Starred Review ALA Booklist (Wed Jul 01 00:00:00 CDT 2020)

Starred Review In an Author's Note, Lam (My Cat Looks like My Dad, 2019) likens refugees to ants: migratory, collaborative, adaptable, and resilient. In the brilliant Paper Boat, she captures these shared traits with simplicity and depth, using a limited palette of precise cut-paper collages in sequential panels d not a single word. The story recalls her mother's escape from the Vietcong after the war as, silent as ants, a girl and her mother hide in the tall grasses until they can board a boat to safety. Before they leave, they fold the paper that contained their meal into a boat and set it on the beach. A small colony of ants climbs in and takes float. The ants' peril at sea mirrors that of human refugees: a blistering sun, predators, turbulent waters, hunger, weather, and loss. Eventually, both ants and people are safe. The author's ability to capture emotions in the expressions and gestures of ants is breathtaking, their fragility and strength evident in downturned antennae and tenacious limbs. Each panel is so detailed that readers will want to linger over them all, admiring Lam's craft even while being immersed in emotions. A tender tribute to the author's parents and to all refugees who survive and thrive despite enormous odds.

Starred Review for Kirkus Reviews

A refugee story features distinctive artwork honoring courage, kindness, and memory.A child-centered retelling of one family's escape from Communist-ruled Vietnam, this wordless picture book renders a harrowing experience through clever uses of paper craft. From the outset, a visual motif of ants is key in unfolding the story. Close-up views of a single child are juxtaposed against others of preoccupied adults standing by the same dinner table. No one eats; armored tanks drive past, hastening the family's departure. Mother and child navigate darkness and heart-stopping moments, becoming lost, until ants appear in the moonlight and lead them to a body of water. As they await passage, mother folds a paper sailboat to distract the child. Later, ants board this paper craft and seem to travel for days in a dramatic montage that feels almost quaint until the page turn reveals increasingly hostile conditions, starting with a parching sun. Only some of the ants survive the ensuing sea gull attacks, thunderstorms, and violent waves, crystallizing for viewers of all ages the perilous journey confronting refugees. When the child's family reappears, they have settled in a racially diverse metropolis and are seated for a sumptuous meal at home. There is much going on, and children will be compelled to return again and again to digest its story.A timely, resonant, exceptional model of visual storytelling; the ironic title is a seaworthy companion to "a wing and a prayer." (author's note) (Picture book. 5-9)

School Library Journal Starred Review (Tue Sep 01 00:00:00 CDT 2020)

Gr 1-4 In a semi-autobiographical recounting of her departure from post-war Vietnam, Lam crafts a wordless story of the refugee experience from a child's perspective. Shown in multi-paneled pages, a family hurriedly packs up their belongings and flees into the night. A mother and child are separated from the group, but find their way to an escape boat. A microcosmic story is told as the child rescues ants from a trap (in an image similar to the iconic photographs of helicopter rescues from the U.S. embassy in Saigon). Rather than showing the family's traumatic sea voyage, Lam chooses to show the ants' voyage on a paper boat that the child has left behind. They face many perils: hunger, thirst, predators, storms, all of which readers can imagine have real-life counterparts in the author's journey. At last the ants and humans find safety. They meet again for a meal in an apartment which, as the view pans out, is revealed to be in a lively, diverse city. The general story arc comes out clearly through the illustrations, especially if there is a knowledgeable adult to provide scaffolding. However, the details are much more clear after reading the author's note, so educators might start there. The artistry in the illustrations is spectacular. Lam's textured cut-paper collages are layered and feel three-dimensional, with shades of white, black, and gray, along with themes in several repeated colors. She portrays the ants' journey from all angles and perspectives. Small effective details like the lined school paper of the boat's sail and the characters' simple faces make the exquisite illustrations approachable to young audiences. VERDICT An important story told in an impeccable format. Clara Hendricks, Cambridge P.L., MA

Kirkus Reviews (Fri Oct 04 00:00:00 CDT 2024)

A refugee story features distinctive artwork honoring courage, kindness, and memory.A child-centered retelling of one family's escape from Communist-ruled Vietnam, this wordless picture book renders a harrowing experience through clever uses of paper craft. From the outset, a visual motif of ants is key in unfolding the story. Close-up views of a single child are juxtaposed against others of preoccupied adults standing by the same dinner table. No one eats; armored tanks drive past, hastening the family's departure. Mother and child navigate darkness and heart-stopping moments, becoming lost, until ants appear in the moonlight and lead them to a body of water. As they await passage, mother folds a paper sailboat to distract the child. Later, ants board this paper craft and seem to travel for days in a dramatic montage that feels almost quaint until the page turn reveals increasingly hostile conditions, starting with a parching sun. Only some of the ants survive the ensuing sea gull attacks, thunderstorms, and violent waves, crystallizing for viewers of all ages the perilous journey confronting refugees. When the child's family reappears, they have settled in a racially diverse metropolis and are seated for a sumptuous meal at home. There is much going on, and children will be compelled to return again and again to digest its story.A timely, resonant, exceptional model of visual storytelling; the ironic title is a seaworthy companion to "a wing and a prayer." (author's note) (Picture book. 5-9)

Publishers Weekly (Fri Oct 06 00:00:00 CDT 2023)

In wordless cut paper and mixed media collage, Lam (My Cat Looks Like My Dad) fictionalizes her family-s escape from Vietnam, drawing a human family into relationship with the ants that are interested in food on their table. Though grown-ups smack at the insects with a newspaper, a child rescues one, pulling it out of a bowl using chopsticks. Ants, in turn, lead the way when the child and mother leave their home, through tall grass to a boat that will carry them away from stern officers and a large green tank. Instead of using people to represent the hardships endured at sea, Lam employs an ant family on a folded paper boat as proxies. The insects journey across the ocean, through bad weather and seagull attacks, and land in a place where the human family, safe, dines at another table. Crisply cut paper represents intricate domestic scenes and just as skillfully conveys suspense during the silent, tense trip. An author-s note supplies important detail in this story of bravery and resilience, and provides its most powerful message: -When looking for strength and courage, I often picture my mother pregnant with my sister, and stranded at sea with me.- Ages 6-9. (Sept.)