• Booklist Reviews : Booklist Reviews 2020 July #1
  *Starred Review* The magic happens here on every page, the perfection personified by debut author/artist Nguyen's autobiographical homage to the infinite power of storytelling. The opening page ingeniously distinguishes three interwoven narratives with three color palettes: red is the urgent now, about young Ti?n and his mother learning to communicate through the language of fairy tales when difficult conversations can't yet be uttered; brown is the older past, of Ti?n's mother's cleaving journey from war-torn Vietnam to become a U.S. citizen; blue are the stories we tell to help understand, shape, and even save our very lives. Ti?n has a secret he desperately needs to declare, especially to his mother, but she's suddenly called back to Vietnam when her own mother dies. Three parallel stories bind the generations together: mother and son read aloud Alera, a Cinderella-esque story of cross-dressing true love; mother-in-mourning and her elderly aunt recall the fairy godparent-like magic fish; mother-returned and son-in-waiting share a different magic fish, a voiceless mermaid who learns to speak through dance. Such are the stories that will reveal the truth. Even as his panels end, Nguyen's magic continues—as writer, his spare author's note is an articulate reclamation, even reinvention, of the immigrant narrative; as artist, his detailed commentary on illustrative genesis—European, colonial, Asian, American Midwest inspirations—provide both historical and personal revelations. Grades 8-12. Copyright 2020 Booklist Reviews.

Trung Le Nguyen, also known as Trungles, is a comic book artist and illustrator working out of Minnesota. He received his BA from Hamline University in 2012, majoring in Studio Art with a concentration in oil painting and minoring in Art History. He has contributed work for Oni Press, BOOM! Studios, Limerence Press, and Image Comics. He is particularly fond of fairy tales, kids' cartoons, and rom-coms of all stripes. The Magic Fish is his debut graphic novel.