"The Most Beautiful Thing" by Kao Kalia Yang is a moving memoir that delves into the resilience and hope amidst adversity. Through vivid storytelling, Yang shares her childhood in a Hmong refugee camp in Thailand and the family's resettlement in the US. She candidly confronts challenges while celebrating moments of joy, love, and connection. Yang's memoir resonates universally, offering insights into identity, culture, and the human spirit. "The Most Beautiful Thing" is a captivating testament to resilience, compassion, and the quest for belonging.

This is a beautiful story about a young girl and her relationship with her Hmong grandmother!

I absolutely love this relationship that they have, because I too have always been fortunate enough to have a good relationship with my own grandmother.

She talks about her time in Laos and what animals were like there as well.

If someone cannot afford something, it doesn't mean that you don’t have a good life. Life is beautiful with a loving family. It's all that matters at the end of the day. Not your stuff. You can’t take it with you when you leave anyway.

Gorgeous illustrations, and although it was a bit long for a picture book, I still enjoyed this lovely story about finding beauty in the ones we love.

This is a truly beautiful and different story. The illustrations alone are a masterpiece. Every library should have this book!

This is a very lovely story about a Hmong family in Minneapolis. They struggle financially but have such abiding love for each other. The narrator is a young girl who is honored to help care for her grandmother. It is a beautifully illustrated book that shows Hmong culture in a very positive light and gives children a sense of how important family is. I recommend this for libraries and classrooms.

I want to thank NetGalley, the publisher and the author for giving me the opportunity to review this book. I admit in my joy at joining NetGalley I may have been overzealous in my requesting numbers. As this book has already been published, I am choosing to work on the current upcoming publish date books in my que. As I complete those I will work on my backlogged request and will provide a review at that time. I again send my sincere thanks and apologies.

Kalia is used to making do, eating ice cubes instead of a treat from the truck down the street, offering her grandmother the bone from the soup when the family cannot afford to add meat to the meal. In Kalia’s Hmong family, the luckiest children get to take care of Grandma, and Kalia is tender and affectionate with her grandmother, whose single remaining tooth offers the ultimate reminder of all Kalia is fortunate to have, the most beautiful thing Kalie knows.

It is quite honestly one of the sweetest and prettiest Book I have read. The artwork is brilliance and the story lays emphasis on the smaller joy in your life and the love for your family
Everyone should read it . I am in awe of the amazing Cover and illustrations inside. An #OwnVoices story of the author's personal experience and the learnings from her grandmother. The story emphasizes on the value of being grateful for the smallest of the things and appreciating our parents/grandparent's struggle on getting us where we are.
It's only 40 pages, so you can breeze through easily.

This is such a beautiful book from the story to the exquisite pictures. This will show you what it means to be beautiful and appreciate what you have instead of what you want. In the world we live in today, we could use stories like these in our daily lives as a reminder to us all to live happily with what we have.

Thank you NetGalley and Lerner Publisher Group for this e-copy in exchange for an honest review.

This is the kind of book I always wanted when I was growing up. Beautiful book. Beautiful illustrations and beautiful message.

This book is a visual feast. The illustrations, often symbolic with detailed patterns and warm colors, are gorgeous. The words are well-written, and the true story is an arrow reaching for the reader's heart. We learn about family love, despite poverty, and that one does not have to have all his/her desires met to feel happy and loved. Specifically, we see the timeless relationship between a small Hmong girl and her Grandmother, who has had a hard life and who now has wonderful stories and abundant love to share. The Grandmother teaches her Granddaughter that beauty is possible without perfection. This is an outstanding, multicultural memoir for children ages 5-9. Adults will enjoy it, too.

Based on the author’s childhood growing up in a Hmong refugee family, this picture book looks at the impact of poverty on childhood and the incredible importance of a loving family. Kalia grew up with her grandmother who had been born across the ocean and once threatened by a tiger there. Now her grandmother is old with only a single tooth left. The luckiest of the grandchildren got to help take care of her. It was Kalia’s job to trim her fingernails and toenails. Her grandmother’s feet were rough and her toenails thick. They were cracked with dirt in the cracks from long ago. The family didn’t have a lot of money so regular ice had to stand in for ice cream, peppermint candies shared together took the place of a new dress. Kalia grew tired of not having enough money for treats, eventually asking for braces to fix her crooked teeth. But the family could not afford them. Her grandmother pointed out her own single tooth, and suddenly Kalia realized what beauty is, and it was not perfection.

Yang vividly tells the story of her childhood, inviting readers into her childhood home to see the care and love there. The dedication goes both ways, with her grandmother offering wisdom and love and the grandchildren sharing in taking care of her needs too. The book steadily builds to the take away, a moment that reminds me of the Russian folktale about the little girl describing her mother as the most beautiful person in the world when by societal standards she was clearly not. Throughout the book, poverty is handled in a matter-of-fact way with love as the healing force.

