A poignant reflection on one refugee’s experience.
Members of a family leave their country behind in search of a new home.
Although the young narrator was born after the end of a long war, the family still leads an uneasy existence. They face ramifications for having been on the losing side: “Every day felt like it could be our last,” the protagonist confides. And so, Mum sells the family’s possessions for gold and negotiates for passage out, and they make the dangerous trek under the cover of darkness to a tiny boat. Rations are limited, heavy rains create tumultuous waves, and a mechanical failure occurs. But hope lies ahead. Drawing from her own experiences as a young child fleeing Vietnam with her family, Thai recounts an affecting story of the impact of war and displacement. Lingering trauma and guilt surface at times, but the book closes on a note of hope and gratitude as the family sits down to a New Year’s meal. Though much has changed, the narrative comes full circle to emphasize what has remained the same: the family’s love. Taking on dramatic angles and making expert use of visual metaphor, Dao’s expressive artwork captures the family’s complex emotions. While the story is rooted in the Vietnamese diaspora of the 1970s and 1980s, it’s a tale that will resonate with many; as Thai explains in her author’s note, hers was one of millions, and the number of refugees and displaced people has only grown substantially since.
A poignant reflection on one refugee’s experience. (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: March 18, 2025
ISBN: 9781536239607
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: Nov. 23, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2025
A well-meaning but lackluster tribute.
Readers bid farewell to a beloved canine character.
Momo is—or was—an adorable and very photogenic border collie owned by author Knapp. The many readers who loved him in the previous half-dozen books are in for a shock with this one. “Momo had died” is the stark reality—and there are no photographs of him here. Instead, Momo has been replaced by a flat cartoonish pastiche with strange, staring round white eyes, inserted into some of Knapp’s photography (which remains appealing, insofar as it can be discerned under the mixed media). Previous books contained few or no words. Unfortunately, virtuosity behind a lens does not guarantee mastery of verse. The art here is accompanied by words that sometimes rhyme but never find a workable or predictable rhythm (“We’d fetch and we’d catch, / we’d run and we’d jump. Every day we found new / games to play”). It’s a pity, because the subject—a pet’s death—is an important one to address with children. Of course, Momo isn’t gone; he can still be found “everywhere” in memories. But alas, he can be found here only in the crude depictions of the darling dog so well known from the earlier books.
A well-meaning but lackluster tribute. (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: Feb. 6, 2024
ISBN: 9781683693864
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Quirk Books
Review Posted Online: Nov. 4, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2023
BOOK REVIEW
A sweet and endearing feathered migration.
A relationship between a Latina grandmother and her mixed-race granddaughter serves as the frame to depict the ruby-throated hummingbird migration pattern.
In Granny’s lap, a girl is encouraged to “keep still” as the intergenerational pair awaits the ruby-throated hummingbirds with bowls of water in their hands. But like the granddaughter, the tz’unun—“the word for hummingbird in several [Latin American] languages”—must soon fly north. Over the next several double-page spreads, readers follow the ruby-throated hummingbird’s migration pattern from Central America and Mexico through the United States all the way to Canada. Davies metaphorically reunites the granddaughter and grandmother when “a visitor from Granny’s garden” crosses paths with the girl in New York City. Ray provides delicately hashed lines in the illustrations that bring the hummingbirds’ erratic flight pattern to life as they travel north. The watercolor palette is injected with vibrancy by the addition of gold ink, mirroring the hummingbirds’ flashing feathers in the slants of light. The story is supplemented by notes on different pages with facts about the birds such as their nest size, diet, and flight schedule. In addition, a note about ruby-throated hummingbirds supplies readers with detailed information on how ornithologists study and keep track of these birds.
A sweet and endearing feathered migration. (bibliography, index) (Picture book. 5-8)Pub Date: May 7, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-5362-0538-1
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: March 26, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2019
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