By Ardo Omer
This month, we’re reading a book by an Asian Canadian author about love. Love can come in all forms. It can be the love for a grandparent like in the picture book, Take Me to Lǎolao. It can be celebrating your parents’ love for one another like in the chapter book, The Party Diaries: Top Secret Anniversary. It can be a budding romance between teens like in the young adult novel, Made in Korea. You can read any of these titles or find your own! Queer love, platonic love between friends, the love for a pet etc. Whatever form it takes, we hope that you fall deeper in love with reading.
1) Made in Korea by Sarah Suk (Young Adult)
Frankly in Love meets Shark Tank in this feel-good romantic comedy about two entrepreneurial Korean American teens who butt heads—and maybe fall in love—while running competing Korean beauty businesses at their high school.
There’s nothing Valerie Kwon loves more than making a good sale. Together with her cousin Charlie, they run V&C K-BEAUTY, their school’s most successful student-run enterprise. With each sale, Valerie gets closer to taking her beloved and adventurous halmeoni to her dream city, Paris.
Enter the new kid in class, Wes Jung, who is determined to pursue music after graduation despite his parents’ major disapproval. When his classmates clamor to buy the K-pop branded beauty products his mom gave him to “make new friends,” he sees an opportunity—one that may be the key to help him pay for the music school tuition he knows his parents won’t cover…
What he doesn’t realize, though, is that he is now V&C K-BEAUTY’s biggest competitor.
Stakes are high as Valerie and Wes try to outsell each other, make the most money, and take the throne for the best business in school—all while trying to resist the undeniable spark that’s crackling between them. From hiring spies to all-or-nothing bets, the competition is much more than either of them bargained for.
But one thing is clear: only one Korean business can come out on top.
2) The Party Diaries: Top Secret Anniversary by Mitali Banerjee Ruths, illustrated by Aaliya Jaleel (Chapter Book)
Pick a book. Grow a Reader!
This series is part of Scholastic’s early chapter book line, Branches, aimed at newly independent readers. With easy-to-read text, high-interest content, fast-paced plots, and illustrations on every page, these books will boost reading confidence and stamina. Branches books help readers grow!
Priya’s mom wants to surprise Priya’s dad with an anniversary party. So Priya gets right to work, making party plans and crafting DIY decorations with help from her best friend Melissa. But Priya finds it hard to keep a secret inside her own house, especially with her dad always being curious about EVERYTHING. Can Priya keep her dad from spoiling the surprise AND make it her parents’ best anniversary ever?
With color-coded speech bubbles, an engaging diary format, plenty of humor, and vibrant artwork on every page, this series is perfect for newly independent readers! There’s even a fun DIY activity at the back of the book, encouraging kids to make their own decorative cardboard hearts at home!
3) Take Me to Lǎolao by Kelly Zhang, illustrated by Evie Zhu (Picture Book)
Celebrate the Spring Lantern Festival! This gentle picture book explores the special bond between children and their grandmothers, all against the backdrop of Chinese mythology and holiday celebration. A must-read for fans of Drawn Togetheror I Dream of Popo!
There’s nothing Lili loves more than celebrating the Spring Lantern Festival with her family. But this will be the first time she attends the festivities without her beloved lăolao. Though it’s one of Lili’s favorite days of the year, she can’t help but wish, as she drifts off to sleep, that Lăolao were still there to enjoy bowls of sweet rice balls and solve fun riddles with her.
Then, that night, the first full moon of the new year invites Lili on an incredible journey.
Lili will travel to the bottom of the sea to visit the Dragon King and past the misty clouds to see the Jade Emperor. But will she get to see the one person she wants to see most in the entire world before the night is over?
