime is a mother by Vuong, Ocean

Ocean Vuong's second collection of poetry looks inward, on the aftershocks of his mother's death, and the struggle - and rewards - of staying present in the world. Time Is a Mother moves outward and onward, in concert with the themes of On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous, as Vuong continues, through his work, his profound exploration of personal trauma, of what it means to be the product of an American war in America, and how to circle these fragmented tragedies to find not a restoration, but the epicenter of the break.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Cover ArtThe apology by Han, Jimin

In South Korea, a 105-year-old woman receives a letter. Ten days later, she has been thrust into the afterlife, fighting to head off a curse that will otherwise devastate generations to come. Hak Jeonga has always shouldered the burden of upholding the family name. When she sent her daughter-in-law to America to cover up an illegitimate birth, she was simply doing what was needed to preserve the reputations of her loved ones. How could she have known that decades later, this decision would return to haunt her--threatening to tear apart her bond with her beloved son, her relationship with her infuriatingly insolent sisters, and the future of the family she has worked so hard to protect? Part ghost story and part family epic, The Apology is an incisive tale of sisterhood and diaspora, reaching back to the days of Japanese colonialism and the Korean War, and told through the singular voice of a defiant, funny, and unforgettable centenarian.
 
 

Cover ArtMade in Asia/America : why video games were never (really) about us

Made in Asia/America explores the key role video games play within the race-makings of Asia/America. Each of its fourteen critical essays on games, ranging from Death Stranding to Animal Crossing, and five roundtables with twenty Asian/American game makers, examine the historical entanglements of games, Asia, and America, and reveal the ways games offer new modes of imagining imperial violence, racial difference, and coalition. Shifting away from Eurocentric, white, masculinist takes on gaming, the contributors focus on minority and queer experiences, practices, and innovative scholarly methods, to better account for the imperial circulation of games. Encouraging ambiguous and contextual ways of understanding games, the editors offer an "interactive" editorial method, a genre-expanding approach that encourages hybrid works of auto-theory, queer of color theory, and conversation among game makers and scholars to generate divergent meanings of games, play, and “Asian America.”
 
 
 

Cover ArtFake Chinese sounds by Tsong, Jing Jing

Between homework, studying, and Chinese school, Měi Yīng's summer is shaping up to be a boring one. Her only bright spots are practice with her soccer team, the Divas, and the time spent with her năi nai, who is visiting from Taiwan. Although Měi Yīng's Mandarin isn't the best and Năi Nai doesn't speak English, they find other ways to connect, like cooking guōtiē together and doing tai chi in the mornings. By the end of the summer, Měi Yīng is sad to see Năi Nai go-she's the com­plete opposite of Měi Yīng serious professor mother-but excited to start fifth grade. Until new kid Sid starts making her the butt of racist jokes. Her best friend, Kirra, says to ignore him, but does everyone else's silence about the harassment mean they're also ignoring Sid . . . or her? As Sid's bullying fuels Měi Yīng's feelings of invisibility, she must learn to reclaim her identity and her voice.
 
 
 
 

Cover ArtMonstrous : a transracial adoption story by Myer, Sarah

Bullied by her classmates, Sarah, a Korean American girl growing up in a rural community with few Asian neighbors, channels her rage into her art and cosplay until it threatens to explode.
"Sarah has always struggled to fit in. Born in South Korea and adopted at birth by a white couple, she grows up in a rural community with few Asian neighbors. People whisper in the supermarket. Classmates bully her. She has trouble containing her anger in these moments--but through it all, she has her art. She's always been a compulsive drawer, and when she discovers anime, her hobby becomes an obsession. Though drawing and cosplay offer her an escape, she still struggles to connect with others. And in high school, the bullies are louder and meaner. Sarah's bubbling rage is threatening to burst.
 
 
 

Cover ArtAmerican betiya by Rajurkar, Anuradha D.

Rani Kelkar never lied to her parents-- until she meets Oliver. The same qualities that draw her in-- his tattoos, his charisma, his passion for art-- make him her mother's worst nightmare. When Oliver's troubled home life unravels, he starts to ask more of Rani than she knows how to give. When a twist of fate leads Rani from Evanston, Illinois to Pune, India for a summer, she has a reckoning with herself... and what's really brewing beneath the surface of her first love.
 
 
 
 
 
 

Cover ArtI would meet you anywhere : a memoir by Ito, Susan

A memoir about one woman's search for her birth parents, exploring complicated relationships with family, the legacy of WWII internment on generations of Japanese Americans, and the challenges adoptees often face in learning their own histories.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Cover ArtLunar boy by Wibowo, Jessica

Indu, a boy from the moon, feels like he doesn't belong. He hasn't since he and his adoptive mom disembarked from their spaceship -- their home -- to live on Earth with their new blended family. The kids at school think he's weird; he has a crush on his pen pal, who might not like him back; and his stepfamily doesn't seem to know what to do with him. Worst of all, Indu can't even talk to his mom about how he's feeling because she's so busy. In a moment of loneliness, Indu calls out to the moon, begging them to take him back. And against all odds, the moon hears him and agrees to bring him home of the first day of the New Year. But as the promised day draws nearer, Indu finds friendship in unlikely places and discovers that home is more than where you come from. And when the moon calls again, Indu must decide: is he willing to give up what he's just found?
 
 
 
When Shek Yeung sees a Portuguese sailor slay her husband, a feared pirate, she knows she must act swiftly or die. Instead of mourning, Shek Yeung launches a new plan: immediately marrying her husband's second-in-command, and agreeing to bear him a son and heir, in order to retain power over her half of the fleet. But as Shek Yeung vies for control over the army she knows she was born to lead, larger threats loom. The Chinese Emperor has charged a brutal, crafty nobleman with ridding the South China Seas of pirates, and the Europeans--tired of losing ships, men, and money to Shek Yeung's alliance--have new plans for the area. Even worse, Shek Yeung's cutthroat retributions create problems all their own. As Shek Yeung navigates new motherhood and the crises of leadership, she must decide how long she is willing to fight, and at what price, or risk losing her fleet, her new family, and even her life.
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