Told through the lens of meaningful food and meals, this graphic novel chronicles the author’s childhood immigration to America where food takes on new meaning as he and his family search for belonging, for happiness and for the American dream. 60,000 first printing. Simultaneous. Illustrations. - (Baker & Taylor)

YALSA Award for Excellence in Nonfiction Finalist
Eisner Award Winner for Best Graphic Memoir
An NPR Best Books of 2023

A moving young adult graphic memoir about a Vietnamese immigrant boy's search for belonging in America, perfect for fans of American Born Chinese and The Best We Could Do!

Thien's first memory isn't a sight or a sound. It's the sweetness of watermelon and the saltiness of fish. It's the taste of the foods he ate while adrift at sea as his family fled Vietnam.

After the Pham family arrives at a refugee camp in Thailand, they struggle to survive. Things don't get much easier once they resettle in California. And through each chapter of their lives, food takes on a new meaning. Strawberries come to signify struggle as Thien's mom and dad look for work. Potato chips are an indulgence that bring Thien so much joy that they become a necessity.

Behind every cut of steak and inside every croissant lies a story. And for Thien Pham, that story is about a search—for belonging, for happiness, for the American dream.

Thien Pham is a graphic novelist, comic artist, and educator based in Oakland, CA. He is the author and illustrator of the graphic novel Sumo and did the art for the middle-grade graphic novel Level Up, written by Gene Luen Yang. He is an ongoing comic contributor to EaterSF and as such eats-- a lot. - (McMillan Palgrave)

Booklist Reviews

*Starred Review* Pham's (Sumo, 2012) extraordinary memoir just might be the toothsome gift we didn't know we needed. Pham was five when his family escaped Vietnam by boat. His earliest memory originates then, in the taste of the rice ball he ate after his family survived a vicious pirate attack (the black space in this sequence is particularly powerful): "the saltiness of the fish . . . the sweetness of the rice" endures. Over eight chapters, Pham highlights personally iconic foods to encapsulate certain portions of his life thus far, beginning and concluding with "rice and fish" eaten in vastly different situations, first as that vulnerable child and decades later during a citizenship celebration with his family. In between, Pham recalls bánh cu?n (rice rolls) in the Thai refugee camp; their first American meal of steak and potatoes; the strawberries and potato chips that epitomized becoming "officially American"; the Salisbury steak of free school lunches; the ham-and-cheese croissant signaling the family's hope for financial independence; and a reconnection with his Vietnamese heritage in com t?m d?c bi?t (broken rice platter). Pham presents his predominantly six-panel pages in earthy tones of browns, greens, and grays. His depiction of gaining English and losing Vietnamese via parallel text bubbles is brilliant. Gene Luen Yang (Pham's Level Up (2011) cocreator) makes a delightful cameo. Pham's endnotes—a comical, poignant Q&A—add even more delectable delight. Grades 9-12. Copyright 2023 Booklist Reviews.

Horn Book Guide Reviews

This graphic memoir begins with the author's earliest memory: trying to quench his thirst with seawater as he and his family flee Vietnam by boat. Thien's perspective as a five-year-old child is relayed through alternating spreads of violence he witnesses and then pitch-black spreads (when he closes his eyes to shut out the terror). After the threat is over, a rice ball with fish saved for him by his mother provides comfort. The food motif continues, with chapters named for foods that accompany his memories, as the family stays at the overcrowded Songkhla Refugee Camp in Thailand until they're relocated to San Jose, California -- where the book showcases the diversity of Asian American identities via a dish introduced to Thien by his Vietnamese American crush. Finally, after anti-immigrant rhetoric drives the adult Pham to seek U.S. citizenship, a celebratory meal of rice and fish shared with his family recalls that first memory. Community-building and resilience are central to the story as people from various backgrounds help the family navigate unfamiliar situations. The cartoon style and animated facial expressions in the muted, earth-hued panel illustrations are warm and inviting, matching the earnest and often humorous tone of the book. A nuanced and hopeful graphic memoir depicting moments of hardship and joy with sincerity. Back matter includes photographs and Pham's interview with himself. Copyright 2023 Horn Book Guide Reviews.

Horn Book Magazine Reviews

This graphic memoir begins with the author's earliest memory: trying to quench his thirst with seawater as he and his family flee Vietnam by boat. Thien's perspective as a five-year-old child is relayed through alternating spreads of violence he witnesses and then pitch-black spreads (when he closes his eyes to shut out the terror). After the threat is over, a rice ball with fish saved for him by his mother provides comfort. The food motif continues, with chapters named for foods that accompany his memories, as the family stays at the overcrowded Songkhla Refugee Camp in Thailand until they're relocated to San Jose, California -- where the book showcases the diversity of Asian American identities via a dish introduced to Thien by his Vietnamese American crush. Finally, after anti-immigrant rhetoric drives the adult Pham to seek U.S. citizenship, a celebratory meal of rice and fish shared with his family recalls that first memory. Community-building and resilience are central to the story as people from various backgrounds help the family navigate unfamiliar situations. The cartoon style and animated facial expressions in the muted, earth-hued panel illustrations are warm and inviting, matching the earnest and often humorous tone of the book. A nuanced and hopeful graphic memoir depicting moments of hardship and joy with sincerity. Back matter includes photographs and Pham's "interview" with himself. Kristine Techavanich July/August 2023 p.144 Copyright 2023 Horn Book Magazine Reviews.

Publishers Weekly Reviews

Pham employs food as a vehicle to chronicle his and his family's treacherous experience as Vietnamese refugees in this arresting graphic novel memoir, a debut. In the book's first chapter, a bespectacled adult Pham recalls "my very first memory... from when I was five." A spread rendered in inky line and muted color washes depicts an overcrowded boat carrying Vietnamese evacuees suffering from thirst, hunger, and fear. When their vessel is beset by pirates, Pham's parents instruct him to close his eyes; pages of void-like darkness interspersed by red-toned scenes of the pirates' violent acts follow as Pham's parents assure him that they're "right here. It will be okay." Upon surviving the siege, Pham is given a rice ball, the last of the family's food: "To this day," Pham writes, "I can still taste that rice ball." Subsequent chapters recount the family's travels from Songkhla refugee camp to San Jose, Calif. Pham reflects the push-pull conflict of assimilation and cultural loss as explored through food in digitally illustrated panels portraying visual feasts and expressive emotion, making for a vivid and insightful telling that offers joy and hope amid the terror. Ages 14–up. (June)