Diverse Recommendations Pt. 1

Diversity has become a huge topic in the world today especially in the book community. I totally support diversity being a Chinese born American and thought I would recommend some of my favorite diverse reads. These are only some of them since I have so many more. Yes there will be a part two coming who knows when, but it will come.


The two books I am recommending are both by the same author and those books are Simon Vs. The Homo Sapiens Agenda and the Upside of Unrequited both by Becky Albertalli. Simon is becoming a movie called Love, Simon, which I am extremely excited to watch. Simon follows a boy name Simon who is not openly gay and the only person who knows is a boy he calls blue and they email each other constantly. This is such a cute book and I love it so much. The Upside of Unrequited follows a girl name Molly who has many unrequited crushes. This book is full of diversity and the main character has two moms. Both of these feature characters from the LGBTQ+ community and Upside has a Korean American or half Korean character. I don't remember but I do remember she is pansexual.


The next book I am recommending is George by Alex Gino and this book is a middle grade novel and it features a main character who is transgender. This book is about George and her school is having a play of Charlotte web and she wants to play Charlotte. The teacher however says she can't try out for the part because she is a boy. I love this book mainly for the fact that so many people respect George or who she is and it is such a cute book and super easy to read as well. If you are looking for a quick diverse read definitely pick this one up. I have not seen many people talk about it online and it is one of my must read .


The next book is one of my all time favorites and that is Warcross by Marie Lu. I need the next book since the day I finished Warcross. The main character is Asian american and most of the story takes place in Japan. We follow a girl name Emika and she is a bounty hunter tracking those who use the game Warcross illegally. When she is is a tough spot for money she hacks into the Warcross opening games trying to make herself some quick cash and accidentally glitches herself into the game. Instead of being arrested, she is contacted by the creator of the game and offered a trip to Japan to meet him as well as a job for finding someone who may be trying to ruin and destroy the Warcross games. This book is often compared to Ready Player One and I personally did not like that book, but I still love this one so if you are not a fan of Ready Player One still pick this one up. I love the characters and the story so much and even though it was predictable I still have no idea what is going to happen next in the second book.



A really underrated diverse book is Love Hate and Other Filters by Samira Ahmed. This book took me by surprise on how much I liked it. This book own voices following a girl who is an Indian American Muslim teen. The main character, Maya, wants to attend film school in New York while he parents want he to attend school near home, have a "practical" job, and marry a Muslim boy. One day there is a terrorist attack and Maya shares the last name with the main suspect. She is treated differently even though she never knew or saw him in her entire life. This book does deal with the topic of Islamophobia which is very relevant, sadly, in today's society. This book is own voices and talks about an important subject that more people should be educated on. I highly recommend it.


The next book is also an own voices book and I am an own voices reviewer for it and that is American Panda by Gloria Chao. Both the main character and I are a Taiwanese American. We follow Mei who is attending MIT, studying to be a doctor. She does not like anything with germs which is a big problem if she is going to be a doctor. Her parents are very strict and want the best for her, making sure she has a "practical" job and marries another Taiwanese man. Mei however has a crush on someone who is not Taiwanese. She does not want to disappoint he family as well. This book teaches a lot of people about the Taiwanese culture for those unfamiliar. I personally did not really learn that much, but I had a lot of I know what that is moments which I loved.

Those are only some diverse recommendations I have to share. There are so many more that I want to recommend but this post will be super long if I put every one of them on here. There will be a part 2 and maybe a part 3 and 4 since there are so many diverse books I need to read and so many new ones coming out! Thank you so much for reading. Hopefully you all found a new diverse book to add to your TBR.