Children's books with Asian-American female charaters?

[Ganesh]

My 8-year-old cousin is one of the only Asian kids in her school, and the other day she asked her dad if she could dye her hair blond so she'd fit in.

I want to introduce her to interesting books with Asian-American female characters. I'd appreciate any recommendations.

Thanks!

[Akrypti]

Patti Kim, "A Cab Called Reliable"

[Amy]

My daughter and I love Ruby Lu (Ruby Lu Brave and True; Ruby Lu, Empress of Everything) by Lenore Look.

[Ganesh]

Thanks for the suggestions.

My local librarian suggesed The Mulberry Project, which definitely sounds interesting.

From what I can gather it is a story about a Korean-American girl who works with a white classmate on a science project. The girl's mother suggests they raise silkworms like she did was she was a young girl in Korea. As they work on the project,the main character learns to embrace her family's heritage, learns about sustainable agriculture, and confronts some of her mother's racist beliefs.

[tinabot]

Oh wow. I remember telling my mom when I was five years old "I'm not beautiful because I don't have blond hair or blue eyes." I guess there was enough around me to send that message to my five-year-old brain. To be fair, that was over 25 years ago, but I'm sad to hear Asian American kids still having that same experience today. I've wanted to check out the "Ruby Lu" series and the "Alvin Ho" series, too. They look cute. There's also "Millicent Min, Girl Genius".

[Emily]

I love the books by Grace Lin ("Year of the Dog" and "Year of the Rat" are great ones) and have picked them up for my friend's daughters. Also have heard of a book called "The Great Wall of Lucy Wu" by Wendy Wan-Long Shang that looks promising and will be coming out in Jan 2011.

[tinabot]

Grace Lin received a Newbery honor this year ^_^
for "Where the Mountain Meets the Moon".

[Karla]

Lawrence Yep has written quite a few quality books. Cynthia Leitich Smith has a great bibliography here:
http://www.cynthialeitichsmith.com/li...

[Jenna]

A somewhat old/classic book I enjoyed as a child was Bette Bao Lord's "In the Year of the Boar and Jackie Robinson," about a Chinese girl growing up in America in the 1940s.

I'm saddened by how few children's/YA books I can remember that feature Asian heroines.

Good luck to your cousin. As a little 'un, I briefly went through a similar phase, so I sympathize.

[Eugenia]

Most books by Linda Sue Park are age-appropriate; Robert Kim's I Am Korean American, about a young girl in an immigrant family.