Magic Fish by Trung Le Nguyen

OVERVIEW:

Tien and his mother may come from different cultures—she’s an immigrant from Vietnam still struggling with English; he’s been raised in America—but through the fairy tales he checks out from the local library, those differences are erased.

But as much as Tien’s mother’s English continues to improve as he reads her tales of love, loss, and travel across distant shores, there’s one conversation that still eludes him—how to come out to her and his father. Is there even a way to explain what he’s going through in Vietnamese? And without a way to reveal his hidden self, how will his parents ever accept him?

This beautifully illustrated graphic novel speaks to the complexity of family and how stories can bring us together even when we don’t know the words.

REVIEW:

The intertwining of classic fantasy storytelling like The Little Mermaid paired nicely with the story of a young man struggling with identity and his place in society. With whimsical and enchanting artwork, the story comes alive, pulling at your heartstrings and creating connections between reality and fiction for the reader to engage in. The infusion of the immigrant story paired with the relationship between son and mother helps push the story forward as Tien slowly reveals through a series of fairy tales who he is.

"Joy is a precious thing. And precious things are few. So we learn to hold on to them."

INTERESTING FACT:

Trung Le Nguyen was born in a Vietnamese refugee camp in the Philippines and moved to the United States as a child in 1992