Book Review: Auntie Kristina’s Guide to Asian American Activism

The term Asian American covers a huge number of people from different nations, cultural backgrounds, languages and food traditions. While we might think of Chinese, Japanese and Korean people first, it also encompasses native Hawaiians and people from the Pacific Islands, people from India and Southeast Asia to name a few.

All of those places and traditions come with different histories, stereotypes and struggles, and young people in the Asian American community can have difficulties understanding their history in this country (since it still often isn’t taught), how they fit with other Asian Americans and what that identity means to them.

Artist and writer Kristina Wong (along with Theodore Chao, Anna Michelle Wang and Jenessa Joffe) encourages young people to learn about their cultural history, get involved with Asian American groups in their community and find their place in the community whether as an activist, an artist or simply someone who knows where they came from and why they should be proud of that.

Auntie Kristina’s Guide to Asian American Activism is written in the voice of Auntie Kristina, Wong’s character in Radical Cram School, a web series about Asian American history and activism. The book covers topics like defining the community, learning history, telling your story, intersectionality, allyship, being a leader and a global citizen, as well as self-care for young (and older!) activists.

Each chapter includes profiles of young rebels and “auntie heroes,” a creative project and a STEM themed project, a call to action, writing prompts for your diary-ah and a fun drawn patch to commemorate what you’ve learned.

The book doesn’t take itself too seriously and works hard to draw young people in, with discussions presented as text messages, colorful illustrations and hands on projects, as well as encouragement to start where you are rather than trying to take on the whole world at once. And while the book centers Asian American rebels, history and lived experiences, this book would be a good read for allies and those in other marginalized groups to think about how they relate to their own histories and what they would like to change in the world.

This would be a great one for school libraries and for teachers of kids in this age group (the target audience is 10-14 but I think older kids might like it, too) to consider classroom activities for AAPI month (that’s May!) or any other time you want to work on projects centering social change and how kids can change the world.

About the book: 236 pages, hardcover. Published 2026 by Beaming Books. Suggested retail price $19.99.

Learning numbers actually involves a few different skills, from recognizing the shape of the number and knowing the word that goes with it to understanding one to one correspondence for counting and what order the numbers go in.

A lot of this is learned best through play and activities that get kids counting and tracing and otherwise interacting with numbers. These activities can help.

I specifically mentioned tracing above because of these number formation rhymes cards from Teaching Mama, which can be used in lots of ways to practice making the shapes of the numbers, including tracing, lining up items on the number shapes (and counting them!), using playdough to shape the numbers and so on. Each number has a little rhyme to help you remember how to make it, which is cute.

And speaking of playdough, you can find lots of playdough number mats with different themes for kids to use as they learn about numbers. Preschool Play and Learn, for example, has these cute apple themed ones that also teach one to one correspondence as you learn the numbers and count to 10.

Or use these tree-themed ones from Live Over Cs to form the numbers, count out items on a ten frame and place the correct number of items in the tree to match the number (do this with playdough, little buttons or whatever manipulatives you have on hand). Your little builders will also love these Duplo number mats from Life Over Cs, which allow you to shape the number out of blocks and count out the number of blocks that corresponds to each number.

I also love these mats from The Savvy Sparrow that include the number and the word you can trace with playdough or marker, showing how to count the number on your fingers, a tens frame and a number line.

Finger plays and counting songs are lots of fun for little ones, too, and Childhood 101 has a great collection of songs and rhymes having to do with numbers (as well as printable song cards you can use with them.

This cardboard roll number chain form Hands On As We Grow would be a fun addition to singing number songs or to use in other play and counting games. And we all love something easy to make with stuff we already have.

Older kids who already know the order of numbers can also use these connect the dot number printables from Fun Learning for Kids. Or use the shapes for playdough mats or to practice tracing even for kids who don’t know all the numbers in order yet.

Have you read?

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