Beautiful illustrations and great overall message, but I found the wording to be choppy and the storyline to be overly moralistic.

My Footprints is a must-read for all middle-school students, not simply because of the beautiful art, but the message: empathy builds compassion and universal acceptance. This story explores all the issues that plague today’s society: bullying, fear of being different, homophobia, etc. and shows how a child feels when bullied. Oh, I love this. I will definitely get the middle school librarian to order this book. Kids need to learn empathy to be kind and understanding. This book will illustrate what happens when they lack these basic human skills.

Thank you NetGalley and publisher for this eARC. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

Thuy is bullied at school, and as she walks home, she imagines herself as each of the animals she passes - and makes her footprints mimic theirs in the snow in a delightful imaginative play. When she gets home, we discover that she has two moms (yay!) and that with her mixed race makes her a target for the bullies. But she wants to discover what the strongest animal is so she can embody those characteristics to remain strong against her enemies, and her moms show her that they are strongest together as a team, so she makes up the perfect imaginary creature that embodies them all. I loved the imagination, the simplicity of a young girl trying to work her way through a tough situation, and I loved the illustrations - dark in all the right places, and bright and colorful in others. I just wish the name pronunciation guide was at the beginning - I mispronounced them throughout and then felt awful :-(

This is such a beautiful book and a great way to begin a discussion about LGBTQ issues with young children. The pictures are gorgeous and the words are so powerful.

I really liked this book. The main character is being bullied at school. In the snow, she notices her footprints and wonders what would happen if she became something different. The story is a beautiful one and the illustrations are fabulous. I really liked the author’s note and the part after the story when each of the different animals are described.

*Thank you to Netgalley for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review"

My Footprints by Bao Phi is a beautifully written children's book about finding ones strength as well as being proud and comfortable with our identity. I enjoyed it immensely, and highly recommend it. It is a wonderful book about diversity.

The cover illustration caught my eye so I was excited to open it up and look inside. The illustrations were beautiful. This title would be an excellent discussion starter for kids on so many different topics.

Thank you for the chance to review the book. I look forward to sharing this one with my kids.

I was really touched when reading this book. I plan to bring it home and read it to my children. I especially liked the description about the different shades of pretty. So many learning lessons within one book. It touches upon bullying, same sex parents, and being a minority; both by gender and ethnicity. Please take your time to enjoy the artwork as well. Truly beautiful.

I honestly loved this book so much! I plan on getting this for my niece. This book tackles many different discrimination issues. It is done so well for a children's book. I think this is a great way to start a conversation with children about issues of bullying and feeling alone. I also really loved the illustrations.

I loved the imagery and illustrations in this book!
The importance of using your imagination to work through emotions and tough situations is a great lesson for young children.
Also loved the healthy, beautiful, same-sex parents, woo!
Would be a great addition to any library collection.

I just read this little story to my daughters and they both loved it.
The older one said she loved all the creatures, and the younger one loved that Thuy was playing in the snow, and asked to gear up and go outside to play.

The illustration is absolutely adorable and it makes the story very engaging, as my girls curled up next to me trying to see better all the drawings.

I would recommend this book for any parent, aunt/uncle, grandma/grandpa that wants to gift this little book and teach their little ones about acceptance of diversity, and also how important is to brush it off when you're not feeling well because of being bullied.

Disclaimer: I received an Advance Review Digital Copy of this book before its publication. This review is uncompensated.

A cute story about the power of imagination paired with beautiful illustrations. Thuy just wants to fit in and so she takes us along with her on her journey of discovery of strength, support, and resilience.

This is an inspiring and timely story on tolerance, bullying and an alternative family lifestyle.




Thuy is a young Vietnamese American girl and she is taunted and bullied at school by her peers because of her ethnicity and the fact that in her family she has two moms. She is overcome by her emotions of feeling helpless and the injustice of the meanness that is directed towards her.

On her way home this sweet creative little girl sets her imagination free after an encounter with a beautiful red cardinal. She emulates the lovely bird's footprints in the white snow and its call:

"Thuy points her feet in a V shape and hops once, lightly, leaving shallow prints." "Chirp chirp chirp!" Thuy squeaks and flaps her arms."


As her journey homeward progresses so does her diverse footprints. She imprints a variety of different animal tracks transferring her frustration and anger into creativity, quietness, and peace.

