South Asia & Middle East
Down and Across
Author: Arvin Ahmadi
Description: Down and Across is a contemporary novel. It follows an Iranian-American male protagonist who runs away to Washington D.C. find an expert on the psychology of success. Along the way he gets into adventures and meets many new characters.
Includes: #middleeast #iranian #maleprotagonist #contemporary
Citation: Ahmadi, A. (2018). Down and across. Viking Books for Young Readers.
Image retrieved from: Goodreads.
Match Made In Mehendi
Author: Nandini Bajpal
Description: A Match Made in Mehendi is a contemporary story about an Indian girl. It follows a fifteen-year-old female protagonist whose family has a long line of matchmakers. She wants to be an artist and does not want anything to do with her family’s matchmaking work. However, when she accidently sets up her cousin with a lawyer, her family decides that she has the gift of matchmaking too. She decides that match making might be a lucrative business and creates a matchmaking app that sends her whole high school into chaos.
Includes: #indian #southasian #femaleprotagonist #contemporary
Citation: Bajpal, N. (2019). A Match Made in Mehendi. Little, Brown Books for Young Readers.
Image retrieved from: Goodreads.
Symptoms of a Heart Break
Author: Sona Charaipotra
Description: Symptoms Of A Heartbreak is a contemporary novel about an Indian American teen who is the youngest doctor in America. Graduating from medical school at sixteen-years-old, the medical prodigy balances friends, family, and romance while making her rounds.
Includes: #indian #asianamerican #femaleprotagonist #contemporary
Citation: Charaipotra, S. (2019). Symptoms Of A Heartbreak. Imprint.
Image retrieved from: Goodreads.
The Star-Touched Queen
Author: Roshani Choksi
Description: The Star-Touched Queen is a fantasy novel about a cursed princess. She soon becomes a queen and a wife because of an arranged marriage of political convenience. She soon realizes that her kingdom has secrets and she must solve the ancient mystery that spans other worlds and reincarnated lives. The novel is by a biracial Indian and Filipina author.
Includes: #indian #asianamerican #femaleprotagonist #fantasy #magic
Citation: Choksi, R. (2016). The Star-Touched Queen. St. Martin’s Griffin.
Image retrieved from: Goodreads.
A Crown of Wishes
Author: Roshani Choksi
Description: A Crown of Wishes is a fantasy novel and a companion novel to The Star-Touched Queen. It follows an exiled princess who teams up with her sworn enemy to win a competition in order to win a wish so that she can take back her kingdom. The novel is by a biracial Indian and Filipina author.
Includes: #indian #asianamerican #femaleprotagonist #fantasy #magic
Citation: Choksi, R. (2017). A Crown of Wishes. St. Martin’s Griffin.
Image retrieved from: Goodreads.
Born Confused
Author: Tanuja Desai Hidier
Description: Born Confused is a contemporary coming of age story about an Indian American teen. She has spent her whole life resisting her parents' traditions and background, so when they try to set up an arranged marriage, she pushes back. The story is about growing up, falling in love, friendship, and finding out about the things in your own culture that you value.
Includes: #indian #asianamerican #contemporary #femaleprotagonist
Citation: Desai Hidier, Tanuja. (2002). Born Confused. Push.
Image retrieved from: Goodreads.
Bombay Blues
Author: Tanuja Desai Hidier
Description: Bombay Blues is the sequel to Born Confused. It follows an Indian American girl in her late teens and early twenties as she travels to India, New York, and London and questions whether or not the things she thought she wanted were actually what she wanted at all.
Includes: #indian #asianamerican #contemporary #femaleprotagonist
Citation: Desai Hidier, Tanuja. (2014). Push.
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Tell Me Again How A Crush Should Feel
Author: Sara Farizan
Description: Tell Me Again How A Crush Should Feel is a coming of age story about a young Persian American girl who realizes she is a lesbian.
Includes: #lesbian #LGBTQIA #asianamerican #iranian #interraciallove #femaleprotagonist #contemporary
Citation: Farizan, S. (2014). Tell Me Again How A Crush Should Feel. Algonquin Young Reader.
Image retrieved from: Goodreads.
Mariam Sharma Hits The Road
Author: Sheba Karim
Description: Mariam Sharma Hits The Road is a contemporary novel about three South Asian American characters on a road trip from New Jersey to New Orleans.
Includes: #asianamerican #southasian #contemporary #femaleprotagonist #muslim #LGBTQIA
Citation: Karim, S. (2018). Mariam Sharma Hits The Road. HarperTeen.
Image retrieved from: Goodreads.
When Dimple Met Rishi
Author: Sandhya Menon
Description: When Dimple Met Rishi is a love story about two Indian American teens at a summer coding camp. The story deals with issues of identity politics, being a first generation American, and culture clashes.
Includes: #asianamerican #indian #femaleprotagonist #maleprotagonist #identitypolitics #contemporary
Citation: Menon, S. (2017). When Dimple Met Rishi. Simon Pulse.
Image retrieved from: Goodreads.
Forward Me Back To You
Author: Mitali Perkins
Description: Forward Me Back To You follows two parallel stories. One is an Indian American transracial adoptee boy and the other, and the other is a biracial African American and white sexual assault survivor. The two teens travel together to India with their youth group to volunteer with domestic assault victims at a womans’ shelter.
Includes: #indian #africanamerican #black #asianamerican #southasian #biracial #adoption #transracialadoptee #sexualassult #domesticabuse #contemporary #femaleprotagonist #maleprotagonist #christianity
Citation: Perkins, M. (2019). Forward Me Back To You. Farrar, Straus and Grioux (BYR).
Image retrieved from: Goodreads.