Grade Level: Elementary 3–5

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  Deep Dive: Tanabata (Star Festival)

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  Deep Dive: Holi

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  Deep Dive: Songkran

  Songkran, Thailand’s traditional New Year festival, takes place each year from April 13–15. Rooted in Hindu and Buddhist traditions, it marks a time of cleansing, renewal, and fresh beginnings. This deep dive document will share more about the meaning and celebrations of the holiday.

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  Deep Dive: Mid-Autumn Festival

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  Alterations: A Graphic Novel

  Being one of the few Asian kids, Kevin has been receiving unwanted attention from some of the students in his class. Will going to the local theme park change his situation? This humorous graphic novel explores prejudice, identity, and self-esteem. Ray Xu is a Chinese Canadian “Story Artist.”

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  A Copycat Conundrum (The Misfits)

  Zeke, a classmate of the missfits starts receiving threatening notes, the Misfits are surprised. Who would want to hurt Zeke? Maybe he’s not what he seems to be? Lisa Yee is a third generation Chinese American.

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  Amina Banana and the Formula for Friendship

  Amina loves bananas, science, and yellow things. Her family recently moved from Syria to Indiana and she is starting at a new school. Shifa Saltagi Safad Immigrated to the US as a young girl.

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  Cultural Celebrations Calendar 2025-2026

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  Deep Dive: Tanabata Star Festival

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  Rick Kotani’s 400 Million Dollar Summer

  Rick is a baseball-obsessed twelve-year-old who moves to Oregon to help take care of his grandfather, but ends up learning unexpected truths about his family and how they mysteriously parallel the Japanese folktale of the fisherman Urashima Taro.

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  Incredible: Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders Who Changed the World

  Incredible introduces some of the vast number of Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders who have made significant and lasting change in the world, including groundbreaking journalist Connie Chung, first Asian American Congressman Dalip Singh Saund, and renowned singer/activist Israel Kaʻanoʻi Kamakawiwoʻole.

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  Wat Takes His Shot: The Life & Legacy of Basketball Hero Wataru Misaka

  Wat was a college student when the US government forced more than 122,000 Japanese Americans living on the West Coast into incarceration camps during WWII. He overcame racism and segregation to join his college’s basketball team, but he was treated as an outsider because he was Japanese American. After helping Utah University’s basketball team win…