Wishes

Stunning illustrations tell the story of one family's exodus from Việt Nam to the security of Hong Kong. The heartrending tale, told with minimal text, reveals the hardships faced by a mother and her three young children as they make an arduous journey to safety. One child is old enough to walk the trail to the boat launch, but her mother carries the other two with all their belongings. Each double spread contains one line of text that powerfully evokes the suffering the family endures and gives voice to inanimate objects: "The path wished it was shorter." "The boat wished it was bigger." "The sea wished it was calmer." "The sun wished it was cooler." Remarkable and emotional full-color pictures place readers starkly in the moment as they watch the family on their frightening passage to a better, safer life. Emotions are visible on the faces of the refugees while they endure the long voyage in a small boat, a storm at sea, and the heat of the baking sun. Based on the author's family's flight--detailed in an ending author's note--this story of escape makes refugees' experiences more lucid and will summon deep feeling from readers.

A little girl living in an unsafe place watches her grandfather out the window. "The night wished it was quieter," reads the text. With a page-turn: "The bag wished it was deeper," as other family members swiftly pack food. Wishes made by the light, the clock, the path, the boat, the sea, and the sun follow, and it gradually becomes clear that the girl's family is fleeing their home to undertake a perilous journey to a new place. The collaboration between text and illustration is impressive; Vn's lyrical and poetic writing gently propels the story forward, while Ngai's honest and detailed pictures depict the heartbreaking reality of separation and extend the tale beyond its words. The final wish, which is also the only wish made in the voice of the girl ("And I wished...I didn't have to wish...anymore"), is slowly revealed through four double-page spreads that display the final moments of the family's harrowing journey. The changing color palette throughout, including on the front and back endpapers, serves as a powerful, aesthetic representation of the changes that occur over the course of the story -- from dark night to brightening sky, from danger to safety, from fear to hope, and most important of all, from the end of one journey to the beginning of another. Back matter includes author and artist notes and reveals the personal connection that Vn has with the story. Weileen Wang July/August 2021 p.99(c) Copyright 2021. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

The story of a young refugee's flight from home is told through a series of wishes made by inanimate objects. "The night wished it was quieter," reads the first of 12 wishes that tell the story of a family's journey across the sea to a better life. A somber palette and perfectly chosen scenes illustrate each object's wish, giving shape to the story that unfolds. The bag that family members pack with rice packets "wished it was deeper." The clock, at departure time, "wished it was slower," as an older man embraces two children with tears in his eyes. The winding, ominous path on which the oldest child and mother walk (she carries both an infant in a sling and her middle child on her back) "wished it was shorter." And the boat that they board, packed to the edges with passengers, "wished it was bigger." Each simple statement, accompanied by its heart-rending visual element, takes readers along on this harrowing journey. When the final wish arrives, (the only to employ the first person), the one sentence spans four double-page spreads of visual storytelling that evoke the joy and release of so many heightened emotions. Details in every illustration convey an Asian setting, though readers in the know will recognize distinctly Vietnamese particulars. Backmatter explains how the author's own family escaped from Vietnam in the 1980s. A superb, beautifully moving collaboration of text and illustration. (author's note, artist's note) (Picture book. 4-7) Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.