While Tiến is fluent in English, his Vietnamese refugee parents are not, leaving them struggling at times for a shared language.

Gr 7 Up—Le Nguyen folds five stories into his narrative. There's Tien, a young teen who's trying to figure out how to tell his parents he's gay while nursing a crush on one of his best friends. Meanwhile, his mother, Helen, struggles to help a sick parent back in Vietnam. Then there are three gorgeous fairy-tale adaptations from around the world, which Tien and his mother like to read together to learn English. The language gap between the two makes Tien wonder how his parents will react if he comes out, but their love for one another resonates throughout the story. Tien's best friends, Claire and Julian, are also an important support system for him. Though there are moments of stress and doubt, everything comes together, all wrapped up in Le Nguyen's sumptuous illustrations and intricate linework. The couture dresses worn by the characters in the fairy tales contrast with Helen's job as a seamstress and the patchwork coat she makes for Tien. Questions of happy endings and sacrifice—the bread and butter of fairy tales—are explored deftly. Notes from the author provide details on his own experience as the child of immigrants who spoke a hybrid language at home. He also includes in-depth information on the fashion and art, which will appeal to close readers of comics. VERDICT A lovely and original take on fairy tales, identity, and culture.

THE HEROES ISSUE: In his debut graphic novel, TRUNG LE NGUYEN uses fairy tales to teach us about heroism—and family

While Tiến is fluent in English, his Vietnamese refugee parents are not, leaving them struggling at times for a shared language. Tiến's mom, Hiền, asks him to read aloud the fairy tales he checks out from the library; they both love them, and she can use them to practice English. When Tiến selects "Tattercoats," his seamstress mother tells him that there is a Vietnamese version that her own mother told her, long ago. As he reads the story of love, longing, and travel across a sea, Hiền is reminded of family she left behind in Vietnam while Tiến tries to navigate his own first love, a boy he is friends with. Le Nguyen's gorgeous, flowing, detailed illustrations deftly weave Vietnamese and Western fairy-tale worlds together with Hiền's memory of her past and Tiến's struggle over coming out. The rich color palette highlights both the layers within each panel as well as serving as a road map for readers by indicating whether the panels are set in the present, the past, or within the fairy tale. This clever use of color smooths the way for the sophisticated embedding of stories within a story that highlights the complex dynamics between first-generation and second-generation family members. Warm, loving family and friends are a refreshing alternative to immigrant stories that focus on family problems. Beautifully illustrates how sharing old stories can be the best way to learn how to share new ones. (author's note, notes about the illustrations, bonus artwork) (Fiction. 13-17)

“The Magic Fish” is the comic book artist Nguyen’s debut graphic novel. It presents variations of two well-known fairy tales through the eyes of a contemporary Vietnamese-American teenager named Tien. Tien is gay and struggling to find the words to come out to his immigrant parents. Literally. He speaks mostly English and they speak mostly Vietnamese. Tien even asks a local librarian for help on how to come out in Vietnamese.