The Paper Boat
THAO LAM
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wordless book
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refugee, displacement, family, war, Vietnam, survival
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Pre Kindergarten +
At her home in Vietnam, a girl rescues ants from the sugar water set out to trap them. Later, when the girl’s family flees war-torn Vietnam, ants lead them through the moonlit jungle to the boat that will take them to safety. Before boarding, the girl folds a paper boat from a bun wrapper and drops it into the water, and the ants climb on. Their journey, besieged by punishing weather, predatory birds, and dehydration before reaching a new beginning, mirrors the family’s own.
