The Paper Boat: A Refugee Story

I love this book as a way to pair with other books. The wordless format makes the refugee narrative very accessible

This is a powerful picture book (wordless) that tells the author's story of being a Vietnamese refugee as a child. In it he compares the refugee experience to that of ants, who have to move on and rebuild their colonies when destroyed. It is an excellent conversation starter for students to dive deeply into the refugee experience. It is a book best explored in the context of world history and social emotional education with the support of an adult reader to guide the children through the impactful layered meanings and themes of the book. Conversations for this book are suitable for kindergarten through adult.I think a print copy of this book is best. The digital copy doesn't have the impact I think it would have otherwise. Also, the Author's Note is so important to understanding this story and should probably be at the beginning of the book; independent child readers may skip over it after flipping through the pictures. Many of the nuances of the book are lost without reading it.

This was a breathtaking and absolutely heartwarming story about a family's refuge journey. It truly touched my heart and I found myself tearing up while reading this. There are no words but the beautiful illustrative story telling perfectly conveys the emotions and feelings within this story. I found this to be a phenomenal read and would highly recommend this for all readers.

The Paper Boat is a wordless picture book with a paper collage design telling story of the author and his family escaping Vietnam on a boat. A company of ants follow along and escape in their own little paper boat. At the end of the story, the author includes a note explaining more about his family's escape and the significance of the ants.This is not an easy book to follow, with the explanation given at the end instead of the beginning or throughout the story. I would suggest "reading" this book with your children and talking about the story elements on each page. Young children may not have heard of Vietnam, or understand this part of history, so a conversation will also be helpful. However, with gentle guidance and permission to question, you can share this book with your child knowing that the experience will demonstrate kindness, beauty, hope, and resilience in the Vietnamese boat people, and likewise nurture the same in your little one.

This story was absolutely beautiful. Every page appeared painstakingly made with incredible attention to detail. My only critique is that I found myself slightly confused until I read the author's note at the end, which explained the significance of the ants illustrated throughout the story. After reading this note, I understood the real power behind the art. Lovely and visceral book!

Readers should take a few extra minutes and read this book twice. Please. A reread after taking in the story behind the story adds so much to the tale that you won't regret that extra time. This gorgeous book should be required reading.

I Do Not Like Stories by Andrew Larsen is a tale about a grumpy little boy who does not like stories. The little boy of this tale tells the reader how he doesn't like stories about space travel, school, waking up, etc. He doesn't like stories about anything but perhaps his cat!What I liked about this story is how much it reminds me of my 3.5 yr old. I can understand how someone who doesn't have experience with a kid like mine may not understand the silliness and humor in this story. My son likes what he likes. In typical toddler fashion, he outright dislikes things based on his mood or how things look or just to antagonize us. He'll love something one day that he dislikes the next. Very literally like the boy in this book, my son will read anything with trucks or cars or construction vehicles of any type. It can be a real task to get him to read anything that doesn't directly include one of his favorite interests.But we also loved following the cat's adventures in this story.I found this very clever. I like how it's a story within a story. The illustrations are simple, beautiful, realistic but still whimsical. It's a great book for very little kids and ticks off all the boxes for me because:- it's a pleasant and easy read aloud- there are things to discuss on the page without distracting from the story- my kids can see themselves in the character- the book teaches routine, times of day, action sequences, how to have a good attitude about things we don't likeThank you NetGalley and OwlKids books for a copy of this ebook in exchange for my honest review.

'The Paper Boat' with story and illustrations by Thao Lam is a wordless book about a refugees journey told in an interesting way.A young girl saves some ants in her home in Vietnam. Soon her family will flee across the ocean and the ants will lead them. The story of the journey's hardship is told as the ants face starvation, dehydration and death.I really liked this wordless story. I liked the way the ants were used to create sympathetic characters without making a traumatic story. The papercut illustrations are unique illustrations, too.I received a review copy of this ebook from Owlkids Books and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you for allowing me to review this ebook.