This was a wonderful story with such vivid images to accompany the emotional journey of the main character. I really appreciated getting the opportunity to read this.

Firstly, the art in this title was absolutely gorgeous. The soft color palette contrasted strikingly with a somewhat harrowing story. Despite the ever present danger of the fire (or the flood, in the flashback portions) I felt as safe as Simone, and was carried through to a sweet, yet realistic ending. An excellent addition to all library collections, especially with the increasing occurrence of forest fires everywhere.

This is a powerful story about the title character escaping a wildfire. The use of grayscale with focused aspects of color in the illustrations emphasize important details in the story. For example, we learn that prisoners from the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation are called in to help fight the fire. Their orange jumpsuits stand out against the gray background scenes. There is a sense of redemption, reading about the prisoners doing something good. We also connect to the mother of the title character and learn about her Vietnamese heritage. This simple picture book really packs in a lot of content, invoking the concept of hope and even incorporating a quote from Fred Hampton. Readers don't have to understand every reference in order to explore important themes of hope, faith, and redemption. I did feel like the ending with the discussion of firefighters was a bit of a letdown after the tremendous buildup through the beginning and middle sections of the text. Nevertheless, I will be adding this one to my library.

Simone’s mother wakes her late in the night. A fire is coming, and they can only grab a few things before they leave. As they drive away, unsure if their house will make burn, Simone’s mother tells her about a flood that happened in Vietnam, when she herself was a child. Sharing this memory of fear allows Simone to experience her own fear, while also gaining much-needed resilience.

I really appreciate that this book focuses several pages on California’s incarcerated firefighting crews. Simone’s mother explains them in a very humane fashion, saying that while they MAYBE did bad things (and that “maybe” was a very deliberate choice, reminding us of the unacceptably high false conviction rate), now they are doing good things. The full-text page at the end of the book also reminds us that these brave people are paid unconscionably low wages.

Luckily, here in California, where the book is set, there haven’t been huge fires for a few years. But, sadly, this book is likely to become relevant again and again, and more and more frequently, as time passes. I hope that you can read this to your children for perspective, and not for processing terrible events. But, either way, this was a lovely book to show how we can be in bad situations, and still find a way through, not just for ourselves, but for the strangers around us.

Advanced reader copy provided by the publisher.

Artist Minnie Phan’s artwork in Simone has layers to its emotional storytelling way of her usage of and also lack of color. So much of the book’s color scheme is in this murky, gray scale color scheme from the very beginning after Simone is awakened from his colorful dream: Simone and mom evacuate away from home with the flames outside their home’s window being a vibrant, raging orange color.
I think of the bright color of the uniforms of the firefighters, the sleeping bags in the shelter, the sheer magnitude of the blue of the water from Ma’s memories and more all add emotional weight to each page and each continuing part of the narrative as international visuals that help ground the readers to the story. My favorite pages happened to be Simone’s art supplies like her crayons and the way she literally breathes new life and color into the situation at hand that eventually brings the book itself to full color before the final page.

Pulitzer Prize-winning author Viet Thanh Nguyen (Nguyễn Thanh Việt) who was born in Vietnam and raised in America has long been interested in how stories about his home country of Vietnam are told here in America. In this short but absolutely marvelous book created for younger readers, the author expands upon his love for Vietnam by introducing a little Vietnamese-American girl who experiences being displaced like her mother, before her back home in her native country. While having never visited Ma’s home country, Simone is fascinated by the “country of water”, a beautiful place that her mother has promised to take her one day.

Ma was rescued from her home after a flood as a little girl, around the same age as her future daughter. Ma’s story in Simone parallels her daughters: the precious childhood keepsake they both rush to grab, the tale of ultimately surviving with family and living to see another day. The sharing of Ma’s life back home serves to better connect the little girl to not just her mother but of the place she has roots via her loving parents that I adore from this creative team of Vietnamese Americans.

Readers will gravitate to Simone for an age appropriate book on a little girl discovering the power of community, nurturing empathy and seeking to understand the world around her. While Simone’s life was transformed by a wildfire, it was not for the worse. Instead the event led her to not only connect to her identity as a Vietnamese American girl and also tap into the stories of those who came before to bring strength to herself and those around her.

