Celebrating Asian American Native Hawai’ian Pacific Islander Heritage Month with Comic Books for Kids, by Angela Frederick

May is recognized as Asian American, Native Hawai’ian Pacific Islander Heritage Month each year. It highlights AANHPI history, culture and contributions to American society. In honor of this heritage, I am going to feature some AANHPI authors and illustrators of comic books for young readers. Put them on your radar now.

Jannie Ho

Jannie was born in Hong Kong and raised in Philadelphia. She is the author and illustrator of multiple picture and board books, and also the cartoonist for Chickengirlcomics. She is the illustrator of the FRY GUY comic books, and her latest is THE LOST MITTEN. You can find her website here.

SJ Sindu

SJ is a Tamil diaspora author. She is a professor and novelist, and the author of SHAKTI, a middle grade comic book illustrated by Nabi H. Ali. SHAKTI is the story of being the new kid at school and dealing with bullies, and also draws on Hindi mythology. Read more about SJ here. Photo credit to Sarah Bodri.

Betty C. Tang 

Betty was born in Taiwan and arrived in America as a parachute kid. She has worked as an animator for Dreamworks and Disney and is now a middle grade comic book author and illustrator. Her latest work, PARACHUTE KIDS, is based on her own experience. Learn more here.

Dora Wang

Dora is a Chinese-American artist living in Los Angeles. She has interned at Nickelodeon and Dreamworks. Volume one of her graphic novel series POCKET PEACHES was published last year, and volume two is due in October 2024. Connect with Dora here.

Susie Yi

Susie Yi did not set out to be an illustrator. She was working a tech job when she decided to follow her passion for drawing comics. Her CAT & CAT ADVENTURES series has four volumes with two more forthcoming. A SKY OF PAPER STARS is her latest publication. Susie’s website is here.

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