BUYING ADVISORY: EL (K-3), EL - OPTIONAL
AUDIENCE APPEAL: AVERAGE
When Mai's father leaves to find a new home, Mai and her mother wait for his letters, until finally he tells them to come. They pack a small bag, walk through a swamp (where there might be alligators) and start a long journey. Hopefully Papa is at the end.
Based on the author's real-life experience leaving Vietnam with her mother in 1983. Thi Bui, the illustrator is also an immigrant from Vietnam a few years earlier. The story is poignant, with illustrations of wading through waist high water, climbing a cargo net to get on a ship, and feeling weak from hunger. I like having picture books about the immigration experience, and this is the first I've read from Vietnam.
Lisa Librarian
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