The Jade Bracelet

A girl slowly internalizes the meaning behind a special gift in this quietly moving picture book that’s inspired, per an endnote, by a bracelet the author was given as a child. On her birthday, young Tiên receives a jade bracelet from Má, who explains that when she herself was little, she obtained one from Tiên’s late grandmother, Bà Ngoa.i. Tiên recalls Bà Ngoa.i’s coming from Vietnam to live with the family (“She would sing sweet lullabies,” Dinh writes), but despite the memory, Tiên’s bracelet, so different from those worn by other girls at school, embarrasses her. After a picture-day incident draws attention to the item, being given the option to choose another bracelet helps the child consider the legacy of the object dangling from her wrist. Using washes of watercolor and crisp colored pencil, Kang neatly depicts the translucent bracelet’s beauty amid the family’s lived-in home and recollected history. Background characters are portrayed with various skin tones. Ages 4–8. (Apr.)