Books of Wonder is proud to host and celebrate these wonderfully talented AAPI authors and their brilliant stories! Tune in to hear from SAADIA FARUQI, author of The Strongest Heart, and XIRAN JAY ZHAO, author of Zachary Ying and the Dragon Emperor. Join us for an afternoon of incredible reads!

Mo has gotten used to tuning out his father’s fits of rage. He knows that the best way to respond is not to engage. Apparently, his mama knows that too—which is why she took an important job on the other side of the world, leaving Mo alone with Abbu.

Without Mama, Mo and Abbu move to Texas to live with Mo’s aunt and cousin, Rayyan. The two boys could not be more different. Rayyan is achievement-driven and factual; Mo is a known “bad kid,” just doing his best to survive in an unfair world (with the help of the South Asian folktales he treasures).

Still, there is a lot to like about living in Texas. Sundays at the mosque are better than he’d expected. And Rayyan doesn’t dismiss Mo’s fears and sees beyond his outer shell.

But even in a warm home and a school where he can start to see a future, Mo knows that the monster his father has within him can break out at any moment . . .

Zachary Ying and the Dragon Emperor by XIRAN JAY ZHAO

Zachary Ying never had many opportunities to learn about his Chinese heritage. His single mom was busy enough making sure they got by, and his schools never taught anything except Western history and myths. So Zack is woefully unprepared when he discovers he was born to host the spirit of the First Emperor of China for a vital mission: sealing the leaking portal to the Chinese underworld before the upcoming Ghost Month blows it wide open.

The mission takes an immediate wrong turn when the First Emperor botches his attempt to possess Zack’s body and binds to Zack’s AR gaming headset instead, leading to a battle where Zack’s mom’s soul gets taken by demons. Now, with one of history’s most infamous tyrants yapping in his headset, Zack must journey across China to heist magical artifacts and defeat figures from history and myth, all while learning to wield the emperor’s incredible water dragon powers.

And if Zack can’t finish the mission in time, the spirits of the underworld will flood into the mortal realm, and he could lose his mom forever.

Saturday, May 24th at 3pm ET via Crowdcast!

Great Middle Grade Reads for AAPI Month