An appealing and easy-reading chapter book about Canadian kids with Vietnamese roots who travel to their ancestral homeland for the first time and visit their grandmother's house, only to find that the grandmother's presence seems to be absent in her birth home. The premise is a great vehicle to teach readers some culture and customs of Vietnam while at the same time entertaining them. #NetGalley #LindaTrinh ( )

siblings, grandfather, Vietnam, Vietnamese-Canadian, visit, preteens, lore, cultural-differences, cultural-exploration, cultural-heritage, family, family-dynamics, family-history, relatives, language-issues, family-drama, chapter-book, self-identity, self-worth-issues*****

This is a story of three siblings from Canada visiting relatives in Vietnam while the parents are away for an anniversary trip. They reconnect with their heritage and culture while getting to know who they are in a place which is different-yet-the-same. They resolve their inter-sibling issues while making peace with the ancestors.
Not my culture, but one which deserves infinite respect. I loved it but wished that I could pronounce the Vietnamese words correctly.
Illustrations by Clayton Nguyen are delightful, fun, imaginative, colorful, and well done.
Well suited for reading WITH someone of any age including ESL, and great for gifting to anyone, but especially to a school or teacher or your public library!
I requested and received an uncorrected proof from Annick Press Ltd., Annick Press via NetGalley. Thank you!

Vietnamese-Canadian author and illustrator ( )

The Journey of the Ancestors' Gifts is a fascinating and creative early chapter book. It is the fourth in a series about the Nguyen children. Linda Trinh has created an innovative and pleasing series that showcases Vietnamese lore as well as the typical emotions and events in children's lives. The books center on the loss of the family's beloved Grandma Nôi and the unique gifts she left for each child. Through these gifts, the children are able to summon their grandmother's spirit to help them in difficult times or when they are missing her more than usual. In this book, the Nguyen family travels to Vietnam to visit relatives and to see their ancestors' homeland. When their parents leave to spend a few days alone, Anne, Liz, and Jay discover that their aunt's house is "cursed" because their grandmother left and never returned. Their decision that they must remove the curse leads to some fast, clever thinking.
This book, and the series, are attractive because in addition to conveying information about Vietnamese culture, their depiction of the vagaries of life and relationships between siblings are spot on. The Nguyen children could easily belong to most families.
Thank you to NetGalley and Annick Press for the ARC of this entertaining book. ( )