Viet Nam:Three Must-See, Must-Read Picture Books

As the weeks wind down on America's two decades of undeclared war on Afghanistan, attention is being paid to who is left behind and what their fates might be. That is especially true for anyone who was native/local but had in any way supported the occupying forces. As the early months of this military incursion unfolded, many of us were of an age to recognize patterns similar to the years of the Viet Nam war-not-a-war. 

Our American veterans of Viet Nam were treated horribly upon their return home, only being shown some limited respect within recent years. What they witnessed and participated in while there is rarely part of public discussion. It is also true that the stories of lives of those who managed to escape after the final withdrawal are absent from most public platforms, especially picture books. My search, admittedly minimal, suggests that refugee stories about Latin America and Middle East refugees outnumber accounts of that Viet Nam era.

I'm pleased to say that some authentic voices from those Viet Nam experiences are now arriving on bookstore shelves. Here are three that I highly recommend and hope will fly off the shelves to the hands of readers of many ages, and pass on to the hands of others who want to share, and on and on. 

Eerdmanns, 2008

ALWAYS WITH YOU is written by Ruth Vander Zee and illustrated by Ronald Himler. Inspired by a true story, four year old Kim is playing in a coconut grove when she witnesses the destruction of her village. She manages to locate her dying mother in the crater where their house once stood. I won't spoil the details of this story, because each and every page unfolds with intensity and strength that a synopsis would dilute. 

This, of the three titles, seems to conform most closely to familiar "stories" about lives and survival in Viet Nam, things that have been publicly shared in the past. In this case, Kim was the only one to survive, despite being seen and brutally struck in the head. In that one day she lost her mother, her village, most of her vision, and many memories, yet she survived. And she never forgot her mother's dying words. 

This is a story of tragic proportions but finds saving grace in Kim's  rescue by American soldiers, in the safe haven she found in a China Beach orphanage, and in her eventual relocation to the United States where she lives today. An author note provides a few facts about Kim's real life after those years, as well as brief information about the Viet Nam "War" and its eventual ending. This serious and realistic story is written with a relatively light touch and gentle text to offer reassurances from the first pages through to the last. Adults will "read" much more into it, but young ones will find consolation in the strength and optimism and trust of Kim, a child not unlike them, who found hope and love despite tragedy.

Orchard Press, 2021

Next is the picture book WISHES, written by Muon Thi Van and illustrated by Victo Ngai also drawn from the author's actual experiences. This story, too, emerged from actual events. The author has written a lyrical, minimal text in which, in only severity-five words, inanimate objects express single lines that reveal a wealth of emotion, tension, action, reaction, struggle, and resolution. As in:

"The night wished it was quieter.

The bag wished it was deeper.

...    ...

The heart wished it was stronger."

This is one of those remarkably expressive and evocative books that could nearly have been wordless, and yet each word, each wish, enriches the illustrations with even deeper meaning. By using this approach the creative team is able to take modern-day children on a journey of escape and terror without traumatizing them. Questions will be asked, depending on the age of the reader, and parallels can be draw to present day "boat people" forced to leave behind homelands in order to preserve life. The power here is massive without being overwhelming. And the story itself matters, as do the questions that will arise.

Pajama Press, 2021

Finally, ADRIFT AT SEA: A Vietnamese Boy's Story of Survival is written by Marsha Forchuk Skrypuch with Tuan Ho and illustrated by Brian Deines. With opening and closing pages of captioned photos of Tuan Ho and his family, there is not doubt that the story of secrecy, dodging bullets, desperate drifting at sea, and eventual rescue by an American aircraft carrier are all the more breathtaking because they are true. End notes alongside those final photos clarify the who, what, where and when of this Viet Nam history, although thee are not enough words in  the world to provide an answer to why. 

This is a perfect nonfiction picture book to integrate language arts with social studies topics, and not just limited to studies of Viet Nam. The main text and vivid, expressive illustrations will entice readers of any age, making an intense and complex story accessible, even for learners who avoid challenging text for whatever reasons (sustaining attention, being English language learners, or facing challenges with fluency). The complexity of front and back matter invite further reading and research at every level, too, especially about the subject, Tuan Ho. 

These three titles are timely reading as we live through distant but eerily similar circumstances in Afghanistan today. (There will be no boat refugees, since it is a landlocked country,  but the need to escape is very real.) Young people are hearing references to this transition from a prolonged war to a nation left in threatened circumstances and filled with unpredictable outcomes. Looking back and discussing ways in which this occurred can lay groundwork for meaningful comparisons and inquiry. 

