An Immigrant's Story: A Review Of A Different Pond

I recently received A Different Pond by Bao Phi and illustrated by Thi Bui from Capstone Young Readers for Multicultural Children's Book Day, and it was such a captivating read. It is such a powerful and gripping story about a fishing trip a father and his son takes early one morning. The fishing trip seems to be a routine for the two, but this time they have to fish earlier than usual because the father is now working a second job in the morning. When our narrator asks his father why they have to continue fishing for food when he has two jobs now. His father replies, "Everything in America costs a lot of money," and the son can feel all the callouses on his father's hand as they hold hands to get to the pond.

It is a heart wrenching story to read about the struggles the family faces. You get a glimpse of the sacrifices the parents go through in the story. To have to work multiple jobs and to have to wake up in the wee hours to fish your own food because you are too poor to buy food is very sad. Unfortunately, it is all too common of a scenario for poor immigrant families. In the book, you meet other fishermen who likely having to fish for food, and they are also minorities. Phi's eloquent writing and story-telling and Bui's evocative illustrations had me in tears when I read the story. I have never cried reading other children's picture books before, and I have read many picture books since my daughter was first born 8 years ago. Like Phi and Bui, I am a child of a poor refugee family who fled Vietnam due to the war. Needless to say, this picture book really resonated with me. My family and I grew up poor. Both my parents made many sacrifices so my siblings and I can have a better life than they had growing up.

This is by far my favorite picture book of the year! I intend to purchase this book for our friends and family members. It is a phenomenal book to share and read in hopes to open a dialogue with our children about family, sacrifice, poverty, immigration, and war.  After reading the story, my daughter asked if we could go fishing. It's not something we have tried as a family. She said she didn't want to eat or hurt the fish though so we will do a catch and release. Fortunately for my daughter, she doesn't understand what it means to be poor or hungry. My parents' sacrifices have paved the way for a better future for me and my children.

Multicultural Children’s Book Day 2017 (1/27/18) is in its 5^th year and was founded by Valarie Budayr from Jump Into A Book and Mia Wenjen from PragmaticMom. Our mission is to raise awareness of the ongoing need to include kids’ books that celebrate diversity in home and school bookshelves while also working diligently to get more of these types of books into the hands of young readers, parents and educators. 

Current Sponsors:  MCBD 2018 is honored to have some amazing Sponsors on board.

2018 MCBD Medallion Sponsors

HONORARY: Children’s Book Council, Junior Library Guild

PLATINUM:Scholastic Book Clubs

GOLD:Audrey Press, Candlewick Press, Loving Lion Books, Second Story Press, Star Bright Books, Worldwide Buddies

SILVER:Capstone Publishing, Author Charlotte Riggle, Child’s Play USA, KidLit TV, Pack-n-Go Girls, Plum Street Press

BRONZE: Barefoot Books, Carole P. Roman, Charlesbridge Publishing, Dr. Crystal Bowe, Gokul! World, Green Kids Club, Gwen Jackson, Jacqueline Woodson, Juan J. Guerra, Language Lizard, Lee & Low Books, RhymeTime Storybooks, Sanya Whittaker Gragg, TimTimTom Books, WaterBrook & Multnomah, Wisdom Tales Press

2018 Author Sponsors

Honorary Author Sponsors: Author/Illustrator Aram Kim and Author/Illustrator Juana Medina

Author Janet Balletta, Author Susan Bernardo,  Author Carmen Bernier-Grand, Author Tasheba Berry-McLaren and Space2Launch, Bollywood Groove Books, Author Anne Broyles,  Author Kathleen Burkinshaw, Author Eugenia Chu, Author Lesa Cline-Ransome, Author Medeia Cohan and Shade 7 Publishing, Desi Babies, Author Dani Dixon and Tumble Creek Press, Author Judy Dodge Cummings, Author D.G. Driver, Author Nicole Fenner and Sister Girl Publishing, Debbi Michiko Florence, Author Josh Funk, Author Maria Gianferrari, Author Daphnie Glenn, Globe Smart Kids, Author Kimberly Gordon Biddle, Author Quentin Holmes, Author Esther Iverem, Jennifer Joseph: Alphabet Oddities, Author Kizzie Jones, Author Faith L Justice , Author P.J. LaRue and MysticPrincesses.com, Author Karen Leggett Abouraya, Author Sylvia Liu, Author Sherri Maret, Author Melissa Martin Ph.D., Author Lesli Mitchell, Pinky Mukhi and We Are One, Author Miranda Paul, Author Carlotta Penn, Real Dads Read, Greg Ransom, Author Sandra L. Richards, RealMVPKids Author Andrea Scott, Alva Sachs and Three Wishes Publishing, Shelly Bean the Sports Queen,  Author Sarah Stevenson, Author Gayle H. Swift Author Elsa Takaoka, Author Christine Taylor-Butler, Nicholette Thomas and  MFL Publishing  Author Andrea Y. Wang, Author Jane Whittingham  Author Natasha Yim

We’d like to also give a shout-out to MCBD’s impressive CoHost Team who not only hosts the book review link-up on celebration day, but who also works tirelessly to spread the word of this event. View our CoHosts HERE.

TWITTER PARTY Sponsored by Scholastic Book Clubs: MCBD’s super-popular (and crazy-fun) annual Twitter Party will be held 1/27/18 at 9:00pm.

Join the conversation and win one of 12-5 book bundles and one Grand Prize Book Bundle (12 books) that will be given away at the party! http://multiculturalchildrensbookday.com/twitter-party-great-conversations-fun-prizes-chance-readyourworld-1-27-18/

Free Multicultural Books for Teachers: http://bit.ly/1kGZrta

Free Empathy Classroom Kit for Homeschoolers, Organizations, Librarians and Educators: http://multiculturalchildrensbookday.com/teacher-classroom-empathy-kit/