Awesome Asian Americans: 20 Stars Who Made America Amazing

I liked this book because it is current (written in 2020) and includes many notable Asian Americans from the 21st century. There is a good mix of male and female, old and young, straight and LBTQ people represented. The illustrations are great.The writing is okay. I find the biographies to be a little uneven in places in which, while trying to give context to the person’s life, the authors get a little tangential. I also would recommend this for 8th graders and above. I think it is too sophisticated for upper-elementary/middle school readers. The cover kind of makes it seems as though it is intended for a younger audience.There are also other notable Asian Americans who are noticeably absent: George Takeia, Amy Tan, and Sanjay Gupta. Sometimes I wondered about the author’s selections of who made the book and who didn’t, as noteworthy as the entries were. But, my son and I did learn about athletes and scientists who we didn’t know before, so there is value in that.

I used this book to teach my 4th grade students about Asian Americans who made contributions to this country as part of our AAPI Heritage Month celebration. It was perfect because there were many details in each person's biography. My students then made posters of an Asian American they chose, including information they learned and their own artwork as part of our "Stand in Solidarity" event to promote peace, love, and hope in the face of these difficult times that Asian Americans are going through. I had not heard of some of the Asian Americans mentioned in the book, so it was a pleasant surprise to read and learn about them for the first time. Even for the ones I had heard of, it was fun to read and share with my students about all the accomplishments of these Asian Americans. The historical references and contexts such as "paper sons" and "Japanese internment camps" also provided opportunities to teach my students about history they normally would not learn.

My son had been asking to learn more about Asian Americans (he's 7) after we finished reading Asian Americans Who Inspire Us. I thought this book would be more like that but it wasn't unfortunately. It's more information than what I was expecting for a book that is supposed to be geared towards children. We got to one story that mentioned abortion and I was uncomfortable reading that with my son. Buy with caution I guess.

As an educator and a mom I am always looking for books that represent and teach the Asian American experience. The twenty "stars" highlighted in this book run the gamut from Olympic athletes, politicians, activisits, actors, etc., that illustrates that there is no one Asian American experience. In each story, Asian American identity plays and important role in overcoming the challenges of racial inequity and taking pride in cutlure and heritage in an age appropriate way. The illustrations and graphics make this book really accessbile.

Nice illustrations and good content of many well-known and lesser known inspiring Asian Americans