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From Cooperative Children's Book Center (CCBC)

A Vietnamese American boy’s predawn fishing outing with his dad is the subject of a narrative shaped by an exquisite accounting of details. So much beyond the action is conveyed through beautifully weighted sentences (“I feel the bag of minnows move. They swim like silver arrows in my hand.”): The specific experience of this immigrant child (“A kid at my school says my dad’s English sounds like a thick, dirty river. But to me his English sounds like gentle rain.”); a hard-working family’s economic hardship (“'If you got another job why do we still have to fish for food?’ I ask. 'Everything in America costs a lot of money,’ he explains. I feel callouses on his hand when he squeezes mine.”); bittersweet memory as the boy’s dad recalls fishing at a similar pond as a child in Vietnam with his brother, who died during the war. And running through it all is the boy’s happiness in their time together, a pleasure that extends to feelings about his entire family when they gather at day’s end. The evocative art masterfully and movingly reveals details of character, setting, and action while superbly reflecting the warmth and intimacy of the story. At volume’s end, both the author and illustrator share memories of growing up in Vietnamese families that came to the United States when they were children. Winner, 2018 Charlotte Zolotow Award (Ages 6-9)

CCBC Choices 2018 © Cooperative Children's Book Center, Univ. of Wisconsin - Madison, 2018. Used with permission.

From Horn Book

January 1, 2018
Hours before sunrise, a Vietnamese American father and son go fishing for that night's meal. This powerfully understated picture book shifts the usual focus of the refugee narrative to the reality awaiting a family once they reach their destination. With evocative detail and a keen ear for metaphor, Phi hints at the family's joys and struggles. Bui sets the mood with expressive brushwork and alternating colors for home and outside.

(Copyright 2018 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)

From Publisher's Weekly

Starred review from June 12, 2017
Phi, a poet whose parents were Vietnamese refugees, draws from childhood memories in this story about fishing with his father before sunrise on the lakes of Minneapolis. They didn't do it for fun; it was a way to put food on the table. "Everything in America costs a lot of money," his father tells him. Sometimes, they run into fishermen from other marginalized communities: a Hmong man "speaks English like my dad and likes to talk about funny movies," and a black man "shows me his colorful lure collection." Though the morning is an adventure for the boy, it's the start of a long day for his father, who heads to work afterward (as does the boy's mother). Bui (The Best We Could Do) uses confident ink lines and watery washes of deep blue to evoke the predawn setting and tender familial relationship. Graphic novel panels and strong figures give the pages the air of a documentary as Phi celebrates an unexpected superhero: a father who endures a strange new culture, works to support his family, cherishes time with his son, and draws no attention to the sacrifices he's made. Ages 6â€"8.

From AudioFile Magazine

Music, sound effects, and poet Bao Phi's soothing voice transport the listener to a boy's early morning fishing trip with his father. The audible smiles in Phi's tone and the evocative way he says "slimy" bring joy to a story that also describes poverty and xenophobia. For the boy's family, fishing means food on the table, not sport, and his parents work all day, even on Saturday. The father's past in war-torn Vietnam also comes through the edges of the tale. Sweet music helps maintain the glimmer of childlike wonder that overlays the somber elements. After the story, background information on Bao Phi and the picture book's illustrator, Thi Bui, explains how their childhoods as Vietnamese immigrants in America inspired the book. S.T.C. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award © AudioFile 2022, Portland, Maine