Thao

Locations
Call Number: E LAM, Kids Book / Picture Books / General / Lam, Thao
On Shelf At: Downtown Library, Malletts Creek Branch, Traverwood Branch

Location & Checkout Length	Call Number	Checkout Length	Item Status
Downtown Kids Books 4-week checkout	E LAM	4-week checkout	On Shelf
Malletts Kids Books 4-week checkout	Kids Book / Picture Books / General / Lam, Thao	4-week checkout	On Shelf
Traverwood Kids Books 4-week checkout	Kids Book / Picture Books / General / Lam, Thao	4-week checkout	On Shelf

""Thao" seems like a simple enough name. Only four letters--all of them belonging to many other names! And yet Thao had been called everything from "Tail" to "Theo" to "Towel." At one point, completely fed up, she decided it was time to try another name. Something "easy." Something like "Jennifer." But trying to be someone else only works for so long. And eventually "Jennifer" is swayed back to being herself when she opens her lunchbox and finds her mother has packed her Gỏi cuốn (also known as Vietnamese spring rolls)! Thao's favourite! Her name is pronounced "Tow" like the English word "how." While simple on the surface, this story of cultural assimilation and celebration of cultural pride runs deep. It is a personal one for Thao. And it will strike a chord with readers who have struggled to fit within a mainstream mold--then realized it was just more comfortable to be themselves. Visually, this book will also be a personal reflection of Thao in that she will be incorporating childhood photos into her usual cut-paper collage style! She has also opted to minimize the number of illustrations and instead play with type and typography as a way to highlight her name--and the many variations of it that appear in the book!"-- Provided by publisher.

REVIEWS & SUMMARIES

Booklist Review
Summary / Annotation

COMMUNITY REVIEWS

Almost 5 stars submitted by rea2mill on June 26, 2022, 10:35am This is a very nice book about how frustrating it can be to always have people mispronounce your name and how othering that can feel, especially for minorities. My only gripe with it is that it relies a lot on how the spelling of the name leads to those mistakes but the writing style is pretty simple so it feels geared to a 3-6 year old demographic. Maybe it would be engaging enough for a 7 year old… I don’t know. I think it’s aimed at kids who can’t read but relies on understanding of some reading concepts to understand why the character is upset. Or maybe I don’t have enough experience with older kids since mine are still pre-k. Try it out on your early elementary early readers and see how they respond.