May is the annual celebration month honoring Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders in America. May was selected as the honorary month for several reasons including commemorating the first Japanese immigrants to the United States in May 1943 and marking the completion of the Transcontinental Railroad on May 10, 1869, which involved the labor of mostly Chinese immigrants.
Our 3rd-floor display and end-of-row stack displays showcase just a few select books and DVDs representing the writing, works of art, and influence of the AAPI communities. While there are many items to explore, a few notable titles include:
The Good Earth - Pearl S. Buck
“Travel to 1920s China, a time when the last emperor still ruled and the sweeping changes of the twentieth century were distant rumblings, with this timeless, evocative classic tale of the honest farmer Wang Lung and his family as they struggle to survive amid vast political and social upheavals"-- Amazon
Lost Kingdom: Hawaii’s last queen, the Sugar Kings and America’s first imperial adventure - Julia Flynn Siler
“This book tells the tragic story of how America helped topple the last kingdom in Hawai'i and annexed it for America. The story centers around the life of Queen Lili'uokalini, the last monarch, and her family through the 1800s.” –Goodreads
Filipinx: Heritage Recipes from the Diaspora - Angela Dimayuga
“Filipinx offers 100 deeply personal recipes—many of them dishes that define home for Angela Dimayuga and the more than four million people of Filipino descent in the United States. The book tells the story of how Dimayuga grew up in an immigrant family in Northern California, trained in restaurant kitchens in New York City—learning to make everything from bistro fare to Asian American cuisine—then returned to her roots, discovering in her family’s home cooking the same intense attention to detail and technique she’d found in fine dining.” -- from publisher
Parasite (DVD) - Bong Joon Ho
"After his rich friend asks him to fake qualifications and take his tutor role to a rich teenage girl so none will try to date her in his absence, the poor lead takes up the offer & enters the rich yet gullible family. He then cons his way into the family, dates his friend's crush & schemes to get all his family a job under the family. When the owners leave the house on vacation they move in & undergo a bizarre encounter which changes the lives of everyone." – IMDb
