cover image Shining a Light: Celebrating 40 Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders Who Changed the World

Shining a Light: Celebrating 40 Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders Who Changed the World

Veeda Bybee, illus. by Victo Ngai. Versify, $17.99 (112p) ISBN 978-0-3585-3935-3

Bybee shares captivating stories about the achievements of 40 influential AAPI individuals, from celebrities such as Olympian Kristi Yamaguchi to less well-known individuals including businessman Look Tin Eli. Accompanied by extraordinary portraiture from Ngai, which strikingly situates the figures amid imagistic details, each one-page biographical entry is packed with personal tidbits that reveal the figures’ motivating forces. Arranged in chronological order, the entries begin with education reformer Yung Wing and end with Olympian Sunisa “Suni” Lee. Words and illustrations movingly dovetail in this essential compendium that aims, per an introduction, to show young readers “that they too can stand up and shape the world around them.” Ages 8–12. (Mar.)