From three-time Newbery Honoree Christina Soontornvat and award-winning historian Erika Lee comes a middle grade nonfiction that shines a light on the generations of Asian Americans who have transformed the United States and who continue to shape what it means to be American.
Asian American history is not made up of one single story. It’s many. And it’s a story that too often goes untold.
It begins centuries before America even exists as a nation. It is connected to the histories of Western conquest and colonialism. It’s a story of migration; of people and families crossing the Pacific Ocean in search of escape, opportunity, and new beginnings.
It is also the story of race and racism. Of being labeled an immigrant invasion, unfit to become citizens, and being banned, deported, and incarcerated. Of being blamed for bringing diseases into the country.
It is also a story of bravery and hope. It is the story of heroes who fought for equality in the courts, on the streets, and in the schools, and who continue to fight in solidarity with others doing the same.
This book is a stirring account of the ordinary people and extraordinary acts that made Asian America and the young people who are remaking America today.
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Erika Lee is a historian, author, and advocate. She has written several prize-winning books, including The Making of Asian America, winner of the Asian/Pacific American Award for Literature in Adult Nonfiction, and America for Americans: A History of Xenophobia in the United States, winner of the American Book Award. She is the Bae Family Professor of History and Radcliffe Alumni Professor at Harvard University and past president of the Organization of American Historians.
Christina Soontornvat is the author of several books for young readers, including the Newbery Honor books The Last Mapmaker, A Wish in the Dark, and All Thirteen. She holds a BS degree in mechanical engineering and a master’s degree in science education. She spent a decade working in the science museum field, where she designed programs and exhibits to get kids excited about science and STEM. You can learn more about her work at soontornvat.com.