Navigating Night
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- $5.99
Publisher Description
A girl guides her dad on his route delivering Chinese take-out food in this touching picture book -- written by an APALA award winner and illustrated by a Caldecott Honor winner -- that celebrates the unique bond between immigrant parents and their children.
Every night, a girl must help her dad, whose English is not as good as hers, make deliveries for their small family restaurant. Sitting next to him in the car, she studies a map and gives him directions in Cantonese. She helps him get to the places he needs to go.
She hates doing this, though. Hates carrying grease-stained boxes of Mongolian beef and moo goo gai pan to customers' doors. Hates being different from the kids behind these doors. Why can't her family be normal like everyone else’s?
But when her dad tells her about how he immigrated, all alone as a teenager, to the United States, she comes to better understand him, and appreciate how he has made her American life possible.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
In a touching familial picture book from Leung (The Truth About Dragons) and Kang (Our Lake), a rainy evening sees a child considering two nighttime journeys—one past and one present. In a pre-GPS era, an unnamed narrator dutifully navigates their father's takeout delivery route with a map spread out and pen in hand, transmitting directions to Baba in Cantonese and English as they make their way to customers' homes bearing food from the family restaurant. A regular remarks "what a good kid" the protagonist is, but the child thinks that they'd rather be "a normal kid." Ingeniously rendering the stormy drive, blue-hued spreads of gouache, crayon, pencil, and pastel illustrations capture the child's emotions, including embarrassment when a peer stares curiously, and a moment of frustration: "I don't want to go on deliveries anymore!" As the two travel, Baba, across contrasting red-hued spreads, tells of his own experience getting turned around in New York City after immigrating as a youth: "Before I had you, I would get so lost," he says. The creators highlight a distinct bond and sacrifices made across generations, tenderly culminating in the idea, per back matter, that "even on the stormiest nights, we can all help each other find our way." Creators' notes conclude. Background characters are portrayed with various skin tones. Ages 4–8. Author's agent: Wendi Gu, Hannigan Getzler Literary. Illustrator's agent: Anjali Singh, Ayesha Pande Literary.
