In Watercress, after a Chinese American family spot the titular greens growing by the side of the road, they pull their car over to pick some. The moment awakens feelings of joy in the parents—immigrants nursing fraught memories of their homeland—and resentment in their daughter, who wonders what passersby will think. Watercress is a source of shame for a child weary of “hand-me-down clothes / and roadside trash-heap furniture and / now, / dinner from a ditch.” But when Mom opens up about the hardships of life in China, the young protagonist sees her parents with newfound empathy.
Although author Andrea Wang drew from childhood experiences for this deeply personal tale, she didn’t learn about the poverty and famine her mother had endured until she was older—something she regrets. “I think it’s really important for families to share what they can,” she told NPR, so “kids [will] know that history and can feel a sense of pride in their culture.”
In his acceptance speech for the Caldecott Medal, illustrator Jason Chin noted that grateful readers had told him and Wang how much the book had resonated with them. “Stories give young readers the context and language with which to understand their own lives,” he said. More than that, Watercress allows older and younger generations to understand one another a little better—and to truly see each other.
Mahnaz Dar is a young readers’ editor.
