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Through luminous and enchanting fairy tale retellings, the young American-born Tiến connects with his mother, who emigrated from Vietnam, as he struggles to come out to her. What a thoroughly enchanting, quietly moving, and engagingly beautiful tale, touching on so many aspects of the queer and immigrant experiences in such powerful and transformative ways!

That feeling you get when you realize a book you recommended found its way onto Skottie Young‘s TBR pile after he put a call out for graphic novel and comic recommendations…🙂

Of course, I have no way of knowing if it was my rec that put the tagged book in that great stack of books…but maybe?!? Love and highly recommend The Magic Fish. Little Monsters and Love Everlasting are also great reads.

(Photo is from Skottie Young‘s Instagram)

This was so gorgeous and moving! Tien is struggling to come out to his parents, who are Vietnamese refugees and know limited English. He and his mom read fairy tales together to communicate within both languages. His story is intermixed with versions of Cinderella and Little Mermaid told through different cultures' perspectives. The art was just beautiful & I loved how the simple primary colors throughout were used to indicate each person's story.

#TemptingTitles Day 3: #WithMagic

I just binge read this. I loved the interwoven memoir and Vietnamese fairy tales. The end actually made me choke up. 🥺

Sunday morning ☀️📚🐶

I so wanted to love this!! But the fluidity between all the different stories just didn't quiiiiite click. That said, I still think it's clearly very good and I'd like to reread in the future and give it another go

This is a beautifully illustrated graphic novel that delves into the generational trauma that comes with immigrating to a new continent. The art is a major aspect of the storytelling. The book emphasizes shared folklore stories while embracing cultural differences and nuance. This book both is and isn't a coming out story- it felt more like the main conflict of the story was bridging the cultural gap between Tien and his mother‘s worlds.

I hope everyone has had a good Monday and a fun Halloween!🖤🧡🖤

📗 The Magic Fish by Trung Le Nguyen
🖋️ Seanan McGuire
🎥 The Mummy
📺 The Magic School Bus
🎤 Mason Williams
🎶 Matches by Sifu Hotman

#LetterM #ManicMonday @CBee

Ohh that's a good ending ❤️

I thought it was an interesting choice by the colorist I am unsure if these colors have special meaning in Vietnam, the story is sweet, and a good balance of Tien's modern storyline and the fables he is reading.

A family of refugees from Vietnam use fairy tales and stories to share when different backgrounds makes communicating difficult.

I adored this. Absolutely gorgeous artwork, color themed to what part of the story we were in. The family and other characters were charming. A wonderful story about grief and identity and friendship. This just felt so hopeful. And I loved the Cinderella and Little Mermaid retellings woven into the story. 🌕🌕🌕🌕🌗

Last one for now 😉 This is a great young adult graphic novel about a Vietnamese refugee family and the language barrier between the two generations. #booked2022 ~a coming out story

This was such a beautiful book weaving together fairytales, a coming out story, and a story of refugees. The author was authentic and emotional in every part of the book, and the color choices throughout enhanced the artwork. 5 ⭐️‘s!

I‘m ready with my February #BookSpinBINGO list!

Beautiful graphic novel about Vietnamese refugees, fairytales and a coming out story. How one family learns to communicate together with their different backgrounds and language to love and accept each other. ❤️ #pop22 @KarenUK @Cinfhen @Kalalalatja @Megabooks @4thhouseontheleft @BarbaraBB @Laughterhp @RaeLovesToRead

I'm joining @Andrew65 in #12Booksof2021, sharing one book every day that was our favorite read from a select month. My favorite January read was this absolutely gorgeous and touching graphic novel exploring family, being refugees, fairy tales, and queerness. #LGBTQ

Gorgeous, emotional, hopeful, this book is deserving of all the accolades it has garnered. Tien, the son of Vietnamese refugees, reads fairy tales with his mother to help her learn English. He turns to fairy tales again to find the words to come out to his family. A wonderful story about identity, family, love, friendship, belonging & acceptance, courage & hope. A gorgeously illustrated graphic novel which also celebrates the magic of stories.

A nice graphic with interweaving stories, some with European mythology elements & others with Vietnamese origin.

This story took a turn I wasn‘t expecting! This image doesn‘t capture much about the plot, but it was the most striking illustration IMO.

Honestly, graphic novels aren‘t my thing. I only read them for book club. This one was fine — a mix of multicultural fairy tales, immigrant story, and coming of age — but the afterward where the author/artist explained his concepts was definitely the most interesting part.

#teachersoflitsy #bookclub #ya

So good!

Really liking this book so far.

I am loving this story and these illustrations 😍

Sweet graphic novel. Great fairytale elements but make it Vietnamese and LGBTQIA+ friendly. Thanks so much @Lindy for the recommendation.

This delightful graphic novel is beautifully rendered with panels in blue, gold, and red. There are several fairytale retellings, plus the story of the main character trying to come out to his parents and the story of his own mother falling in love with his father. It‘s truly sweet.

Venkman please don‘t bite my library book!

I‘m really into the color choices the author used for this graphic novel.

