Gibberish

by Young Vo

Overview

Notes From Your Bookseller

gib·ber·ish — unintelligible or meaningless speech or writing; nonsense. In a world with so much upheaval and change, we often find ourselves in situations that are uncomfortable and challenging. When we can't easily communicate, anxiety and frustration can take over. Young Vo's debut is the creatively told story of a boy who, after a long trip, ends up on a school bus full of children that speak gibberish. Artfully told from a perspective often ignored, you'll follow Dat as he starts to understand his surroundings and vice versa.

BEST OF THE YEAR
Kirkus · Parents · Asian/Pacific American Librarians Association · Chicago Public Library · Washington Post · Evanston Public Library · Los Angeles Public Library

Charlotte Huck Recommended Book

Common Sense Media Selection

It’s Dat’s first day of school in a new country! Dat and his Mah made a long journey to get here, and Dat doesn’t know the language. To Dat, everything everybody says — from the school bus driver to his new classmates — sounds like gibberish. How is Dat going to make new friends if they can’t understand each other?

Luckily there’s a friendly girl in Dat’s class who knows that there are other ways to communicate, besides just talking. Could she help make sense of the gibberish?


P R A I S E

“A superb picture book.”
—The Wall Street Journal

“Masterly. A tender reflection.”
—The New York Times

★ “The execution is stellar. A visually and emotionally immersive immigration story.”
—Kirkus (starred)

★ “Delightful. Beginning readers will love this book as the illustrations say it all.”
—School Library Connection (starred)

★ “Will give hope to kids dealing with a new country and could inspire others to reach out to struggling immigrant children.”
—Booklist (starred)

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781646141104
Publisher:	Levine Querido
Publication date:	03/01/2022
Pages:	40
Sales rank:	87,506
Product dimensions:	8.60(w) x 10.10(h) x 0.40(d)
Age Range:	4 - 8 Years

About the Author

Young Vo learned to draw before he could write. He drew a lot of characters, then began to write stories for them. There were not many job choices that he could make, so he decided to be an animator, illustrator, and author. Now he writes and draws his stories before the sun rises, then during the day, he animates. Follow him @youngvoart.

Author Residence: Vancouver, WA

Editorial Reviews

Best of the Year, Bank Street College

“...splendid...a powerful story about compassion and finding one’s voice. There are an increasing number of picture books about immigration, but this one stands above the rest in its brilliant and deeply felt depiction of how it feels for children just like Dat.” — Julie Danielson, Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast 

“Brilliant, metaphorical illustrations move from cartooney black and white to realistic color to illuminate Vo’s exceptional storytelling… It’s a must-share book that beautifully shows the challenges of language learning.” — Melissa Taylor, Imagination Soup

“The ingenuity and playfulness of the art, as well as the book's overarching message, make this title a must for any child's library.” — Shelf Awareness

"“Vo’s heartwarming immigration story is ­beautifully told, with multimedia illustrations that shine on each spread. This ­uplifting ­story is a welcome addition to any collection.”—School Library Journal ,

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"[STAR] “This picture book brilliantly conveys how terrifying and confusing it can be to adapt to a strange country and how much even one person’s acts of kindness can help. This is a story that will give hope to kids dealing with a new country and could inspire others to reach out to struggling immigrant children.” — Booklist (starred),

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“Masterly. A tender reflection of what it feels like, after being socially on the outside, when linguistic connections spark and fizz, and one’s first few words (‘tree,’ ‘boat,’ ‘book’) suddenly multiply to equal ‘home.’”— Kory Stamper, The New York Times 

“[Gibberish] reminds me a bit of Shaun Tan’s The Arrival, in that it shows a foreign world by making it look literally alien. This one focuses on language, but that’s an important key to unlocking a new place.” — Geek Dad

“...a superb picture book...'Gibberish' tells a touching tale that will resonate not only with former outsiders but also with children who might wonder why the new kid at school is so quiet.” —Wall Street Journal

From the Publisher

08/01/2022

K-Gr 2—A young boy named Dat and his mah travel to a new country. As Dat prepares for his first day of school, Mah explains that when the people around him speak, the words will "sound like gibberish," and that he should listen and do the best that he can. Throughout Dat's day, he struggles to understand his bus driver, teacher, and classmates. He spends the majority of his day alone, until "someone unexpected" reaches out to him, first on the playground, and then again on the bus ride home.

School Library Journal

★ 2022-03-30
A boy begins school in a new country where everyone speaks gibberish.

Poignant front pages set the scene as a tiny woman and boy set sail from a tropical land and an airplane flies from a colorful landscape into a dulling gray sky. The story thus begins in a new grayscale landscape where only Dat, an Asian-featured boy, and his mother are in full color as he heads off to school. Vo ingeniously makes everything about this new environment feel foreign and surreal: the palette, the bulbous vehicles, and especially the wacky 1940s-style cartoon figures Dat encounters who speak in unintelligible icons inside speech bubbles (and repeatedly get his name wrong). Cartoon classmates are various types of humanoid creatures—some one-eyed, some horned—with large, expressive googly eyes, while Dat is finely drawn in realistic color, his facial expressions perfectly conveying his struggles with this new culture and language. But then one of his classmates engages with him. The two realize they can communicate and share English words through drawings, and as their bond blossoms, the new friend gains pale-skinned color, realistic form, and a name: Julie. Vo’s use of color and style as metaphors is not new, but the execution is stellar, creating a viscerally uncomfortable experience while also infusing the narrative with humor throughout. (This book was reviewed digitally.)

A visually and emotionally immersive immigration story. (Picture book. 4-8)

Kirkus Reviews