A Different Pond

I love how hard-working and dedicated this immigrant father is in feeding his family. When the child joins their father early one morning to go fishing for breakfast, hardships from the past are revealed while consistently making the best of today. The resilience of this family gives me strength and hope.

A Different Pond is a terrific picture book that focuses on a Vietnamese family—specifically, a little boy and his father, going on a fishing trip to catch dinner. This picture book does an incredible job speaking on complex issues like war, the (non-monolithic) refugee experience, and poverty’s widespread impact on many communities. This book was a big inspiration as I went about writing my own debut picture book.

Phi returns to the fishing trips of his childhood with his refugee father. The story is set beautifully in Minneapolis but sails far away on the winds of memory. A celebrated poet, Phi’s words are metaphorically rich and the story is nuanced and gentle. The illustrations are powerfully conceived and rendered from Caldecott honor illustration Thi Bui.