THAO: A Picture Book

by Thao Lam

Overview

An honest #OwnVoices story about growing up with a name that is unfamiliar to the kids around you, told with humor and heart by critically acclaimed author/illustrator Thao Lam

Even though it’s only four simple, familiar letters long, nobody can ever pronounce Thao’s name. She’s been called Theo, Tail, even Towel! But the teasing names—Tofu, Tiny, China Girl—are worse. Maybe it’s time to be someone else? Thao decides to try on a different name, something easy, like Jennifer.

It works, but only until she opens her lunchbox to find her mother’s Vietnamese spring rolls, gỏi cuốn—Thao’s favorite! Now, it feels a lot more comfortable to be herself.

Simple on the surface, this story inspired by Thao’s own childhood is full of humor, heart, and important ideas of diversity, inclusion, and cultural pride. The story will be instantly relatable to readers who have ever felt different.

Designed with a playful emphasis on typography, and Thao’s own childhood photos added to her signature cut-paper collage, THAO champions being true to yourself and your background, and being empathetic towards others. It is a celebration of all that’s in a name and the power of owning your identity.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781771474320
Publisher:	Owlkids Books
Publication date:	04/15/2021
Pages:	24
Sales rank:	333,285
Product dimensions:	8.25(w) x 10.25(h) x (d)
Lexile:	AD420L (what's this?)
Age Range:	4 - 8 Years

About the Author

THAO LAM is the critically acclaimed author/illustrator of THAO, Wallpaper, My Cat Looks Like My Dad, Skunk on a String, and The Paper Boat, named a best book of 2020 by Kirkus, Booklist, School Library Journal, NYPL, and others . She studied illustration at Sheridan College and has an insatiable love of colored and textured papers, which she uses to create her exuberant collages. She draws inspiration from the stories she hears, from the beauty in everyday things, and from the work of the many illustrators she admires. She lives in Toronto, Ontario.

Editorial Reviews

"Rendered in Thao Lam’s playful cut paper collage, this humorous and resonant story is for anyone who’s ever felt out of place. It’s also a celebration of each of our names, our identities, and our diversity."

Avery & Augustine

"Lam poignantly shares events from her childhood ... Simple, yet profound, and full of heart and empathy."

Sal's Fiction Addiction

"Thao's story is empowering and the message about the importance of using one's correct name is meaningful."

Literacy On the Mind

"[Thao Lam] is so elegantly good at telling a story in an authentic, child-like and funny tone ... There are lots of thought-provoking issues addressed in THAO within the delightful and humorous storytelling"

Canadian Review of Materials

"Collage illustrations combine a paper cast with trimmed snapshots of Thao herself, a visual strategy that grounds the story in an all-too-real past and underscores her unassailable pride in identity. This is a genial but pointed primary-grade reminder that names matter, and names deserve respect."

Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books

"Lam depicts young Thao’s predicament using visual precision and detail in her text and illustrations, delivering her message without fuss or complication and with a touch of humor."

Booklist

"Affirmational for students with names that are frequently mispronounced and instructional for others. This book would be a perfect opener for building community at the part of the school year, emphasizing the importance of getting things right from the start."

Youth Services Book Review

"Exquisite collaged art mixed with photographs ... Nothing is 'foreign' if you take time to know it, and the deeply touching THAO soars through its eloquent understatement of this truth."

The New York Times

"Exquisite ... A story that will resonate with children who find fitting in a challenge."

The Globe and Mail

"A terrifically complex picture book that packs depth as well as moments of levity within the limits of its format. Its sincerely empathetic perspective offers encouragement to readers with similar life experiences, while all readers (children and parents alike) may be inspired by THAO to reflect on how their own actions can better support and celebrate cultural diversity."

Quill & Quire

"This relatable story can prompt discussions about identity, diversity, acceptance, bullying and self-love ... A wonderful story of inclusion to add to your classroom bookshelves."

From the Publisher

12/11/2020

Gr 1–3—Lam (The Paper Boat) again draws from her experience as a young immigrant from Vietnam, recalling how her new classmates and others mispronounced or even made fun of her name so much that finally she announced to her comically stunned parents that she just wanted to be called "Jennifer." The conceit lasts until lunchtime, when "Jennifer" discovers that her mom has packed "Gỏi cuổn! Thao's favorite!" From then on: "My name is Thao. It helps if you take out the h when you say it. But remember to put it back in when you spell it." For illustrations Lam inserts a family snapshot of herself amid a diverse and expressive crowd of paper collage school children in some scenes, and large hand-lettered words in others suspended, like the pithy narrative, on generous expanses of white space. The premise has been explored elsewhere, most notably in Helen Recorvits's powerful My Name Is Yoon, and Karen Lynn Williams and Khadra Mohammed's My Name Is Sangoel, but the autobiographical element here adds a distinctively personal inflection. VERDICT A lighthearted assertion of identity, particularly strong on appeal for younger children who have had to adjust to the demands of white American culture.—John Peters, Children's Literature Consultant, New York

School Library Journal

2021-03-02
What’s in a name? And why does it matter?

Raise your hand if you can pronounce this book’s title….Anyone who has witnessed or been in a similarly awkward situation will appreciate why “it’s not easy being Thao.” Dressed in a festive outfit with matching red shoes, Thao literally sticks out, as her image appears to have been trimmed from a photograph and superimposed on a plain background, against which ethnically diverse children and adults are affixed as paper-collage figures gazing at her, the newcomer. The white border outlining her cutout concretizes the physical relocation and emotional reframing of the creator’s lived experience as an immigrant. Sparsely illustrated spreads focus readers’ attention on the young child’s self-conscious, anxious attempts to communicate with people who contort her name to nonsensical monikers that range from “Towel” or “Tofu” to “China Girl” and “Thao the Cow.” On the day she tries being “Jennifer,” her homemade lunch helps bolster her Vietnamese identity while turning the tables on those who do not know gỏi cuốn (fresh spring rolls). In sounding out and spelling her full name—Thao Hong Lam—she demonstrates tangible progress in articulating herself even as the closing line, “Not that kind of lamb!” wryly hints at the next hurdle and ongoing adjustments anyone in an unfamiliar environment will be able to relate to.

This work’s clever construction and stark simplicity embody a kaleidoscope of “mirrors, windows, and sliding glass doors.” (Picture book. 4-7)

Kirkus Reviews