A little boy meets his grandmother for the first time when she arrives from her village in Vietnam to stay with her family in a Western country (U.S.? Canada?). They have been “oceans apart” all his lifetime.
Angela Pham Krans’ Words Between Us explores the warm connection that emerges between Felix and his grandmother, as they go on adventures together.
They each share knowledge from their own lives—Felix of his pet iguana and city, she of gardening and her village.
One of their bigger adventures is helping Grandma learn English, so she can better adapt and get around in her new adoptive country. They use, in part, homemade flashcards with Vietnamese, English, and a visual on each. Their approach uses both languages as living expressions of function but also human connection. Felix is a bilingual child as a matter of course, without forethought, in the best way possible.
There is also bonding around food, which is so central to so many cultures. There is enjoyment over “peet suh” (a transliteration by sound of “pizza”).
Theirs is a multigenerational family home, in a multicultural country, in a global world.
Dung Ho’s colorful and clever illustrations depict a rosy-cheeked family—Felix, his parents, his grandmother, and adorable neighbors, friends, and strangers. This is an open and relatable world with caring people all around.
Shalin Hai-Jew has worked in higher education for many years. She has edited dozens of nonfiction educational books and authored a dozen with a number of publishers.
