A Different Pond

Edited to reflect that A Different Pond, a book I love, was given a Caldecott Honor Book Award for 2018, yay! Much deserved! My favorite of the Goodreads picture book nominees of the year. And yes, I think whether you are have kids at home or not that you should get picture books from the library; m......more

The focus of this story is a simple morning fishing trip. A father and son have woken up early to fish before he must go to his 2nd job. These fish are going to be their meal for the evening. The story illustrates the hardships of being an immigrant in a foreign land. There is much struggle and hard......more

I’ve never been one to jump on a bandwagon. In fact, the moment I see that bandwagon, I steer clear of it. And for good reason. Bao Phi’s “A Different Pond” has won numerous awards, and been nominated for even more, including a Caldecott. But after reading this PB, I cannot fathom why. The subject of......more

Assigned reading for MLIS 7421: Multicultural Youth Literature. There's not a lot to this book, but that's part of why it works so well; it's just a story of a little boy, the youngest in a family of Vietnamese immigrants, waking up early on a Saturday morning to go fishing for dinner with his father......more

It's a simple story of a boy and his father rising early to go fishing before the father must go to work at his second job, but it's also the rich intersections between the American and Vietnamese cultures, between the old and the new lives. The illustrations are lush and filled with lots of space f......more