Pharmer’s Book ClubMay 2, 2025
One of the best ways to get in touch with any particular culture is through its stories. This May, in honor of Asian American and Pacific Islander Month, we’re giving you our recommendations for AAPI kid’s books that have a plant-based cooking or nature-loving theme.
Add them to your to-be-read list with the kids, or better yet, take a trip to your library and see if you can find them there! If your local library doesn’t have the title, support these authors by requesting their title be added to your community’s collection.
Sharing is caring! In this book, six-year-old Bilal introduces his friends to his favorite dish – daal. He’s helping his dad make this special meal, but the slow-cooked lentil dish from South Asia requires lots of ingredients and a whole lot of waiting. As the day goes on, the daal continues to simmer, and more kids join Bilal and his family, waiting to try the tasty dish. And as time passes, Bilal begins to wonder: Will his friends like it as much as he does? This charming picture book showcases the value of patience, teamwork, community, and sharing.
An immigrant family embarks on their first camping trip in the Midwest in this lively picture book by Ambreen Tariq, outdoors activist and founder of @BrownPeopleCamping on Instagram. In the story, Fatima Khazi sets up a tent with her father, builds a fire with her mother, and survives an eight-legged mutant spider (a daddy longlegs with an impressive shadow) with her sister. At the end of an adventurous day, the family snuggles inside one big tent, serenaded by the sounds of the forest. Ambreen Tariq's picture book debut, with cheerful illustrations by Stevie Lewis, is a rollicking family adventure, a love letter to the outdoors, and a reminder that public land belongs to all of us.
Bestselling author and host of Bravo's Top Chef and Hulu's Taste the Nation, Padma Lakshmi takes young readers on an intergenerational journey full of delicious flavors and fun food facts that celebrates a family's treasured recipes. Caldecott Honor-winning illustrator Juana Martinez-Neal brings this circle of women to life with vivid detail and warmth. Tomatoes for Neela lovingly affirms how we can connect to other cultures, as well as to our own, through food. As stated by author and food expert Padma Lakshmi, "Some of my fondest memories from childhood are of cooking with the women in my family. It is the foundation for all I have spent my life working on."
Fresh Off the Boat meets Junie B. Jones in this first novel in an adorable new chapter book series about Mindy Kim, a young Asian American girl who is starting a snack business! Mindy Kim just wants three things: a puppy, to fit in at her new school, and for her dad to be happy again. Getting all three things is a lot trickier than she thought. On her first day of school, Mindy’s school snack of dried seaweed isn’t exactly popular at the lunch table. Luckily, her new friend, Sally, makes the snacks seem totally delicious, so they decide to start the Yummy Seaweed Business to try and raise money for that puppy! See where the story goes – will Mindy find the courage to be herself?
This touching story brings together the joy of travel, getting in touch with your roots, and staying connected to family across long distances. In the story, eight-year-old Jasmine Toguchi doesn’t want summer to end! In this final book chronicling her family vacation in Japan, she visits Kyoto. Sad to see their trip coming to an end, in true Jasmine fashion, she hatches a plan – involving vegetable seeds, a pink flamingo, and lots of love – to feel connected to her Obaachan (grandmother) even when she’s back in the United States.
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