Caged

A 6-year-old Hmong child grows up in a refugee camp, unaware of the outside world. "I live in a cage but I don't know it," states the unnamed protagonist, who was born here. The child's deftly paced narration describes surroundings--"bald hills and dry fields of flying dirt"--shared with "grandmothers with no teeth" and "mothers with babies on their backs." Armed guards patrol the area smoking cigarettes at night, "moving like fireflies around the edges of our world." Despite the bleak environment, children still use their imaginations to travel beyond their borders "to a place far from here!" These moments of joy break up harsh realities such as arduous living conditions and people fleeing war. Vue's simple cartoons are textured with splatters of colors and lines set against largely white backdrops; with honesty and sensitivity, the artwork portrays the protagonist's struggle to understand the concept of war while observing the pain endured by adults in the camp. Moments of lightness temper the heaviness, especially when an auntie insists that the young narrator isn't "a child of poverty, war or despair"; the child is "hope being born." When the family finally leaves the camp, the auntie whispers, "Your wings have arrived." In an author's note, Yang discusses how, after fleeing Laos, her own family lived in Thailand's Ban Vinai Refugee Camp, where she was born. Offers deep emotional insight into the refugee experience. (Picture book. 5-8) Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.