by Thi Bui
First published 2017
Young Bao wakes in the darkness before his father begins another long workday. Together they walk to a small pond in Minneapolis, carrying their fishing gear through the quiet morning. Other people fish here for fun, but Bao and his father fish because their family needs food. Whether they eat well depends on what they catch. As they cast their lines into the water, Bao's father shares stories about fishing in Vietnam, the country they left behind. The boy listens to tales of another pond far away while they wait for fish to bite in this American water. Through these early morning hours, father and son connect across the space between two worlds, two cultures, and two generations. Their simple fishing trips become something larger: a bridge between the life they knew and the life they are building.
Genres: fiction, family-life, american, 21st-century, asian-american
Vibes: emotional, intimate, lyrical
Tropes: found-family
Setting: Minneapolis, Vietnam
Period: 20th-century, 21st-century
32 pages · Hardcover · Capstone Young Readers