cover image I am Hapa!/Soy hapa/wo shi Hapa

I am Hapa!/Soy hapa/wo shi Hapa

Crystal Smith, photos by Michael Satoshi Garcia. East West Discovery, $16.95 (24p) ISBN 978-0-9913454-6-5

In an uplifting celebration of multicultural families, children who are Hapa, or of partial Asian or Pacific Islander descent, appear in joyful photographs, accompanied by short phrases in English, Spanish, and Chinese. Emphasizing identity, each sentence begins with the phrase “I am Hapa, and,” set against white backgrounds on the left side of each spread. One boy sits behind a plate of sushi and grapes (“I am Hapa, and I eat all kinds of foods”), two other children play with a rubber duck (“I am Hapa, and I love to share”), and a closing series of family portraits shows the children with their parents, another reminder of the diversity within the Hapa umbrella. Ages 3–5. (Sept.)