Her ability to use art to help process current events and move others to action as they share the best parts of their lives in the face of uncertainty–while also imagining a future that includes them all is perhaps the best part of reading Simone. Our titular heroine speaking about a future where those who work to save others and the planet that includes faces of herself and all the different kids at the shelter she ends up at with mom is a stunning and hopeful reminder for the next generation.


Read more of my review here: https://carriemcclain.medium.com/review-simone-is-a-powerful-poetic-book-on-moving-through-uncertainty-c37cebaee632

With so much of the world on fire during the summer and autumn seasons, this book is very timely and will help children [and their adults] deal with what it means to deal with a large-scale fire, evacuation, and what happens afterward.

Told in an easily understandable way, and filled with gorgeous, soft pastel illustrations, this book, while simple in execution, packs a big punch in how the story is unfolded. It evokes calm in a time of distress and how important it is to remain calm and help those around us when experiencing something new. The note at the end, from the author and illustrator, enhances the story and will start a good question and answer time between the children and adults reading this.

I highly recommend this gorgeous, timely book!!

Thank you to NetGalley, Viet Thang Ngugen, Minnie Phan - Illustrator, and Astra Books for Young Readers/Minerva for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Simone is a picture book about a girl living in California who experiences evacuating due to a wildfire. She and her mom shelter at a school and Simone learns about her mom's experience of evacuating her home in Vietnam due to a flood. Simone takes initiative and uses art to build community and resolve in a time of stress. The illustrations are beautiful and the narrative is heartfelt and poignant. Anyone of any age reading this will be moved.

I love how this story emphasis the importance of individuality while simultaneously pointing out the connections and similarities between generations and the importance connecting with others. This story is also about learning how to deal with fear, and hard times. The illustrations are beautiful and soothing, despite the topic.

This book is full of emotions for those who had to leave their native places and have to settle somewhere else far away. It is a story of a young little girl Simon and her life-changing journey, when she woke up by her mother due to the evacuation that proceeded from the wildlife fire. They have bene taken to the shelter home where simone mixed up with other children and they altogether draw the situation they are in. Her mother told her about her own past lufe when she had to leave Vietnam forcefully as the place she resided in was fully flooded.

This is the real life story of an author, of this picture book. It was shown as an unforgettable story of a Vietnamese American girl whose life was transformed by a wildfire. But in reality she is he, means it is the story of a boy in whose life most influencial person is his mother. And, they didn't left Vietnam for flood effects but by the "Fall of Saigon", a war prone situation during Vietnam war. I read his 'A Man of Two Faces' and that tells a lot about this. However, the most crumblesome thing was that never took hold of me was why all such people shifted to US, when the whole reason behind that years long war was US itself.

Illustrations were very amazing and expressive by Minnie Phan. This was an abstract of the real world inside of an author. This is a personal-development book as well as self-help.

This picture book is simple and quiet for all it has to say. The illustrations give pops of color and context that help to convey the stressful emotions of fear and uncertainty that transfer into comfort and friendship as the story progresses.

Living in a community where fire danger is an ever present annual concern- as it has become with much of America's West, having books like this that show children not only true things like evacuations, but hopeful images such as survival and community, are important to have.

Thanks to NetGalley for a review copy of this title.

Simone is a beautifully written and illustrated book about how a young girl’s life is impacted by wildfires, which have been a more regular occurrence in California in recent years. Nguyen does a wonderful job connecting the displacement and fear Simone faces with what her mother experienced in/leaving Vietnam. I also appreciated the inclusion of incarcerated people in the story and the author’s note explaining how they risked their lives and fought these wildfires for little pay and benefits. I love the color work for the book - how it starts in mostly black and white illustrations as Simone processes through her feelings and not knowing what will happen to her home/community. As she learns more about her mom’s history and meets others, there’s more color almost to represent hopefulness and compassion moving forward. Will be purchasing for my library!