Finally Thuy arrives home and is greeted by her two moms who are out shovelling snow in their front yard. After talking with their daughter and finding out that she feels different than her peers and ostracized by them, the two moms immediately offer Thuy comfort, strength and understanding. Their wise advice and unconditional love offer a beautiful safety net for Thuy and shows her that she has strong family support and is loved deeply by them both. I love the book and recommend it.

I received an ARC from Capstone Edition through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Such an inspiring read!

“There are lots of different ways to be strong. An eagle is strong at flying in the sky. A dolphin is strong at swimming in the sea” – Momma Arti

This is not your average book about bullying. Thuy is a Vietnamese American girl that has two moms. We meet Thuy when she is walking away from her bullies. I particularly liked this about the book, it is not focused on the bullies but rather takes the reader directly into Thuy’s brilliant mind and, later, we see how she manages her insecurities with a little help from her moms, Momma Ngoc and Mamma Arti.

I chose this book both because of its beautiful illustrations and because it is uncommon to find a children’s book that so actively presents lgbttq+ characters. The illustrations enhance the story, we get to see not only Thuy and her moms, but we also get a glimpse into their minds. Colorful animals (real and imagined ones) fill the pages of the book while Thuy tries to find her own footprints in the snow. The footprints are such a clever metaphor for Thuy finding her place in the world. Her two moms go through this brief journey with her and help her imagine different magnificent creatures, like the Phoenix and the Sarabha, so Thuy can finally see for herself her own “creature’s” footprints. As Momma Arti points out in the lines quoted above, every animal is strong in their own way, and Thuy finds her place (and her strength) in her family.

I would recommend this book for any parent or guardian who is looking to teach their kids about diversity and acceptance. And, of course, for anyone that thinks that we need more books that truly invite us to smile and believe that a more colorful future is possible.

I was attracted to this book because of the cover - it did not disappoint on an artistic front. I loved the art throughout this title, and really loved the details but also the simplicity of the illustrations. The little cat hat the little girl wears throughout is fun and whimsy and both reminds me of so many little girls I know, and what I myself would have loved as a girl that age!

The book itself is a fun journey in strength and resilience and imagination. The little girl is frustrated by being different, and the imagined animals, and the way her mothers help her through that, is thoroughly enjoyable to read.

Thuy is miserable. Every day she is picked on at school by the other kids. All she wants is to fit in and be left to her own devices by the other children. Alas, it is not to be. On her way home from school, Thuy creates different footprints in the snow as she imagines what it would be like to be varying and strong creatures. When she gets home, she is greeted by her mothers and - together - they invent a creature that is one-of-a-kind, and is fully capable of taking on all of Thuy's problems.

This was an incredibly beautiful book. The story - and especially the illustrations - really pulled together and made this book stand out. Children are tackling issues that are well beyond their years, and it's wonderful to have books out there that can help them to understand their predicaments a little better.

This is definitely a book that I would want for my own book collection.

A Beautiful Children’s Book Tries to Tackle Big World Topics

I’ve found that I don’t always give my kids enough credit. Like any six and nine year old, they are pretty thick headed, but they can also be sensitive, insightful and tuned it, at times. My Footprints by Bao Phi is one of those books where it doesn’t take much to empathize with the young character Thuy. She is teased and bullied in ways that just about anyone can appreciate, mainly for being different.

Throughout Phi’s book with its buoyant narrative and brilliant artwork, Thuy summons the strength to deal with being made to feel odd and unwelcome. Phi works hard at capturing the ways in which someone so young, might handle her feelings around this experience. Thuy makes sense of the taunting from students by turning to animal friends both real and imagined.

My Footprints never resorts to preachiness or tries to make the little girl into a crusader in any way. Instead, Phi creates the inner world of his character appropriate to her age. Her coping mechanism early on is represented by the footprints she can make: a fierce leopard who can camouflage, a bear that other animals are afraid of, an elephant, a snake and finally mythical creatures.

Phi brings dialogue to his narrative that at times is endearing. He demonstrates the imaginings of his character as she talks to herself and imitates the animals she imagines. In children’s literature, dialogue, good dialogue is what draws kids in, it makes stories relatable in ways that narrative alone can never do. Kids’ books are meant to be read aloud and the cardinal sin for books directed at this particular age group, is dialogue that is clunky or unintelligible. What I may be able to forgive in my head when reading a novel, I can never forgive when reading aloud to my children. Stories like My Footprints are designed to be verbal, and dialogue is the most visceral part of this kind of storytelling. In Phi’s book the dialogue can be sharp, like when Thuy describes a mythical creature:

“It can fly, and swim, and run, and it is always kind to everyone else and only eats birthday cake.”

