Crossing borders can be a fraught process.
Jun is a young girl living in modern-day Hong Kong, when her family suddenly moves to suburbia in the U.S. All of a sudden, she is in a new social milieu, in which her language skills in Cantonese are limited to family and distant friends, and the English she hears daily is mostly garble and mystery.
Cherry Mo’s Home in a Lunchbox (2024) follows Jun as she observes her surroundings and tries to communicate with those around her. She has some penned crib notes for the basics of English on her left palm: “hello,” “thank you,” and “I don’t know.” She is met with curiosity and befuddlement by those around her, but no hostility.
Jun experiences frustrations at the language and social barriers she faces, but she is motivated by hopefulness and supported by encouraging parents. A little girl reaches out with friendly overtures.
A through-line in this work is her lunchbox packed with delicious foods her mother has prepared: buns, noodles, vegetables, and other delights. Lunchtime transports Jun to happy memories of shared meals with family and friends, and the food and memories sustain her. Hers is not a retreat from the world; it is not eating to sublimate feelings. Her eating is about appreciating her own (food) culture and those of others.
Cherry Mo’s picture book offers a poetic and artful interplay between the sparse words and warm illustrations of Jun on her journey.
The visuals are charming and memorable, apparently drawn in colored pencil and muted pastels in comforting oranges and warm colors, and then digitally edited.
The depictions of the school children of wide multi-ethnic backgrounds are especially delightful. The food portions in the lunch box are generous.
The front cover board of the book and the first page of the endpaper of the book depict Hong Kong with its double-decker busses and crowded high-rises on one side and then American suburbia on the other. A panel truck drives by, with the label “SWIFT Movers International,” alluding to the pace of human movement and change.
The book has its surprises, not least about the delicious vegetarian foods in Jun’s lunchbox and home.
Every day, adults and children are moving and adapting. Home in a Lunchbox points to the essential comforts that help people to sustain and ultimately to adapt.
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.
