January 22, 2024
Based on personal history, per an author’s note, Yang traces a Hmong-speaking child’s experience of selective mutism. For the child narrator, “Recess is the hardest time of day,” a period of loneliness in which they turn to the natural world: “I am relieved when I see a feather on the ground.” At home, the child engages with family in Hmong, “a song, uninterrupted” that “flows and flows.” But “I don’t want to be like the many people who speak English”—including an impatient store cashier who “grew bigger and bigger” while “my mother and I grew smaller and smaller.” At school, the child’s silence goes unnoticed until a substitute teacher recognizes that “the only sound I’m able to make is a shaking cough.” Lin’s digital illustrations employ scale and perspective to smart effect; background characters are portrayed with various skin tones. An author’s note and Hmong pronunciations conclude. Ages 5–10.