Hundred years of happiness

Select an Action

Title:

Hundred years of happiness

Author:

Lai, Thanhha, author.

Quang, Nguyen, 1989- illustrator.

Lien, Kim, 1991- illustrator.

Summary:

An’s grandmother Bà sometimes gets trapped in her cloudy memories. An and her grandfather, Ông, come up with a plan to bring her back to a happy moment: they grow gấc fruits so they can make xôi gấc, Bà’s favorite dish from her wedding in Việt Nam many years ago. An and Ông work together in the garden, nurturing the gấc seeds. They must be patient and wait for the seeds to grow, flower, and turn into fruit. When the xôi gấc is finally ready, An is hopeful that her grandmother will remember her wedding wish with Ông: hundred years of happiness. -- Amazon.

Edition:

First edition.

Physical Description:

1 volume (unpaged) : color illustrations ; 29 cm

Genre:

Picture books.

Subject Term:

Grandparent and child -- Juvenile fiction.

Grandmothers -- Juvenile fiction.

Memory -- Juvenile fiction.

Seeds -- Juvenile fiction.

Vietnamese American families -- Juvenile fiction.

Author(s):

Quang, Nguyen, 1989-

Lien, Kim, 1991-

Publisher:

Harper, an imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers,

Publication Date:

2022

ISBN:

9780063026926

Publication Information:

New York, NY : Harper, an imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers, [2022]

Call Number:

P LAI

Holds: Copies:

Available:*

Item Barcode	Collection	Call Number	Status	Item Holds
33607003563197	Picture Books	LAI	Searching... Unknown	Searching... Unavailable

Bound With These Titles

On Order

Summary

A stunning picture book debut, showcasing the love between grandparents and grandchildren, the challenges of memory loss, and the joy that sweet reminders of a faraway home can bring, from award-winning, bestselling author Thanhhà Lại.

This sweet and emotional picture book will resonate with readers who love A Big Mooncake for Little Star, Ladder to the Moon, and Thank You, Omu!

An's grandmother Bà sometimes gets trapped in her cloudy memories. An and her grandfather, Ông, come up with a plan to bring her back to a happy moment: they grow gấc fruits so they can make xôi gấc, Bà's favorite dish from her wedding in Việt Nam many years ago.

An and Ông work together in the garden, nurturing the gấc seeds. They must be patient and wait for the seeds to grow, flower, and turn into fruit. When the xôi gấc is finally ready, An is hopeful that her grandmother will remember her wedding wish with Ông: hundred years of happiness.

Striking and vivid illustrations bring this tender story of a loving, intergenerational Vietnamese family to life.

Author Notes

Thanhha Lai was born in 1965 in Vietnam. She is an American writer of children's literature. At the Fall of Saigon April 30, 1975, her soldier father was missing in action. Mother and children fled to the United States and moved to Montgomery,Alabama, because one man there was willing to sponsor all ten of them. Before high school, the family had moved to Fort Worth, Texas. Lai graduated from University of Texas, Austin with a degree in journalism and from 1988 worked about two years for the Orange County, California newspaper The Register, covering Little Saigon, the local Vietnamese community. She earned a Master of Fine Arts from New York University and settled in New York City, where she teaches at Parsons The New School for Design.

In 2011, she won the National Book Award for Young People's Literature and a Newbery Honor for her debut novel, Inside Out & Back Again, published by HarperCollins. It is a verse novel based on her first year in the United States, a ten-year-old child who spoke no English when she arrived. In 2013 this novel made The New York Times best seller list.

030

(Bowker Author Biography)

Reviews (2)

School Library Journal Review

K-Gr 3--An's grandmother, Bà, can no longer remember. An spends time after school with Bà, feeding her sweet fruit and singing a forgotten song about a baby elephant. An's grandfather, Ông, is devoted to his wife, thinking of ways to remind her of herself. Enlisting An's help, Ông plants seeds, hoping to grow the vines that will render the special fruit used in Vietnamese sticky rice. This dish holds a special place in the family history, as it was eaten at the couple's long-ago wedding as family wished them a "Hundred Years of Happiness." An and Ông lovingly tend their vines, eventually rewarded with the prickly orange fruit. After a couple of unsuccessful attempts, Bà is presented with the rich, red treat. For a moment, and only a moment, Bà's memory rises to the surface. While An is disappointed, Ông is ready to start again, if only to recover one more small moment. The illustrations are soft and lovely, connecting the family's journey to the growth of the lush green vines. The bittersweet sorrow of watching a loved one deal with memory loss is palpable in the lyrical text but ultimately the story celebrates every moment of joy. VERDICT At once a lifelong love story between husband and wife, a tribute to the sweetness of multigenerational connections, and a celebration of Vietnamese cultural traditions and cuisine, this title should find a home in every collection.--Alyssa Annico

Publisher's Weekly Review

When An's Vietnamese grandmother starts to lose her memory, and sometimes doesn't recognize her grandchild, La∙i centers the family's efforts to rekindle Bà's memories in this moving story. To do so, they gather gâ´c fruit--the key ingredient in xôi gâ´c, a sticky rice dish that was served at Bà's wedding to Ông, where their relatives wished them "hundred years of happiness." Accompanied by Quang and Liên's luminous digital scenes, the gentle lines interweave descriptions of Ông and Bà's life in Vietnam with tender moments of the family navigating Bà's apparent dementia. When the xôi gâ´c temporarily has the desired effect on Bà's memories, La∙i expressively relies on metaphor to communicate the family's joy: "An feels as if a firecracker might flare out her mouth and explode." Balancing sorrow and hope, the gentle storytelling on display in this book results in a truly sweet conclusion. An author's note and xôi gâ´c recipe concludes. Ages 4--8. (Apr.)