Gibberish
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A Lot or a Little?
The parents' guide to what's in this book.
What Parents Need to Know
Parent sneed to know that author-illustrator Young Vo's Gibberish tells story of an Asian boy named Dat on his first day at school in an English-speaking country. He doesn't speak the language, so when he hears the school bus driver, the teacher, and his fellow students speak, it sounds like gibberish to him -- just a bunch of sounds that he doesn't understand. Then a classmate named Julie reaches out to him on the playground and finds a way to communicate through drawings, and his frustrating situation turns around: He starts to learn English and makes a new friend. Vo's ability to show Dat's isolation and changing emotions is clever and imaginative, with the English speakers looking like strange black-and-white cartoon characters, while Dat and his mom are represented in realistic full color. As soon as Dat feels comfortable and Julie becomes his friend, she and her mom appear in full color, too. This brilliant expression of a common immigrant experience models empathy and communication and ends on a very positive note. And kids will be drawn to the kid-friendly illustrations.
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What's the Story?
A young Asian boy named Dat, new to an English speaking country, goes to his first day of school and doesn't understand what anyone is saying -- not the bus driver, teacher, or the other students. To him, it all sounds like GIBBERISH. The local people seem like alien creatures and are drawn that way as black-and-white cartoon characters. Dat is very confused and discouraged until a girl named Julie jumps down from a tree and pulls him away to play. At the end of the school day, Julie sits next to him on the school bus ride home and takes out her colored pencils and starts drawing things and naming them in English -- tree, duck, book, etc. She draws a picture of him and names it "Dat," and he's thrilled: "Julie, you know my name!" Now he starts seeing her in full color.
Is It Any Good?
This extraordinary picture book shows kids how it feels to be an immigrant when everything is new and strange, especially the new country's language. The story draws on author-illustrator Young Vo's own experience as an immigrant to the United States from Vietnam. Gibberish also shows how reaching out to someone in that situation can be life-changing for them. Julie finds a way to communicate with Dat through pictures. Vo has said in interviews that's how he learned English.
This is a very special, accessible picture book that teaches empathy and the value of communication -- in one way or another.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about how Gibberish shows what it's like to be in a situation where you don't speak the language. How would it be frustrating and confusing? Have you ever been in that situation?
Why do you think the author-illustrator chose to draw Dat and his mother in realistic full color, but the English speakers around him as black-and-white cartoon characters? How did that help you understand how he feels and what he's going through?
What other ways can you communicate with someone besides talking? How could you make them understand what you want or what you want to do?
Can you figure out the code on the endpapers of the book? You can decipher which pictures used in the gibberish language match up with which letters of the English alphabet. Or go to the page in the story where Dat is learning the English words from Julie's pictures, and check out the world "book" and then go on to other words on that spread -- boar, duck, frog, flower, home, plane, ball. See if you can get the hang of it.
Book Details
- Author: Young Vo
- Illustrator: Young Vo
- Genre: Picture Book
- Topics: Great Boy Role Models, Great Girl Role Models
- Character Strengths: Communication, Curiosity, Empathy, Perseverance
- Book type: Fiction
- Publication date: March 11, 2022
- Number of pages: 40
- Available on: Hardback, Kindle
- Award: Common Sense Selection
- Last updated: January 22, 2023
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For kids who love immigrant stories and Asian characters
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