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A review by vanreads
The Most Beautiful Thing by Kao Kalia Yang
5.0
What a beautiful story! I like looking for children's books that feature different cultures, because in the back of my mind, I keep this running list of books that I think I would like my future children to read. Seeing more books that feature different cultures makes me really happy because this isn't something I've been lucky to have growing up.
Kao Kalia Yang's The Most Beautiful Thing is such a lovely story, that I don't think you need to be a child to appreciate its story. It's a story about a young girl in a Hmong refugee family. Her grandmother lives with her, and she spends a lot of quality time with her grandmother. As she grows older, she starts to notice how her family can't afford certain luxuries, and it frustrates her, but her grandmother gently reminds her to appreciate the beauty of her life.
What's really beautiful of this book is how it incorporates elements of a the family's Hmong culture, from the patterns drawn in the illustrations, references to Hmong folklore, and the every day interactions in the family (such as eating together, doing chores together). The story itself isn't about Hmong culture, but Yang weaves the culture into this simple family story and because of this, is really reflective of the immigrant experience.
Thank you to NetGalley for letting me read and review this book.
Kao Kalia Yang's The Most Beautiful Thing is such a lovely story, that I don't think you need to be a child to appreciate its story. It's a story about a young girl in a Hmong refugee family. Her grandmother lives with her, and she spends a lot of quality time with her grandmother. As she grows older, she starts to notice how her family can't afford certain luxuries, and it frustrates her, but her grandmother gently reminds her to appreciate the beauty of her life.
What's really beautiful of this book is how it incorporates elements of a the family's Hmong culture, from the patterns drawn in the illustrations, references to Hmong folklore, and the every day interactions in the family (such as eating together, doing chores together). The story itself isn't about Hmong culture, but Yang weaves the culture into this simple family story and because of this, is really reflective of the immigrant experience.
Thank you to NetGalley for letting me read and review this book.