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Books on Biracial Asian Americans and Adoption

Non-Fiction Books

  • The Voices of Amerasians: Ethnicity, Identity, and Empowerment in Interracial Japanese Americans by Stephen L. H. Murphy-Shigematsu

  • Gaijin: American Prisoner of War by Matt Falkner

  • Mixed Plate: Chronicles of an All-American Combo by Jo Koy

  • Where the Dead Pause and the Japanese Say Goodbye by Marie Mutsuki Mockett

  • Lucky Fish by Aimee Nezhukumatathil

 

On Amerasian Children of Korean War

  • Ten Thousand Sorrows by Elizabeth Kim

  • Dust of the Streets: The Journey of a Biracial Orphan of the Korean War by Thomas Park Clement

  • Mixed Korean: Our Stories An Anthology by Cerrisa Kim, Katherine Kim

 

On Amerasian Children of Vietnam War

  • War Baby/Love Child: Mixed Race Asian American Art by Wei Ming Dariotis

  • Surviving Twice: Amerasian Children of the Vietnam War by Trin Yarborough

  • The Dust of Life: America’s Children Abandoned in Vietnam by Robert S. McKelvey

  • The Outcast Amerasian by Kevin Le

  • Escape from Saigon: How a Vietnam War Orphan Became an American Boy by Andrea Warren

  • Children Of The Enemy: Oral Histories Of Vietnamese Amerasians And Their Mothers by Steven DeBonis

  • Vietnamerica: The War Comes Home by Thomas A. Bass

 

Fiction Books

  • Flamer by Mike Curato (biracial LGBT story for teens)

  • Romina's Rangoli by Malathi Michelle Iyengar (picture book)

  • Step Up to the Plate, Maria Singh by Uma Krishnaswami (for middle school)

  • My Basmati Bat Mitzvah by Paula J. Freedman (for middle school)

 

 

Books on Asian American Adoption

*many of the books about Amerasian children of Korean and Vietnam war in the biracial section also involve real-life adoption stories

All Inclusive

  • Adopted from Asia: How It Feels to Grow Up in America by Frances M. Koh

  • Fighting Words by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley (fiction for middle school and teens)

  • Invisible Asians: Korean American Adoptees, Asian American Experiences, and Racial Exceptionalism by Kim Park Nelson (non-fiction for adults)

 

Chinese American adoption

  • Chinese Eyes By Marjorie Ann Waybill (fiction for children)

  • Star of the Week: A Story of Love, Adoption, and Brownies with Sprinkles by Darlene Friedman (picture book)

  • An-Ya and Her Diary by Diane René Christian (fiction for middle school)

  • Kids Like Me in China by Ying Ying Fry (non-fiction for middle school)

 

Cambodian American adoption

  • The Bora Boys and the Last Big Door by Michael J. Feeney (fiction for children)

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  • Korean American adoption

  • We Adopted You, Benjamin Koo by Linda Walvoord (fiction for children)

  • To Save the Children of Korea: The Cold War Origins of International Adoption by Arissa H. Oh (non-fiction for adults)

  • How to Greet the Mother Who Bore You (A Short Story) by Matthew Salesses (fiction for middle school and up)

  • Fugitive Visions: An Adoptee’s Return to Korea by Jane Jeong Trenka (non-fiction for middle school and up)

  • Ghost of Sangju: A Memoir of Reconciliation by Soojung Jo  (non-fiction for middle school and up)

  • All You Can Ever Know: A Memoir by Nicole Chung (non-fiction for adults)

  • After the Morning Calm: Reflections of Korean Adoptees by Sook Wilkinson and Nancy Fox (non-fiction for adults)

  • A Single Square Picture: A Korean Adoptee's Search for Her Roots by Katy Robinson (non-fiction for middle school and up)

  • Voices from Across the Sea: An Adoption Memoir Uniting Two Worlds by Lora V. Keleher (non-fiction for middle school and up)

  • Disrupting Kinship: Transnational Politics of Korean Adoption in the United States by Kimberly D. McKee (non-fiction for adults)

  • Unequal Motherhoods and the Adoption of Asian Children: Birth, Foster, and Adoptive Mothers by Jungyun Gill (non-fiction for adults)

 

Pakistani American adoption

  • First Daughter: Extreme American Makeover by Mitali Perkins (fiction for middle school)

  • First Daughter: White House Rules by Mitali Perkins (fiction for middle school

Taiwanese American adoption

  • Lucky Girl by Mei-Ling Hopgood

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