“A powerful, multilayered depiction of an increasingly common situation.” Viet Thanh Nguyen writes a children’s book set to release in May 2024. Read below for early reviews from Kirkus Reviews, Publishers Weekly, and Booklist
Publishers Weekly
“Evocative….inventive illustrations … introduces a full rainbow spectrum of experience.”
Publishers Weekly
Rooted, per a contextualizing end note, in the 2020 California wildfires, this evocative split narrative juxtaposes intergenerational experiences of evacuation. Awakened from a deep sleep by Má as bright fire rages outside, young Simone grabs a go bag and a favorite toy. The family’s route takes them past firefighters in yellow as well as orange-clad prisoners from the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, all heading “right into the fire.” In the car, Má recalls her own childhood evacuation from a flooded Viet Nam: “I was only a little girl back then…. All I could bring was my crayons.” Inside a school gym turned shelter, Simone devises a drawing project for all the children that speaks to their individual and collective backgrounds. Artfully weaving flashbacks and recent events, Phan’s inventive illustrations intersperse b&w images with spot color that gradually introduces a full rainbow spectrum of experience. Supporting characters are portrayed with various skin tones. Ages 4–8. (May)
Kirkus Reviews
⭐️“Stunning…. a powerful, multilayered depiction of an increasingly common situation.”
– Kirkus Reviews, STARRED
“In Pulitzer Prize–winning Nguyen’s latest, a Vietnamese American girl and her mother evacuate their home.
Má wakes Simone from a dream, depicted in vibrant color, into a nighttime scene, portrayed in grayscale; the only color is a menacing orange outside their window, cresting the ridge beyond their street: “Fire!” Simone chooses important items to take, her crayons and drawings standing out in rainbow hues, and soon they’re in their car. Simone sees firefighters in bright yellow as well as prisoners in orange from the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, all working to extinguish the blaze. Má explains that when she was Simone’s age, her home in Vietnam was flooded. The two arrive at a shelter in a school gym, where Simone sees an opportunity to use her crayons to help the other scared children. Panels in varying shapes and sizes outlined by negative space give the narration a comic book–like structure, and dialogue primarily appears in speech bubbles. Stunning illustrations, rendered in graphite, colored pencil, and watercolor, are soft, focusing less on the characters’ fear and more on community and cooperation in the face of disaster. Afterward, Simone returns home having made new friends and armed with the knowledge that everyone is capable of being a helper. In a closing note, Nguyen and Phan discuss the 2020 California wildfires and their impact on San Jose’s Vietnamese American population.
A powerful, multilayered depiction of an increasingly common situation. (author’s note) (Picture book. 4-8)”
Booklist
In this touching picture book by Pulitzer Prize winner Nguyen, young Simone is woken up in the
middle of the night to evacuate due to a wildfire. Simone is terrified, and her mother tries to
provide comfort, sharing that she, too, had to evacuate as a child back in Vietnam because of a
major flood. They arrive at the local high-school gym to take shelter, and it is packed. There, the
author lightly mentions climate change and touches on diversity without being heavy-handed.
Simone remembers a saying from her mother, “You don’t fight fire with fire. You fight fire with
water.” Simone draws to make herself feel better and inspires hope in the other kids as well. The
story, told mostly in black-and-white panels, effectively uses strategic pops of color. The soft
illustrations done in pencil, graphite, and watercolor reflect the gentleness of the text, whose font
size is on the small side. Back matter provides additional information on the devastating 2020
California wildfires and reiterates the story’s compelling call for a better, more compassionate
future.
— Van McGary
