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PRESCHOOL
Lee, Huy Voun

Like a Dandelion

32 pp. | HarperCollins/Balzer + Bray | May, 2021 | Trade ISBN 978-0-06-299373-1 $17.99
(2) PS A young immigrant girl and her mother adjust to life in a new city in this hopeful picture book about resilience. The story follows the little girl over the course of a year as she grows more confident, makes friends, and ultimately thrives. She compares herself to a dandelion: "Like feathery seeds," she and her mother "take flight," leaving their homeland by plane. We aren't told why, but art on the dedication page shows the two boarding a military-looking bus. Lee's digitally rendered illustrations look like collage and have a tactile quality. Initially dark and oppressive when the family arrives in the city, the art lightens as the girl begins to acclimate to her surroundings: "We put down roots / in unfamiliar soil." As winter turns to spring, she blossoms; by book's end, she's strong enough to help welcome other newcomers. "Like a dandelion, I am strong and giving, planted happily in soil that I now call home." A photo of Lee and her siblings taken in a Cambodian refugee camp in the 1970s accompanies an author's note with some dandelion lore, and Lee dedicates the book in part to "my parents and siblings, with whom I shared this journey."
Reviewer: Michelle Lee

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