Worry, Loss, and Grief: Picture Book Power to Comfort

 Covid 19 and Black Lives Matter- Anchor in time:

We are living in the stressful time for school age (through college) kids facing the greatly magnified anxiety of a back-to-school season unlike any other. Recent tragic losses in the news include more incomprehensible shootings in Kenosha and Portland, as well as the heartbreaking news that actor/creator Chadwick Boseman died of colon cancer. His iconic portrayals of Black heroes, in biopics (Jackie Robinson- 42, Thurgood Marshall- MARSHALL) and in fantasy (BLACK PANTHER) provided all audiences with positive and powerful screen images of Black men that have rarely been seen. Apart from the sad ending to his remarkable talent, I know of children who have grieved his death as if a family member has died.

Picture books are powerful in their ability to put the reader/audience in control of the narrative, providing the ability to move forward and back through story and images, to pause and return to the books over time. Individuals can immerse themselves in stories that are not their own, but feel as if they are. As such, they are able to develop empathy for the intense emotions revealed, and also draw reassurance from the resolutions that are possible as the pages continue to turn.

Two picture books that feel very timely include one that will release in coming weeks, and one that has been available for two decades. 

Kane Miller Books, September, 2020

Let's begin by considering THE PERFECT SHELTER, written by Clare Helen Welsh and illustrated by Asa Gilland. The pages open with loving and uplifting text and images of a diverse family, including two sisters and their parents enjoying a day outdoors. The only suggestion of impending trouble is the short first line:

"At first, nobody knew."

These two lighthearted sisters join forces and use natural materials to create a shelter, one that any kid would love to inhabit. Despite her enthusiasm, the older sister needs to take rests, and the puzzled younger sister feels confusion and senses a pending problem. 

The repetitive language patterns and  rebuilding after storms allows the younger sister's first person voice to sustain a hopeful tone. Then, quite quickly, the older sister sees a doctor and has surgery. The narrator ignores the often-stated "show-don't-tell" advice for writers when she admits to her feelings. 

"I was too worried." 

"In the hospital I felt cross, and sad, and frightened, 

all at the same time."

In this case the choice feels exactly right. The rapid and serious plot developments, the jumble of emotions, the evocative and expressive art all open the heart to those times when the world overwhelms any singular neat response. The pace at which sister returns home, begins to recover, and resumes their shelter-building in bed restores hope and comfort. Even though an adult will recognize the reality and implications in early days of the older sister's medical journey, this invites a celebration of hope and realization that living in-the-moment is one of the greatest joys available to us all. 

Original 1999, Clarion, 2004

If anyone has a knack for storytelling with deep emotion it is surely author Eve Bunting, Just check out the amazing titles she has produced on this summary page, HERE. 

In RUDI'S POND, illustrated by Ronald Himler, readers meet Rudi as a friend, neighbor, and classmate of the first-person narrator. In the early pages we experience the joy and creativity of their friendship, of their shared love of nature, and of the girl's uncertain awareness that Rudi is not as strong or well as she is. 

Soon, as soon as we have shared the narrator's love of her friend, Rudi goes to the hospital, too. In this case, his stay is long, and he dies there. The child fully experiences the grief and loss, wrapped in the support and love of her parents. When given an opportunity to create a remembrance at school, she recalls their shared times at a pond. She and classmates incorporate other nature elements, and she shares the hummingbird feeder Rudi had helped create. 

The comfort derived from shared memories, passing of time, and the possibilities related to the returning hummingbird offer the perspective of the very young and and of a very old soul. 

Both books indicate the stories arose from personal experiences, and they both wrap readers in the assurance and comfort that loved ones can be relied upon to strengthen us through loss. Neither shies away from the depth of emotions that worry and illness and loss bring to lives, but both instill strength and resilience. Children often fear a trip to the hospital, for themselves. A PERFECT SHELTER will offer reassurance, and RUDI'S POND may be helpful to children when illness results in death. 

Sadly, the reality of death is pervasive in daily life, especially now, and even for young children. Using picture books BEFORE, DURING, and AFTER personal experiences with grief can prepare and fortify children for the emotional turmoil they will certainly encounter. Some prior posts about picture books involving death can be found HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, and  HERE. 