Le’s illustrations depict a household full of children, plants and toys. The wobbly family table and brightly covered couch add to the feel of a family in need but making do together. The Hmong tales told by the grandmother are lush and bright, carrying readers into a mystical world of jungles and creatures.

A thoughtful and rich picture book featuring a Hmong-American family. Appropriate for ages 3-5.

There's something cool and comforting about the lush colors of the cover. It's actually what caught my eye and urged me to read this book. Inside, the captivating illustrations are given life by the charming story about a young girl's struggles and the life lessons imparted by her grandmother. This is such a beautiful story, one that should be read by both kids and adults.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Lerner Publishing Group for providing an ARC in exchange for an unbiased review.

The Most Beautiful Thing by Kao Kalia Yang(@kaokaliayang) and illustrated by Khoa Lee is a lovely tale of relationship between a grandmother and her grand daughter. ⠀
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Young Kalia has two siblings and her family is poor. Her grandmother lives with their family. Kalia takes care of trimming nails of her grandmother. Kalia’s grandmother is a Hmong refugee. She tells her beautiful tales about her childhood in a faraway country, spent working hard to gather food from the forest, and a few unfortunate encounters with a tiger. ⠀
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Kalia cares for her grandmother. She brings her ice cubes in hot summer, gives her hard peppermint candies and the meaty bone in her soup. Kalia is tired of their poverty, she wants to eat ice cream, not ice cubes, meat and not bones and braces for her teeth. When her parents deny, Kalia’s grandmother asks her a question that makes Kalia realize how fortunate she is to have her grandmother.⠀
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This book made me feel nostalgic about the days I spent with my grandmothers, the stories they told, the delicious food they cooked, and their warmth and smell when I slept beside them. ⠀
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A beautifully illustrated tale about the relationship between grandmothers and granddaughters’.⠀

I received this ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

You Should Read This If You’re Looking For: Ownvoices POC stories for children that deal with tradition, culture, migration to foreign countries, refugee stories, etc. in a wholesome setting with beautiful illustrations.

Reading “The Most Beautiful Thing” by Kao Kalia Yang is a mesmerizing experience. It’s a heartwarming short story of a young girl finding beauty in an unexpected place. Drawing from Yang’s childhood experiences as a Hmong refugee, this is a story of a family making their home in a foreign country, getting by with very little money and a lot of heart: the little things that are commonplace for children of displaced families.

I found pieces of myself and my home in this story. As an expat living in Kuwait, my family too had to move to a foreign country when I was very young. I found myself in the little details around the living room when they sit down to eat, the way they take care of the elders in the family, the traces of tradition that immigrated with them, the stories grandma tells the little children. Growing up in middle class poverty, I know what it feels like to be disappointed in your circumstances and wish for more, while also finding hope, and beauty in the love of family and tradition.

Grandma is obviously my favorite character in the story. The way she holds the family together, weaving her stories and magic, making the most mundane things feel special. I can see my own nana in her laugh lines, the cracked, calloused feet, and her beautiful toothy smile.

Yang weaves a beautiful tapestry, blending tradition with modernity brought to life by the breathtaking artwork by Khao Le. The beautiful illustration with their bright, vibrant colors, and rich details really elevate the story into something magical.

My only complaint is that I wish we could have had a few more of grandma's stories. She lived such a long, eventful life and I wish I could have spent more time on that. The ending also felt a little abrupt. But all in all, this book feels very much like home and I’m so glad its out in the world for more children to read and feel a part of! 4 stars.

This is a sweet story, a tribute to the author's grandmother. The artwork is gorgeous.

Thanks to netgalley and the publisher for a copy to review. Publication date October 6, 2020.

This is a lovely children’s picture book about respecting older family members and that love is all we need.

Beautiful illustrations & Vietnamese representation. Perfect addition to a primary school or early years bookshelf.

This is a lovely book inside and out. The story told from a young child's point of view, and her story is well told. She has not had to have the trials of the older generation, but she recounts them through her stories about her grandmother. The respect that her family has for her elders is obvious and touching, so nice to see in modern books. The beauty of her family is in their directness with their children. They are poor and they don't hide it from their children, and the children learn to deal with it without complaint. They are blessed with having gotten to a place where they have each other, and stability in the form of connecting with one another. .The wisdom of her grandmother in helping her understand that in life, they actually have all that they need profound. The book is beautifully illustrated, and shows the family's unity and strength better than words can express. As an immigrant myself, I was deeply moved by it.

This is a Children book about a Hmong grandmum who lived for a long time and all the life lessons and stories she bestowed on her grandkids. A short but well illustrated book, would definitely be great for kids!

A rare misfire. The Most Beautiful Thing features gorgeous artwork but the story itself could use a bit more love and care.