The May Book Project (MBP) is an Asian American youth literature guide for ALL readers. It was inspired by Asian American high schoolers who were ignored after asking several school libraries for more AAPI representation in celebration of Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander Heritage Month, which is May.
https://www.veryasianfoundation.org/may-book-project
These students told The Very Asian Foundation (VAF) they felt unseen where it counted but hypervisible in their communities. They had experiences of going to the grocery store and being told to "go back to their country" or got harassed over "Kung Flu". They explained this was taking a toll on their mental health during a time when anti-Asian hate was on the rise, and when mental health resources were either unsupported by their families or unavailable. Suicide is now the leading cause of death in Asian American youth, the only demographic who faces this challenging statistic.
VAF convened a group of national scholars, the Asian Pacific American Librarians Association (APALA), the Asian Author Alliance, the nonprofit We Need Diverse Books, and other educators, illustrators, parents, and community builders to build the MBP.
Together, we came up with a high-quality, vetted booklist of about 250 books consisting of picture books, early readers, middle grade, young adult, and adult crossover titles. The MBP includes an academic rubric to help librarians evaluate their collection (ie: encourages librarians to use a critical eye on books that have slanted eyes in either illustration or text.) APALA also produced a resource toolkit for the project.
And finally, VAF buys books for at-need libraries -- that's where this project comes in! And we've discovered most libraries are at-need-- from being designated Title 1 to being defunded, or being underrepresented.
We donate books, host book events at the schools with swag bags and book readings, bring award-winning authors to communities, and host listening circles to give older students a safe place to talk about belonging, challenges, and ways to encourage each other.
Our donations reached more than 10,000 US students in the program's first 5 months of delivery.
We have found that all school students are excited about the opportunity to see a reflection of themselves in their libraries, and we've learned that almost every library has an underrepresented viewpoint of Asian and Asian American experiences -- even in schools with a majority-minority API student population.
In education, we talk about mirrors and windows. It is crucial that readers see both reflections of their lives as well as windows into the lives of others.
This is a non-partisan project about choice and celebration. Libraries choose books that work for their patrons. Not only do we believe it's important to highlight Asian culture, but it's imperative to have main characters who just so happen to be Asian.
We, as a journalist-founded organization, believe that our job is to help solve problems. Our mission is to shine a light on Asian experiences through advocacy and celebration. We reach Asians all around the globe with the hashtag #veryasian and are proudly unique!
