The company was founded by Stacy Whitman in 2009 as Tu Publishing before being acquired by Lee & Low in 2010.

[4] Tu Publishing was founded in Orem, Utah, by Stacy Whitman as an independent young adult and middle grade fiction science fiction and fantasy book publisher through a Kickstarter campaign in December 2009.

[7][8] After being laid off from Mirrorstone Books, and having many discussions regarding under-representation of people of color in published works, Whitman founded it to be "a small press dedicated to YA fantasy and science fiction featuring characters of color.

"[7][9] After the Kickstarter successfully funded the startup, Lee & Low Books acquired the company in March 2010, changed its name to Tu Books, and moved operations to the Lee & Low offices in New York City.

Summer of the Mariposas, by Guadalupe Garcia McCall, was nominated for the Andre Norton Award in 2013.