Named a best picture book of 2020 by
Kirkus
,
School Library Journal
Booklist
, New York Public Library, the
Globe and Mail
, CBC, and the
Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books
— a heartfelt and personal immigration story by critically acclaimed author Thao Lam
New from Thao Lam, the award-winning author of picture books
My Cat Looks Like My Dad
Wallpaper
, and
Skunk on a String
, comes a personal story inspired by her family’s refugee journey.
In
The Paper Boat
, Thao’s signature collage art tells the wordless story of one family’s escape from Vietnam—a journey intertwined with an ant colony’s parallel narrative.
At her home in Vietnam, a girl rescues ants from the sugar water set out to trap them. Later, when the girl’s family flees war-torn Vietnam, ants lead them through the moonlit jungle to the boat that will take them to safety. Before boarding, the girl folds a paper boat from a bun wrapper and drops it into the water, and the ants climb on. Their perilous journey, besieged by punishing weather, predatory birds, and dehydration, before reaching a new beginning, mirrors the family’s own. Impressionistic collages and a moving, Own Voices narrative make this a one-of-a-kind tale of courage, resilience, and hope.