Watercress

When a children's book wins every award -- Caldecott, Newbery, New York Times Best Children's Book of the Year, APALA and dozens more -- you know it's one to add to your grownup library. Here's a note from the publisher about Watercress, by Andrea Wang: "While driving through Ohio in an old Pontiac, a young girl's Chinese immigrant parents spot watercress growing wild in a ditch by the side of the road. They stop the car, grabbing rusty scissors and an old paper bag, and the whole family wades into the mud to gather as much as they can. At first, she's embarrassed. Why can't her family just get food from the grocery store, like everyone else? But when her mother shares a bittersweet story of her family history in China, the girl learns to appreciate the fresh food they foraged — and the memories left behind in pursuit of a new life." Author Andrea Wang calls this autobiographical story “both an apology and a love letter to my parents.”  It’s a bittersweet, delicate look at how sharing the difficult parts of our histories can create powerful new moments of family history, and help connect us to our roots. Jason Chin’s beautiful illustrations move between China and the American Midwest, and were created with a mixture of traditional Chinese brushes and western media. I'm planning to pass this book on to our two-year-old grandson, to read with his parents, but I want to live with it for a while longer.