Auntie ­Kristina’s Guide to Asian American Activism

Gr 4-8–Comedian and activist Wong, aka Auntie Kristina, narrates this guide for young readers to learn about the history of Asian American activists and start their own activist work. Innovatively structured, it not only introduces readers to Asian American communities, but engages them in actively learning more about their world and history. From defining the Asian American community to looking at intersectionality and counter-story, this text serves as a handbook for young readers. Each chapter contains short biographies of Asian Americans who represent the chapter’s theme, text messages from teens discussing their own activism, and various interactive elements such as “Smarts and Crafts” for readers to research and create, “Reverse Engineer a Revolution” for readers interested in finding and exploring data, and “Call to Action” to get readers involved. The interactive elements don’t include spaces for readers to write in—good news for libraries—instead listing materials needed for each prompt. Each chapter ends with readers receiving a patch for completing the work around the theme. The colorful layout and distinct chapter projects make this book one that can be used not only to learn about Asian Americans, but to get readers to see the larger structural issues behind racism and other issues in Asian American communities.