Picture Books About Hope and Home

Like a dandelion, a young girl and her mother make a new home across an ocean, putting down roots in an adopted country. Soon they blossom in their new home, strong and beautiful among hundreds of others just like them. This beautiful story is based on Huy’s own childhood experience of moving to the US as a Cambodian refugee.

This sweet picture book tells the story of one girl’s anticipation for summer. Summer is when her lola, her grandmother from the Philippines, comes for a visit and fills the house with the aroma of mango jam, funny stories of baking mishaps, and her quiet sweet singing in Tagalog. And in turn, her granddaughter brings Lola to the beach, to view fireworks at the park, and to catch fish at their lake. The illustrations in this book are lovely – check out that gorgeous cover!

Inspired by the author’s grandfather, this beautiful book follows a young man growing up in a shtetl in Russia in the early 1990s. Nathan is always singing, and when he hears a famous opera soloist perform in a nearby town one day, he realizes that music could be his future. But he’ll need to travel far from his loved ones and poor village in order to pursue that cherished goal. With his family’s support, he eventually journeys all the way to New York City, where hard work and much excitement await him.

This beautifully illustrated, sparse story about one Vietnamese family’s search for a new home is inspired by actual events in the author’s life. Told through the eyes of a young girl, the story chronicles a family’s difficult and powerful journey to pack up what they can carry and to leave their world behind, traveling to a new and unknown place in a crowded boat. 

Each page turn in this gorgeous book is treat for the eyes. It’s rainy season in the Mekong Delta, and An, a young Vietnamese boy, sets off on his wooden boat. He rows through both beautiful and dangerous waters, finally ending up safely in at his destination. I loved this book so much!