We all have wishes and dreams.
But what would you wish for, if you were leaving everything behind to find a new life?
A little girl and her family quickly pack up in the middle of the night to travel by boat to a new place. The journey is not easy and along the way wishes are made by inanimate objects. “The bag wished it was deeper”, as the mother packs food for the journey, “The boat wished it was bigger”, to carry the refugees to new lands, and “the sea wished it was calmer”.
When the child is safe, she no longer has to wish.
We learn on the back page that this moving story is based on author Mượn Thị Văn and her family’s journey when they left in a boat from Viêt Nam when she was a child. They were saved, and taken to Hong Kong, and eventually made their way to the United States.
The difficult subject matter of a refugee’s journey, is powerfully communicated with simple poetic prose and evocative images. This emotional story reminds me how a simple picture book can have a profound effect on the reader, no matter the age.
This book provides a gentle way to talk to kids about immigration and refugees who escape suffering to find a safe harbour.
Helps with: understanding immigration and refugees, resiliency, hope, and survival.
Author: Mượn Thị Văn
Publisher: Orchard Books LLC, 2021