Ah, the protagonist. The most important aspect of any novel, and sometimes the most challenging. But love ’em or hate ’em, without a protagonist, there’s no story. And the best protagonists, of course, are the ones that either speak to your human experience, elevating it in some way, or the ones that open your eyes to the experiences of others in a way you had never thought of before. Finding That Hero(ine), the one that makes you fall in love with them, that you cheer for and cry for, that you yell loudly at from your office at lunch time, that you think about long after the book has closed, is an indescribably amazing feeling.

So! With that in mind, here are a few (…and then some) awesome Asian American protagonists in YA literature! From the kickass to the troubled, from gay to straight, boys to girls to somewhere in between, from the ambitious, and the humorous, to the stoic, and even more that don’t fit in boxes, no matter how much people try to make them, these teen characters are ones we think you won’t easily forget.

Now, as we all know, Asia is a vast continent with an incredible variety of countries, languages, customs, and so forth. Naturally, I’ve tried to include as many titles as possible from each region. Sadly, I have not read every book on this list, though you can probably guess what I’ll be doing from now until the end of the summer, at least!

A couple of other notes on Asian American protagonists before we start. One, this is a list about protagonists who are definitively Asian American, and can lift up that experience. If you’re looking for books by these or other authors whose protagonists were born in their motherland or a different country, I highly recommend you check out places like Asian YA on tumblr, or lists on Goodreads, which will give you some amazing books by Asian American writers (and a few others) that are about characters from their countries of origin or elsewhere! Second, this also goes for sci-fi/fantasy novels (though there are definitely some sprinkled in this list!). In any books where the protagonist’s nationality was either a) a totally made-up world, b) a totally different planet or c) some combination therein, I decided not to include them, because, well, can a character be American if America doesn’t exist in the book?

Alright! Are you ready? Ink you pens, revv your engines, and get ready for your TBR lists to explode, ‘cause here we go!

East Asian American Protagonists

Southeast Asian American Protagonists

South Asian American Protagonists

West Asian American Protagonists

Whew! I hope you found a few (give or take fifty) books to add to your to-be-read lists! Obviously, readers, this is by no means an exhaustive set of Asian American protagonists in YA. Any books in this list that you love? Any I forgot to put in here? Let me know!

Want even more young adult recommendations?