Wishes by Mượn Thị Văn illustrated by Victo Ngai

The night wished it was quieter.

The bag wished it was deeper.

...

The path wished it was shorter.

The boat wished it was bigger.

The sea wished it was calmer.

The sun wished it was cooler.

The heart wished it was stronger.

The home wished it was closer

And I wished ...

Each line from the quote above is presented on one page of this richly illustrated book. Each word and image belies a deeper meaning - revealing a devastating story. In fact there are only 75 words in this book. You could share this book with a group of older students as a way to demonstrate the power of words, the emotions that can be conveyed in just a few words and the importance of word placement.

Find a child, read it to them, and count yourselves lucky that both they and you have been allowed to experience this story together. Betsy Bird School Library Journal

Blurb: Wishes tells the powerful, honest story about one Vietnamese family's search for a new home on the other side of the world, and the long-lasting and powerful impact that makes on the littlest member of the family. Inspired by actual events in the author's life, this is a narrative that is both timely and timeless. Told through the eyes of a young girl, the story chronicles a family's difficult and powerful journey to pack up what they can carry and to leave their world behind, travelling to a new and unknown place in a crowded boat.

I found Wishes hiding on the shelves in the Book Bunker library at Westmead Children's Hospital. I did not recognise this book at first, even though I have been seeing it in on book lists since it was published in 2021. I can hear you thinking why? Sadly the person processing Wishes for the library removed the dust jacket. In many cases this probably doesn't matter. Books with dust jackets fall into one of three categories. The cover under the dust jacket is identical to the image on the jacket itself. Or under the jacket is a plain, sometimes cloth, cover with no illustration. And thirdly we have a wonderful book, like Wishes, where there is a surprise waiting under the dust jacket.  I talked about this when I shared Stormy.

Here is the full stretch of the cover, under the dust jacket, of Wishes:

By removing the dust jacket we no longer have access to the jacket flaps which contain the blurb and author/illustrator bio notes. Luckily there are some notes at the end of the book:

"On the night of our departure, every one of the twenty-two passengers aboard our boat left behind a child, a spouse, a parent, a grandparent, or a sibling. Some we never saw again ... we left customs and traditions that had been handed down for generations; we left communities that had shared in our joys and out sorrows; we left our world, pursuing and hoping for a better one."

You can see the book trailer here. You can see other books by Muon Thi Van on her web site. Take a look at this post from Pragmatic Mum to see other books about Vietnamese American Children. 

It’s incredible what Van has managed to do in so few words in this book. One can feel, reading each page, the ache of loss even while there is a potential of a better life just beyond all of the dangers. The emotions are raw on the pages, the profound sadness felt deeply and the entire world trying to give these people a new chance. Waking Brain Cells

A superb, beautifully moving collaboration of text and illustration. Kirkus Star

The changing colour 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. Horn Book

Some of the awards given to Wishes:

★ 2022 Margaret Wise Brown Prize Winner ★ 

★ 2022 ILA Notable Books for a Global Society Award Winner ★

★ An NPR Best Book of the Year ★

★ Horn Book 2021 Fanfare Pick ★

★ 2021 New York Public Library’s Best Books for Kids List Pick ★

★ Kirkus Reviews Best Picture Books of 2021 About Crossing Borders Pick ★

★ A Junior Library Guild Selection ★ 

I have a Pinterest of Asian Picture books which you could explore and a collection entitled The refugee experience in Picture books. 

Escape

Out

Salih