I urge adults to immerse kids (of every age) in picture books, now more than ever. Books dealing with joy, grief, humor, science, nature... with EVERY-THING! I don't believe I am alone when I say that 2020 has reduced attention spans (including mine), riled up and confused emotions (including mine), and presented  us with never-ending waves of news and challenges that feel unimaginable to handle on our own. 

And yet they are real. 

Let picture books help. They can provide relief, escape, connection, and every other human exploration in the best possible, most controllable ways possible- in our own laps.

Unsung Women... and Titles

All across the blogosphere and print publications the celebration of Women’s History Month is well underway. Engaging posts feature important and worthy picture book titles about women who have made contributions to the course of history. Many of these are recent releases and attention allows these titles to find readers- and fans.

This week I’ll use some older titles to call attention to some unsung, often anonymous women and girls who helped to build this country. These heroines bore the many burdens of expansion and homesteading with strength and courage, but not without fear and suffering. Their names are unsung because the roles they played were so unremarkable, so typical, yet no less heroic.

Sketchy details about real women, sometimes family ancestors, are often the prototypes for historical fiction. Stories based on these family retellings and supported by extensive research generate wholly authentic tales that deserve to be told, offering admirable icons of everyday women.

Ann Turner’s DAKOTA DUGOUT uses only 126 words and Ronald Himler’s richly detailed line drawings to trace one such woman’s prairie years from the days of her soggy sodhouse, blizzard devastation, and searing crop destruction to her eventual life in a clean clapboard home in a thriving community. Each of Turner’s 126 words is precious, especially the final eight: “Sometimes the things we start with are best.”

Eve Bunting, a notable woman of history herself, brings us DANDELIONS, illustrated by Ronald Himler. In this case a young girl tells her version of the struggling, often miserable first year in a sod home on the prairie, desperately transplanting a stray dandelion on their roof. The only hint of time passing occurs on the final page with a view of sprawling dandelions.

These are terrific books to pair with the 2012 middle grade release, MAY B. by Caroline Starr Rose. At 225 pages, this, too, is a fairly easy read with few words per page. The story in verse relates not only preteen May B.’s life-or death challenges but also reveals that not all prairie wives withstood the stresses of soddy life.

In each case the simplicity of the words require the reader to engage deeply with ideas and the realities of a ruthless time in our history, weighing the costs and consequences, considering what their own choices might have been.

A humorous but equally revealing tale is APPLES TO OREGON: BEING THE (SLIGHTLY) TRUE NARRARIVE OF HOW A BRAVE PIONEER FATHER BROUGHT APPLES. PEACHES. PEARS. PLUMS. GRAPES, AND CHERRIES (AND CHILDREN) ACROSS THE PLAINS. Deborah Hopkinson’s text and Nancy Carpenter’s illustrations invite repeated readings , raise questions, and encourage further research. Young Delicious (yes, she was named for the apple) is no less courageous because of her age and stands proudly in the ranks of women who shaped America.

Among many other earlier titles, don’t miss THE PRAIRIE TRAIN, written by Antoine O’Flatharta, illustrated by Eric Rohmann. It’s a wild and rollicking view of the impact of railroads in the settlement of the west. Rail passage brought access to supplies, but it also provided the woman and child power needed to make homesteads into homes in that exhausting, demanding new world.

The comparative value of children, not to mention of boys versus girls, is depicted in TRAIN TO SOMEWHERE, also by Eve Bunting, illustrated (once again) by Ronald Himler. Based on true stories of children transported by train from east coast orphanages to stops along the route, they would line up at each station to be selected (or passed over) by locals as needed. Newspapers advertised their scheduled arrival and, quite naturally, able-bodied lads were the first to find homes. In fact, though, these often proved to be little more than unpaid slave markets.

One final reminder, here, of the series of picture books, illustrated by Wisconsin’s own Renee Graef, which introduces younger readers to Laura Ingalls Wilder. MY FIRST LITTLE HOUSE SERIES, including A LITTLE PRAIRIE HOUSE, reveals the humor and challenges of families moving to the outer edges of our land.



Speaking of word counts, I’ve far exceeded a reasonable number of words here, but the potential for titles, links, and tributes goes on and on. The collection sited above includes Caldecott illustrators, Newberry notables, and more starred reviews than you can shake a cornstalk at. So, just as we can search out the everyday heroic women of past and present, I urge you to read, share, and celebrate the books already on our library shelves.

***I hope you’ll also check the links to these authors and illustrators- notables one and all.