In the spirit of Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month (May), we join forces with three other Asian American authors to raise awareness and diversify school libraries with books by Asian Americans, for the diverse American kids.

Currently, less than 15% of books published feature an AAPI character. We, along with a rising number of self-publishers, are on a mission to change that. It all started when we met three other Asian American authors online, during the pandemic. Although we live in different states, these authors who are also creators, educators, parents, and entrepreneurs share the same goal and dream. Over the years, we remotely supported each other as we worked tirelessly to create uplifting, educational and fun books for young readers. We bonded over the shared love of the Oscar-winning movie “Everything Everywhere All At Once”, and came up with an idea that just made sense at the wee hours of the night — what if we join forces this year to send 500 books written by Asian American authors to school libraries all over the country? 

We are looking to raise $5000 to cover printing and shipping costs. The campaign runs from April 3rd - April 30th, 2023 on GoFundMe. Once funded, books (written in English) will be sent to different schools in Massachusetts, New York, New Jersey, Washington, and California during the month of May to support the schools’ AAPI curriculum, and AAPI Heritage Month celebrations. 

You can support our campaign, “Asian American Books Everywhere All At Once”, at https://www.gofundme.com/f/asian-american-books-everywhere-all-at-once

About the authors: 

• Yobe Qiu (byYobeQiu.com) - Award-winning and AAPI curriculum friendly picture books featuring Asian children, families and cultures. @byyobeqiu
  
  
• Serena Li (duckduckbooks.com) - award-winning, multilingual, social emotional learning books for kids (Pre-K - 2nd grade) @duckduckbooks
   
• Vincent Yee (clarawubooks.com) - an immersive award-winning 5-book YA fantasy series where Asian American teens love their boba as they fight Asian spawned demons to save the world. Recommended for all ages who love fantasy. @clarawubooks
  
  
• Tracy Guan (tangerineandjadepress.com) - children’s picture books that celebrate and uplift diverse narratives (Pre-K - 4th grade) @tangerineandjadepress

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UPDATE (May 1, 2023): As we ring in AAPI Heritage Month 2023, we have successfully raised $5,335.00! From the numerous school nominations, we’ve selected 20 schools across 5 states to donate books to. 

We are also beyond excited to share two incredible updates: 

• Our effort featuring the "Asian American Books Everywhere All At Once" campaign with Yobe Qiu, Vincent Yee, and Tracy Guan was highlighted as #5 of PR Newswire's national top 14 Policy & Public Interest News Stories!
  
  
• Serena Li (Duck Duck Books) and Yobe Qiu (ByYobeQiu) represented the group on The Kelly Clarkson Show (May 1, 2023).

Toward the end of the segment, Kelly Clarkson surprised us with an amazing news, sharing that Scholastic Inc. will be donating 1000 AAPI books to schools across the nation to join in our cause! Thank you ALL who have supported us in our mission and helping us reach our goal!