Hello AACP Newsletter Readers.

Looks like I’m really really late with this newsletter. Sorry about that. Lots of things happening and we just couldn’t get the June newsletter out in June. So hopefully we’ll have two newsletters in July (kind of like having two full moons in the same month). The web version of this newsletter will still be labeled as the June newsletter. So if at some point in the future, you want to look for this newsletter in the archive, you’ll find it as the June 2026 newsletter.

Anyway, on with this editor’s message.

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Happy 250th anniversary of the United States!

If we live long enough, most people will only experience two of these jubilee celebrations (anniversaries falling 50 years apart) in their life. I was around for the Bicentennial in 1976. That anniversary year was a really big deal – countries from around the world even shared in our celebration, including with major gifts like large bells. Are we just not feeling very celebratory this year? For those of you that are feeling down about things, don’t lose hope or give up. Keep working to make things better for everyone. Be a force for good. Spend this 4th of July with your loved ones and make it memorable.

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Okay, for this newsletter we have the latest installment of our AAPI summer travel series articles. The places we chose were places we visited this past April in Southern California. As a native Northern Californian, we don’t usually care much for the southern half of the state (especially when it comes to rooting for sports teams :), but there are interesting things to see in the Los Angeles area.

One of the places that we wrote about is the site of the largest bell in California, Angels Gate Park in San Pedro. The Korean Friendship Bell weighs 17 times as much as the Liberty Bell and was gifted to the United States fifty years ago to celebrate the Bicentennial. They only ring this bell on special occasions such as the 4th of July. So if you’re looking for something to do on that day with an AAPI connection, check out their special celebration.

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Since we are running late, I won’t go into this month’s book selection at length. One of the featured children’s book titles pretty much sums up how I feel about our selection this month, “I Want to Read All the Books.” This month’s book selection is the first set of books for our summer reading suggestions. So if you don’t see anything you’d like to read from this month’s selection, stay tuned for our following months’ book selections.

The book that I am most curious about is Lisa See’s new book called “Daughters of the Sun and Moon.” The book takes place in Los Angeles around the time of the Chinese Massacre in 1871. One of the places that we suggest to go to in our travel article is to see the plaque that memorializes this massacre.

A book from this month's selection called “Wild Song” is another historical fiction novel. This one is about a girl who was among the Filipinos that were on exhibit at the 1904 Saint Louis World’s Fair.

Two of our books, “Boomi’s Boombox” and “Throwback,” deal with time travel and meeting your parents when they were younger.

“A Two-Placed Heart” is a story about an immigrant Vietnamese girl trying to preserve the past through her poetry writing, both for herself and for her sister. She even records her experience of immigrating to Tennessee.

“Navigating Night” also sounds interesting. It’s a children’s book about a girl who goes on trips with her dad to deliver Chinese takeout food. She dislikes the trips, but starts to bond with her father.

That’s all I have time for. Please check out all of our selection for the month. We hope there’s something there that you’ll want to read this summer.

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Thank you, Claire, for your help with this month’s article and for the journey we shared.

Thank you, Jason. Apologies again for not being able to use your article for this month.

Thanks for your feedback, Philip.

Have a wonderful holiday weekend, everyone!