A massive flood in Vietnam when mother was a small girl. A horrible wildfire in California now as she is a child. Scary stuff! Who is there to help in each disaster? And who will be there next time?
The illustrations by Minnie Phan are meaningful, imaginative, clear, and with the muted colors of pencil work.
Well suited for reading WITH someone of any age including ESL, and great for gifting to anyone, and especially to a school or teacher or your public library!
I requested and received a free temporary e-book on Adobe Digital Editions from Astra Books for Young Readers, Minerva via NetGalley. Thank you!
Available May 07, 2024

Thank you Netgalley and Astra Books for Young Readers, Minerva for the copy of Simone by Viet Thanh Nguyen and illustrated by Minnie Phan. This is an amazing book for kids 5-9. The illustrations are gorgeous, and the story is simple but illuminating. When Simone and her mother are forced to evacuate because of wildfires, Simone learns that her mom was forced to evacuate because of flooding when she was a child in Vietnam. I’m going to buy a copy for the Little Free Library at the elementary school in my neighborhood. 5 enthusiastic stars.

This picture book is amazing. It tells the story of a child who must evacuate because of the fires in California. This child’s mother had to evacuate Vietnam because of the floods decades years ago. This book connects both stories together and impart a of feeling of everything will be OK. The artwork is a master class. The effect of the colored pencils makes one feel like you’re looking at the children’s drawings. And then the masterful way in which the artist uses color between black and white and when they put in the little pops. The black-and-white for the fear in the craziness with the little hints of brighter things to come. And then full color when things are settling down and getting back to normal and finding happy. All total this book is amazingly well done and should be a contender for the next Caldecott.

Simone and her mother must flee in the middle of the night due to wild fires. The evacuation reminds Simone's Vietnamese mother of a time when she too had to evacuate her home due to flooding. in the evacuation center (the high school gymnasium) Simone finds comfort in drawing and engages the other children as they draw the firefighters and their homes in order to calm and center themselves. Beautiful tones give a warmth to Simone and her mother.

Thank you NetGalley for allowing me to read the ARC for this book. This story allows children to see how they can cope with the fears related to having to move due to nature. The story of mother and daughter tie together beautifully and the illustrations add to the positive experience.

A picture book of hope belongs in every K-5 school collection.
There is enough "meat" here for a teacher or parent to dig into.
Who is Fred Hampton? And why is he important?
Why does the author weave in the expression "You can't fight fire with fire?"
In what ways does the author inspire the reader to feel compassion for the fire fighters who were underpaid?
How does the author make the reader believe that children will grow up to build a better world?
The beautiful thing about this book is that the words and illustrations produce critical thinking, and believes in the capacity of school age children to discuss current events with a sense of wonder, compassion, and intellectual depth.

Author Viet Thanh Nguyen won the Pulitzer Prize for his 2015 adult novel The Sympathizer. Now he has penned a very different book that will move children and adults alike.

California wildfires drive Simone and her mother out of their house and into a shelter. Young Simone is frightened, but her mother reassures her that they will be all right, thanks to the helpers. Simone’s mother recollects a time when floods forced her family in Vietnam to flee, but — thanks to helpers — the entire family survived.

Clearly, this book, beautifully illustrated by Nguyen’s fellow Vietnamese-American Minnie Phan, will help reassure children who are facing natural disasters of whatever type. And this slender, beautiful book will remind all of us, of whatever age, that there are brave men and women out there to help us make it through.

In the interest of full disclosure, I received this book from NetGalley and Minerva in exchange for an honest review.

I will read anything Viet writes. Simone, named for his daughter, is the star of this children's book. For every Vietnamese American child living in Southern California, this book is for you. It teaches the importance of climate change in relation to wildfires. It teaches friendship and family. It's also just cute.

In this story, a little girl has to evacuate her home with her mother, due to wildfires in their area. Her mother shares about her childhood experience of evacuating from a flood in Vietnam, and the girl colors pictures at a community shelter, which helps her cope and make new friends. The illustrations are gorgeous and breathtaking, and I appreciate how the author shares powerful messages about family history, survival, art, and community without being too heavy-handed. The author's note at the end is also meaningful.