Book Review: Teaching Asian America in Elementary Classrooms

Teaching Asian America in Elementary Classrooms is a book for teachers wanting to bring Asian American Studies into their teaching; teacher educators; ethnic studies teachers in elementary grades; and ESL, bilingual, and dual immersion teachers with Asian American students who are thirsting for content knowledge to create more culturally sustaining curriculum.The three authors of Teaching Asian America in Elementary Classrooms are researchers in social studies education, former K-12 teachers, and current teacher educators.Their perspectives reflect immigrant, first-generation, adult international student, and U.S.-born Asian American understandings of the absenting of Asian American communities and histories in the U.S. curriculum."Asian American" is used to reference a broader sociopolitical history (Lee, 2015).The authors themselves bring personal knowledge as teachers and scholars from South Asian, Filipinx, Korean, and Chinese origin families in the United States.In general, there is a lack of resources and representation for Asian American Studies in K-12 and this is the first book of its kind for the elementary setting.There is also a lack of resources for elementary ethnic studies, which this book does good work to begin to offer.I'd also suggest this book to elementary teachers who recognize the absence of Asian American representation in their curriculum, regardless of the backgrounds of their students.