The Magic Fish by Trung Le Nguyen is a story about a young boy who is struggling to come out to his family. His situation is increasingly difficult because his parents do not speak a lot of English and Tein does not speak a lot of Vietnamese.  

Color coding is something unique about this book. The point of view changes frequently throughout the story and to combat the constant change each point of view is color coded. When the story is set in real time the characters are drawn in a red tone. When the point of view switches to a fairytale that is being read the color changes to a blue tone. The last point of view that is shown is memories which are drawn with a yellow tone. The detail of the colors makes for great visual clues into how the characters feel and makes for a seamless transition into a new point of view. 

Tien’s mother is very interesting because she feels that she is disconnected from her family in Vietnam and her family in America. She uses fairytales to connect to the side of herself that is stuck in Vietnam and the side of herself that is with her family in America. At the end of the story, we see her finally connect fully with her son when she changes the end of a fairytale to make the main character and her best friend fall in love as a way to tell her son that she loves him and who he loves doesn’t change that. 

The Magic Fish by Trung Le Nguyen is a very quick and easy read that deals with some heavy topics in a lighthearted way. This book does a great job of taking heavy topics and conveying them in a lighthearted way without erasing the importance of the topic. The relationship between Tein and his mother is beautiful with all the development they went through by the end to finally connects and understand each other. This book is available at Barns & Noble for $ 16.99.