Meet Asian Pacific American Hero Margaret Cho

I knew about Margaret Cho from the TV show that she starred in when I was a kid but I hadn’t really followed stand up comedians. When I asked my husband which Asian Americans I should include in my book, he immediately suggested Margaret Cho and totally went to bat for her. I had no idea he was such a big fan. He is much more in the know of stand up comedians than I am!

I was unfamiliar with her background and had no idea where she grew up in a Japanese American neighborhood, like my own mother. Her parents owned an LGBTQ independent bookstore in San Francisco. Right there … that’s a story that you don’t hear about every day in the Asian American community. But it gets even more dramatic. The AIDS crisis happened when she was a teenager and it rocked her close-knit community. She talks about it here:

Did you know that Margaret Cho began her stand up career fundraising for AIDs research?! All this and more in Asian Pacific American Heroes. It’s available on the Scholastic Website and through Scholastic Bookclubs flyers.

p.s. All my Asian American Book Lists for Kids are here with some specific ethnicities broken out.

40+ Asian American Book Lists for Kids

Asian American
Korean American
Japanese American
Chinese American
South Asian American

My books:

Amazon / Signed or Inscribed by Me

Barbed Wire Between Us by Mia Wenjen, illustrated by Violeta Encarnación

⭐ Starred review from Kirkus
⭐ Starred review from Publishers Weekly
⭐ Starred review from School Library Journal
Kirkus: The Most Anticipated Children’s Books of Spring 2026

Amazon / Signed or Inscribed by Me

Fortune Cookies for Everyone! (Smithsonian): The Surprising Story of the Tasty Treat We Love to Eat

California Eureka Non-Fiction Gold Award
Junior Library Guild Gold Selection
Notable Social Studies Trade Books for Young People Winner (from National Council for the Social Studies and Children’s Book Council)

The Traveling Taco: The Amazing and Surprising Journey of Many of Your Favorite Foods

California Eureka Non-Fiction Silver Award
Notable Social Studies Trade Books for Young People Winner (from National Council for the Social Studies and Children’s Book Council)
Reading Rockets’ Summer Reading Guide 2025

Amazon / Signed or Inscribed by Me

We Sing from the Heart: How the Slants® Took Their Fight for Free Speech to the Supreme Court

ALSC Notable Children’s Book
2025 Carter G. Woodson Book Award Middle Level Honoree
Orbis Pictus Recommended Book for Outstanding Nonfiction for Children
2024 Julia Ward Howe Prize for Children’s Literature Winner
California Eureka Non-Fiction Award Honor Book
Notable Social Studies Trade Books for Young People Winner (from National Council for the Social Studies and Children’s Book Council)
Bank Street Best Children’s Books of the Year 2025
Recommended Reading for the Social Justice Literature Award 2025 (International Literacy Association)
Pennsylvania Mountain Laurel Book Award Nominee 2026-27
Junior Library Guild Gold Selection