Then there are passages of dialogue that are not so successful:

“There are lots of different ways to be strong. An eagle is strong at flying in the sky. A dolphin is strong at swimming in the sea.”

Finally there is dialogue that is frankly missing, but I’ll get into that later.

It’s the artwork that gives this book life. Set in the snow, Basia Tran creates a beautiful energy using white backgrounds, splendid overhead shots and comic book vignette boxes. Notably she is able to capture the most critical parts of the story, the different footprints made in snow—simple, yet incredibly difficult to pull off effectively. Her ability to demonstrate height when challenged by the emptiness of white space, with few ques to establishing elevation, is quite remarkable.

One particularly effective element that Tran uses is Thuy’s cat-faced stocking cap. It seems to have a life of its own. Through several of those inventive overhead shots, Thuy’s head is completely obscured by the hat, giving her the face of a cat. Clever illustrations like that are what set apart those who can just produce great artwork from those who are able to tell a compelling story through great artwork.

Tran successfully depicts Thuy in a non-gender conforming way that seems natural without trying to make a point—look, here is a tomboy and her two moms. Tran’s illustrations of the character are delightful and reminiscent of Max from Where the Wild Things Are. She successfully establishes a backdrop for her character’s sadness without pushing an in-your-face byline about same sex parents and kids who don’t fit into traditional gender roles. Having read a number of books on the market that deal with this kind of material, the treatment here is effective and feels mostly genuine.

My Footprints doesn’t shy away from the subject though. In fact Phi includes enough here for just about any kid who might feel marginalized in society. In a thirty-four page kids’ book though, it’s a tall order: sexism, racism and homophobia. These are big topics for kids and parents to handle. The truism for books in this genre dealing with difficult, real world matters is this: The story isn’t over when the story’s over.
A book like My Footprints generates questions and elicits conversations. Kids want to know: Why are the bigger kids being mean? Why does Thuy not have a dad? Why would anyone make fun of me for being a girl? Big, big, BIG topics. Since Phi puts these themes out there, it seems as though there needs to be some treatment, a way of understanding and empathizing with Thuy. That would have come from other voices in the book, dialogue that would have provided context, reactions and more of a response.

Without giving away too much, the narrative goes strangely silent. There is a subtlety to Phi’s storytelling that might not reach kids. My Footprints has symbolic references, but maybe not those that kids will be able to manage easily. I wondered for example whether footprints in the snow had some mythological meaning, instead of the simple notion that they are representations of the maker, a kind of identity. This is children’s literature though, and one should never get too deep when reading to a six-year-old.

While Phi’s treatment of difficult subjects might not be straight forward, his message is clear. Find support in those who love you, but find strength from within. Most importantly though, regardless of how others treat you, be kind and show compassion, particularly to those who are different, because in the end we are all just multi-colored hairy, eight-legged beasts.

(Note: This review is provided courtesy of the Midnight Book Club, which received a digital galley proof of this book prior to its release from NetGalley on behalf of Capstone Editions/Press. All Midnight Book Club reviews are uncompensated and reflect honest assessments of these works.)

This was a very cute story about dealing with your emotions in what turns out to be a positive way


****Thank you Netgalley for the opportunity to review this book early.****

Received as an ARC copy courtesy of Capstone and NetGalley.

A wonderful story and illustration pairing that created a great multicultural read and positive response to bullying. A wonderful way to show that parents can be our biggest gifts in helping us combat situations like bullying and dealing with the emotions that come with that. Thuy beings working through being bullied at school (again) by imagining what it would be like to be various animals, recreating their footprints in the snow and wandering away to a new life. Once she returns home, her mothers offer comfort and strength, helping her deal with her situation and showing her that family and loving support can help in the worst of situations.

The illustrations in this book are charming. I can see them grabbing the imagination of any younger reader who can slip into the story as the main character. While carefully exploring the topics of bullying and the need to fit in, the author uses the imagination of the main character to express these feelings in a safe way. Any child who has ever felt left out or different will connect to this story. This is a story that celebrates one's differences with the help and guidance of loved adults.