by Zara Gonzalez Hoang (Author) Zara Gonzalez Hoang (Illustrator)
This sweet author-illustrator debut celebrates imagination, the magic of friendship, and all the different ways we make a new place feel like home.
For Ren, home is his grandmother's little house, and the lush forest that surrounds it. Home is a place of magic and wonder, filled with all the fantastical friends that Ren dreams up. Home is where his imagination can run wild.
For Ava, home is a brick and cement city, where there's always something to do or see or hear. Home is a place bursting with life, where people bustle in and out like a big parade. Home is where Ava is never lonely because there's always someone to share in her adventures.
When Ren moves to Ava's city, he feels lost without his wild. How will he ever feel at home in a place with no green and no magic, where everything is exactly what it seems? Of course, not everything in the city is what meets the eye, and as Ren discovers, nothing makes you feel at home quite like a friend.
Inspired by the stories her father told her about moving from Puerto Rico to New York as a child, Zara González Hoang's author-illustrator debut is an imaginative exploration of the true meaning of "home."
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PreS-Gr 1—Inspired by her father's childhood stories of moving from Puerto Rico to New York City, Hoang tells the tale of a boy who departs his house near the jungle for big city life. Instead of glorious nature to feed his imagination, he's faced with cement, noise, and cacophony. His new friend—spirited, city-loving Ava—shares new sources for fantasies with him, like basement shadow puppetry and splashing in hydrants. She ultimately wins him over with a rooftop view of buildings covered in fanciful murals and filled with imaginary aliens and dinosaurs. Watercolors, colored pencils, and Photoshop bring both worlds alive in brilliantly hued illustrations. VERDICT This will be helpful for compare-and-contrast discussions as well as conversations about moving from one country to another.—Gay Lynn Van Vleck, Henrico County Library, Glen Allen, VA
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