Why Southeast Asian Kids Are Underrepresented in Children's Books (And What Parents Can Do)

Southeast Asian Americans — Filipino, Vietnamese, Thai, Indonesian, Cambodian, Laotian, Hmong, Burmese, Malaysian, Singaporean — make up a significant share of the Asian American population. Filipino Americans alone are the third-largest Asian American group. Vietnamese Americans are the fourth. Combined, Southeast Asian Americans number in the millions.

Yet mainstream American children’s publishing treats Southeast Asia as effectively invisible. This post examines why, what the numbers actually show, and what parents can do to close the gap.

The numbers

The Cooperative Children’s Book Center at the University of Wisconsin–Madison tracks diversity in US children’s books annually. Their findings on Asian American representation consistently show:

• Asian American protagonists appear in around 7–9% of children’s books published each year
• Within that Asian American representation, East Asian protagonists (particularly Chinese, Japanese, Korean) dominate
• Southeast Asian protagonists appear in a tiny fraction of all published children’s books each year — estimated at less than 1% by some measures
• Vietnamese, Filipino, Thai, Cambodian, Laotian, and other specific Southeast Asian backgrounds are each represented in a handful of new titles per year

The rate of new Southeast Asian American children’s books reaching the market is measurable in dozens per year across the entire category — a small fraction of the representational need.

Why this happens

Several structural reasons:

Mainstream publishers assume small markets. Publishers look at Asian American as a single market segment rather than recognizing that Filipino, Vietnamese, Thai, and other communities are each large, distinct, and under-served.

East Asian authorship has been more established. Chinese, Japanese, and Korean American authors have a longer publishing history in the US, simply because those immigrant populations arrived earlier in significant numbers. Southeast Asian authorship is catching up but from a smaller base.

Editors lack cultural fluency. Few US children’s book editors have deep knowledge of Southeast Asian cultures. Submissions get passed over because editors don’t know how to evaluate them or market them.

Libraries and schools under-request these books. A chicken-and-egg problem: librarians don’t stock books that haven’t been published, and publishers don’t publish books that aren’t being requested.

What this does to Southeast Asian American kids

The impact of under-representation is well-documented. Children who don’t see themselves in books read less, engage less, and develop weaker reading identities. Southeast Asian American kids often experience:

• Feeling invisible in classroom reading selections
• Being lumped in with broader “Asian” representation that doesn’t actually reflect their families
• Having no grandparent-figures in books who look like their grandparents
• Having no traditional holidays represented in their classroom reading calendars

The cumulative effect over an elementary career is that Southeast Asian American kids learn — implicitly — that their heritage is a footnote.

What parents can do

1. Build the shelf yourself

Since you can’t rely on the library, you have to curate. A few key sources:

• Small Southeast Asian-focused publishers: Tuttle Publishing (broader Asian focus), Immedium (Filipino and Chinese focus), Adarna House (Philippines-based, limited US distribution)
• Authors: Erin Entrada Kelan (Filipino), Thanhha Lai (Vietnamese), Candy Gourlay (Filipino British), Thai Moua (Hmong)
• Bilingual resources: Pratham Books (StoryWeaver has free Southeast Asian language stories), Tagalog and Vietnamese small publishers

2. Request books at your library

Most public libraries take purchase requests. A written request for a Filipino or Vietnamese children’s book often gets fulfilled. Do this multiple times a year. It shifts library buying patterns.

3. Ask your child’s teacher

Many teachers are open to adding diverse titles to their classroom library — they just don’t know what to buy. Bring them a specific recommendation. Suggest pairing a well-known holiday book with a lesser-known one from a Southeast Asian tradition.

4. Support Southeast Asian authors directly

When Erin Entrada Kelan or Thanhha Lai publishes a book, buy it new, review it online, recommend it to friends. Signal demand.

5. Make personalized books

When the market can’t provide a book where your Filipino, Vietnamese, Thai, or Cambodian kid is the hero — make it yourself.

At Akoni Books, we make personalized storybooks where your child is the illustrated main character. Nine art styles, dozens of themes, any heritage. Your Filipino or Vietnamese or Thai kid becomes the hero of their own book in about five minutes.

Create a personalized book starring your Southeast Asian child →

Specific gaps to fill in your home library

Books that don’t exist in enough quantity in mainstream publishing:

• Vietnamese grandmother (bà) stories — beyond the few in print
• Thai family celebration books
• Filipino folktale picture books (these exist but are hard to find in the US)
• Hmong storytelling books
• Cambodian refugee family stories for kids
• Indonesian and Malaysian children’s picture books (almost nonexistent in US market)

If you have connections or family in these communities, consider sourcing children’s books when you visit. Or work with publishers in those countries who sometimes offer direct shipping.

The longer game

The under-representation of Southeast Asian kids in American children’s publishing is slowly changing. Erin Entrada Kelan won the Newbery Medal. Thanhha Lai won a Newbery Honor. More authors are breaking through.

But the pace is still far too slow. Parents can’t wait for the market to catch up. You have to build the library yourself.

And when you can’t find a book where your kid is the hero, you can make one.

Starting small

One book a month from a Southeast Asian author. One personalized book starring your own kid. One library request per season. One teacher recommendation per school year.

Over three years, that’s roughly 36 new Southeast Asian books on your child’s shelf — which is more than most mainstream American libraries carry in total.

Your kid’s reading life will be fundamentally different because of your curation. The next generation of Southeast Asian American readers will know they belong in stories — because their parents made sure they did.

Start tonight with one book.