Three fairytales are interwoven with this beautifully nuanced graphic novel of a 12-year-old Vietnamese American wanting to come out to his parents. The relationship between mother & son is lovely, warm and real. The clear line artwork is stunning, especially in depicting clothing. Three different background colours are used, making it very easy to distinguish between the two time periods and the third story strand, the fairytales. #LGBTQ #Comics

[Friend]—You haven‘t told your folks yet?
Tiên—It felt weird technically coming out to the librarian before I even told my parents.

Three background colours make it so easy to keep track of the three story strands as a Vietnamese American boy and his mother read fairytales together. Red is contemporary (1988); yellow is his mother‘s memories of Vietnam; and blue is the fairytale unfolding.

The original black and white drawing for the cover is in the picture gallery at the back of this graphic novel. What a difference colour makes!

I am still waiting for this from the library. I think it is relatively new. Vietnamese American boy is trying to tell his family he is gay while bonding with his mother through Vietnamese folklore. I CANNOT WAIT!! #IntegrateYourShelf @ChasingOm @Emilymdxn I may have to go ahead and buy it.

Spending this snowy day (ugh another one) inside staying warm and cozy of course until I have to shovel 🙄

Anyway! This book was so lovely! I loved all the fairytale retellings and Tien‘s journey. I‘m so glad Rachel had this on her #NewYearWhoDis list! Also this is my read for #FoodandLit - Vietnam

The Magic Fish is about a boy and his mother connecting over fairy tales. Tiến's parents are refugees from Vietnam and use the stories to help with their English. Tiến doesn't know much Vietnamese and wants to find some way to tell his mother that he's gay. Will the stories they share be enough to break down the barrier between them? The art style is beautiful and the artist changes up the look of each tale depending on who is telling it.

I loved this YA graphic novel; my students recommended it to me. One of our local independent bookstores hosted a virtual book birthday party for the author, and he was interviewed by Minh Lê. That‘s how I learned about this Tarot deck he designed/illustrated. I gifted both the book and the deck to my oldest. ?

I thought this book was beautiful, with a well crafted story that explores fairytales across cultures, shared experiences found in stories, immigrant family experiences, multi-lingual family experiences, and family love. The panel breaking in this book is incredible as well. I loved seeing the pannels become part of the scenes themselves. Highly recommend! #LGBTQ #Comic #Vietnamese #Fairytale #Immigration #TheRainbowShelf

I've finished M for #2021AtoZReadingChallenge!

#ReadingChallenge

I‘m excited to join the #JoyousJanuary Readathon! I have two goals:
1. To work on my #BookSpinBINGO board.
2. To post on Litsy at least once each day.
Thank you for hosting, @Andrew65 !

I don't remember if I realized that Matthew Shepard died at Poudre Valley Hospital. That's one of the major hospitals here in Fort Collins where I live. I was aware that major injuries are often transported from around the Wyoming boarder to PVH because my husband's brother was treated at PVH after a significant car accident up near Cheyenne as well. #LGBTQHistory #HateCrime #Colorado

The Magic Fish is now one of my go to recommendations for everyone.

There's so much to love about this book from the way Tiên struggles to tell his parents about his being gay, to the fairytale retellings, to Helen's sadness of being an adult child not being able to see her mom. LOVE

I found another graphic novel for #FoodandLit Vietnam. The main character is trying to find the right Vietnamese word to tell his family he's gay.

We would really like to have a Vietnamese or Vietnamese-American Litsy Reader to be our ambassador for the next month. You don't need to join the challenge, just share family customs, traditions, music, etc. to help us experience Vietnam.

If you want to join, just let me or @Texreader know.

As a longtime lover of fairy tale retelling this #graphicnovel was STUNNING. Tiê‘n is 13 and reads fairy tales from the library with his Vietnamese mother to practice their English. The tales interlace between mom‘s memory of fleeing Vietnam, Tiê‘n‘s struggles at school, and his decisions about coming out. The author uses color to differentiate those stories and adds extra explanation about his art decisions in the back. My first 5⭐️ read of 2021.

This graphic novel is fantastic; beautifully illustrated and so emotional. This part really made me weepy-the main character didn't know who h words to use to come out to his parents so he went to the library and asked a librarian for help! 😭📚💕 Libraries are safe spaces for so many LGBTQ youth and adults! #librariansoflitsy #librarylove

More library book holds came in today, just in time for the weekend! 🎉🎉🎉📚💕 Also Chaplin's tail decided to make an appearance! 😹 #librarylove #librarybookhaul

"The Magic Fish" by Trung Le Nguyen
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Two points of view from two vastly different characters, both trying to bridge a language barrier to share their thoughts. Meanwhile, three fairy tales weave between their stories, providing a connection for them to help bridge that barrier in understanding.

This was not what I thought it would be and I'm so very pleased with it. Please, please read this AND the author's note at the end!!

I'd give this more than 5 stars if I could. A stunning exploration of immigration, cultural / language barriers, queenrness, and family. Nguyen uses fairy tales as imagined by the main characters to explore the acceptance and belonging they all long for. Stunning in every sense of the word.

2 ⭐
I could not get into this. I don‘t know if it was the monochrome illustrations or the story line. Just not my thing, however I can think of a few library patrons who will like it.