Fairy tales meet contemporary coming out stories in this enchanting, heart-warming graphic novel. The Magic Fish by Trung Le Nguyen is going to be a great addition to collections everywhere this fall! I read an uncolored ARC from the publisher, but I an already tell it's going to look stunning in full color.

Tein is a 13-year old Vietnamese-American boy struggling with his own sexuality and communicating with his mother, who came from Vietnam and has struggles of her own. They bond over fairy tales, stories that Tein reads aloud to her of princesses and magic fish and stories we recognize as Americans but with interesting twists and turns. This is, as the author says, a "small story" but it is poignant and touching and explores different cultures and how fairy tales cross culture and time and space. Some of the illustrations reminded me of Prince and the Dressmaker, my legit fave, so I loved to see that and think it's going to be stellar in full color!

If you want a good, easy graphic novel that you'll fall into, I cannot recommend this enough.

An easy thing to do would be to rely on the pun that lets me say that this book is utterly magical and just leave it at that.
However, there is so much heart and wonder inside the pages of The Magic Fish that I can't let myself do that. I want to shout from the rooftops about how the downright gorgeous art is a feast for the eyes, the storytelling an emotional love letter to the magic of reading and sharing, and the plot a poignant look at immigrant life for two generations.
It's not often that a book for younger readers will take the time to fully develop and explore the emotional story for an adult. But one thing Trungles does spectacularly well in this story is not only showing the mother's backstory and emotional journey but linking it back beautifully to the fairytales that she reads with her son.
Overall, there is so much great emotion in what both Tiến and his mother are experiencing with art just does wonders in conveying it that you'll be sure to walk away loving this book. There are several levels at which one can enjoy it, you can dig as deep as all the glimpses allow or just skim the surface of the beautifully drawn fairytales. Whichever way, it's a gorgeously illustrated story that tells an enchanting tale.

I really enjoyed the illustration style of this graphic novel. The colors and pictures flowed wonderfully with the storyline. The reader really gets to form an attachment with both the main character, Tien, and his mother. The mixing of contemporary story with fairy tale retelling elements was very unique.

The Magic Fish is a stunning graphic novel that is sure to leave a mark on its readers in the best possible way. The son of Vietnamese immigrants, Tiến struggles to accurately communicate with his parents through language and cultural barriers. Likewise, his mother struggles with her own sense of identity that continues to evolve day by day as she lives separately from her native culture. It is in such characters' shared love for fairytales that Tiến and his mother find the perfect method of communication to bridge the gap between them. Interweaving these revamped fairytales and the character's modern struggles, Nguyen highlights not only the power of sharing stories but also the beauty of utilizing such stories to demonstrate acceptance and understanding. Paired with the absolutely extraordinary artwork of its author, The Magic Fish is sure to leave readers with their hearts full and, if they are anything like me, bawling like an absolute baby.

This is a gorgeous graphic novel about a young boy named Tién who is struggling to bridge the gap between English and Vietnamese in order to come out to his family. His story is interwoven with traditional fairy tales, and the tales take lessons from one another, illustrating the power that stories can have.