It feels like it is finally summer. Including the longer days for lounging with paper books or audiobooks. Summer is also when I hit my public library to pick up a summer book bingo board and challenge myself to find some new and interesting books to fit their categories. Some of the categories on the Seattle Public Library and Seattle Arts & Lecture bingo board include: Joyful, Includes a Recipe, Recommended by an Independent Bookseller, Translated, Manga or Graphic Novel, Audio or E-Book, and so many other good categories.

Here are a few summer reading recommendations that might fill your summer reading goals too.

*The links below take you to my Bookshop affiliate page. If you order Fakequity gets a small amount back which goes into buying POC authored books or books about disabilities to donate to predominately POC schools or youth programs.

Sal & Gabi Break the Universe – This book is filling the ‘joyful’ square on my summer book bingo board. It is a hilarious middle grades novel featuring two Latine students who are not likely to become friends but circumstances and a bit of magic bring them together. Sal and Gabi explore alternative universes, a bit of magic, a dead chicken, Sal’s diabetes, and Gabi’s odd-family arrangements. I listened to it on audiobook and it made my walks very enjoyable. I can’t wait to read the second book.

Chinatown Pretty – Gotta love the Asian elders and their fashion. The book also touches upon cultural neighborhoods, which helped me appreciate Seattle’s Chinatown/International District even more. CID is now labeled a threatened cultural neighborhood and this book helps to remind us why we need to preserve neighborhoods for their rich history and more importantly the people of the neighborhoods. This will fill my recommended by a bookseller bingo box since I saw it on display at Third Place Books.

Miracle & Wonder by Malcolm Gladwell was another audiobook. I scoured a list of good audiobooks and had put this on hold at the library, when it popped up as ready to borrow I thought “Why did I put a book about an old-white-singer on my list,” but decided to give it a try and I’m glad I did. Malcolm Gladwell wove together a fascinating story about how Paul Simon grew into his music and has stayed relevant as a musician for decades. As an audiobook, it is fascinating since it includes their conversations and music. It is truly a book only Gladwell could weave together.

I wanted to eat Mayumu, like I wished the cookbook was in 3D and edible. The Filipino American desserts in this cookbook are colorful, playful, imaginative, but yet still down to earth. The recipes look doable and delicious. I also appreciate the author is practical in a way more bougie cookbook authors have moved away from. Such as in the opening Abi Balingit included a line about sharing a kitchen with roommates – I’ve never seen any other cookbook author acknowledge they have to share a kitchen with non-family members.

‘Olelo No’eau: Hawaiian Proverbs & Poetical Sayings is filling my translated bingo book box. I found it while wandering through the library. I saw it and flipped through it and decided it had to come home with me so I could study it more. ‘Olelo – Native Hawaiian language, is having a resurgence after being nearly wiped out due to missionaries in Hawai’i and white influence. Seeing this book and reading it helped me have a deeper appreciation for indigenous languages and gratitude for the movement to keep them alive.

For the Indigenous author square I have Project 562 on that box. This book is gorgeous and so much more than a coffee table book. It tells so much about Indigenous people in the US and the diversity within Native communities. This is a book only a Native person could bring to life and we’re lucky the author did it for us to learn from, it is a gift we don’t deserve.

I can’t get this picture book out of my head, Can We Please Give the Police Department to the Grandmothers? I picked it up at a bookstore and read it while standing at the shelf. I then came home and googled the title and found the author started it as a poem that became a book. The premise of the book is exactly what the title says and takes us into an alternative universe that should be much more of a reality in modern America. I’ve used it with groups to demonstrate how we can envision something different and the language we use to talk about race is important. Pick it up and read it, so good.

My kid LOVES graphic novels and manga. She’s given me assigned reading this summer. On her list of graphic novels I have to read are: City of Dragons Book 1, Tidesong for the sea creatures square on the bingo board, and Parachute Kids. All of these are by Asian authors. I may assign her (which never works, but if I covertly leave it lying around) When Stars are Scattered she may pick it up. When Stars Are Scattered is a very good graphic novel sharing the author’s immigrant journey from a refugee camp in Kenya and his brother’s disability.

Sí, Se Puede: The Latino Heroes Who Changed the United States isn’t released yet, but I was lucky to see a preview copy online. It is a great book talking about Latino history in the US in a graphic novel format. Once it is out I plan on borrowing it from the library or buying my own copy to really read it more deeply. I wish it was out now so I could read it during the summer but I’ll wait.

I hope you find some good new POC authored books or books about disabilities to fill your summer reading list. There are so many more I didn’t list, stay tuned I’ll share them in the future.

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