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A review by mat_tobin
My Day with Gong Gong by Sennah Yee
5.0
This hit me in all the feels; a beautiful and deeply gentle intergenerational coming together across language and culture, My Day with Gong Gong explores a day in life of May as, for one day, she is put into the care of her Gong Gong (grandfather). Mum has to get to work and with no one else available, May is left with Gong Gong who lives on the fringes of Chinatown. The problem is, May has inherited little Cantonese and Gong Gong speaks no English. How will they get on let alone communicate?
As both go for a walk through Chinatown, Gong Gong takes May to visit his usual haunts, shops for food and friends for company and stories in the park. Feeling isolated and imagining herself constantly ignored by her maternal grandfather, May shows Gong Gong her frustration at being tired, isolation and hungry. In return, Gong Gong takes her home through the same route and May finds, to her, delight that her grandfather has supplied her with the knowledge to overcome these frustrations through the language and culture of his world. May suddenly realises that this was his plan all along and when mum comes to pick may up at the end, she and Gong Gong are inseparable.
Utterly beautiful watercolours join sweet illustrations in which character and landscape exude a welcome warmth. Lots to see here and the book closes with a welcome glossary.
As both go for a walk through Chinatown, Gong Gong takes May to visit his usual haunts, shops for food and friends for company and stories in the park. Feeling isolated and imagining herself constantly ignored by her maternal grandfather, May shows Gong Gong her frustration at being tired, isolation and hungry. In return, Gong Gong takes her home through the same route and May finds, to her, delight that her grandfather has supplied her with the knowledge to overcome these frustrations through the language and culture of his world. May suddenly realises that this was his plan all along and when mum comes to pick may up at the end, she and Gong Gong are inseparable.
Utterly beautiful watercolours join sweet illustrations in which character and landscape exude a welcome warmth. Lots to see here and the book closes with a welcome glossary.