A wonderful, poignant story of a young girl who can speak her native language fluently but is so overwhelmed by English that she chooses not to speak it. This book fits the educational and trade markets. It will open readers' eyes to how other children may feel in uncomfortable situations. It would make a wonderful read aloud or classroom library addition. The main character's personal journey would spark conversation at home.

“The Rock in My Throat” is a powerful memoir of a young immigrant girl who chooses to stop speaking at school. Kao Kalia Yang tells of her experience facing impatience and demeaning behavior as she and her family learned English. Jiemei Lin’s sparse illustrations emphasize Yang’s despair over the treatment she and her family face.

This is an important and accessible story that puts the reader in the shoes of someone trying and trying to learn a new language, but the obstacles are nearly insurmountable. This is not a feel good story, though it does end on a note of hope when young Kao makes a connection with another student in her class.

Teachers, read this book no matter the level you teach. It will help you further empathize with your English Language Learners and the challenges they face.

I received an advance review copy for free from NetGalley and Lerner Publishing Group, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

I got to read an advanced copy of this on NetGalley. It is so touching and beautiful and the artwork is lovely. I can't wait to get the final copy and read it with my kid.

"The Rock in My Throat" had my heart aching for Kalia. I think that kids who read this book will feel a kinship with Kalia even if they can't directly relate to her struggles of speaking English as it's not her first language. How often did we feel similarly to Kalia as children? If you mispronounced a word, struggled to explain an idea, or lacked social skills in making friends you were ostracized in school. While Kalia has a struggle that I can't directly relate to, I can see where the lesson in this book extends farther than the issue on the surface.

The duality of this book is as beautiful as it is shattering. It forces us to reassess our own actions to see how we can better support children. After all, Kalia fears to speak English based on how she sees her parents treated by ADULTS, who are supposed to set the example. A fantastic book that puts a feeling into a visual for more than just kids to understand.

This book broke my heart, but it would be an important read aloud for all ages. Speaking English as a second language is challenging enough, but being bullied for it to the point of silence is devastating. This will be great for schools with refugees to help teach acceptance and empathy.

What an excellent story to help readers be more understanding of those who can’t speak English and/or are extremely shy. Learning to speak a second language is difficult and takes time. If people had been kinder to the main character’s mother, perhaps the young girl would have spoken sooner. I envision a teacher reading this book to her students helping them become more sensitive communicating with each other.

This picture book memoir is about the author's childhood experience with selective mutism. She spoke Hmong with her refugee family at home, but stopped speaking elsewhere. Even though she understood English and was able to handle her schoolwork, she would not speak at school, which created confusion and misunderstanding with others.

The neutral color palette works well for the illustrations, and the author's heartfelt story and note at the end will be educational for readers for all ages. There is also a glossary at the end that translates the Hmong sentences used in the story. The one detail that remains unclear is how much of the author's silence was anxiety-driven, versus a protest against not wanting to speak English.

In both the story and the author's note, she explains that she was embarrassed and offended by how many English speakers were impatient with her mother's halting English, and she considered her silence to be a rebellion against this, but she also writes about feeling anxious and not being able to speak, even when she wanted to.

It's not always clear how much of this was deliberate, and how much of this was outside of her control. This could create confusion for some readers, and could cause some people to assume that there is always a deliberate, hidden reason for a selectively mute person to be silent, when it could be primarily anxiety-driven and not a personal decision.

I think that this book could have been even stronger with extra information about the condition of selective mutism, in addition to the author's personal story. Nonetheless, this is a heartfelt, touching story, and a meaningful introduction to a little-known and poorly understood struggle. People who enjoyed this personal account may also be interested in the fictional story "The Secret Voice of Gina Zhang" by Dori Jones Yang, which covers the same topic.

A moving book with pictures designed to help young readers understand the difficult subject of selective mutism and the challenges unique to students from multilingual and multicultural families. Great for children who struggle with this themselves or to help students empathize with others who do. A fabulous SEL addition to any bookshelf; private or school.

This is a children’s book which explains what happens to a young Hmong girl who finds she cannot talk at school. The story is a good one for children who might have neighbors or classmates for whom English is not their first language. One thing that would have added to my appreciation of the story would be a translation of the Hmong words that are used in the text. I also learned a lot by reading the author’s note. Young children will not have this opportunity. I suggest moving this to the front of the book so that teachers, parents, and other caretakers might have a solid understanding of the story before they begin reading. I thank Lerner Publishing Group and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this ARC.

It is terrifying to be in a world where your attempts to speak their language is most often unintelligible to the others. Kind of like when I try to speak NyNorsk or Hmong. It is why immigrants say that they don't speak the English. But most often they do understand the spoken (or written) words. This young person simply stopped speaking (except at home) and felt a great sadness for all those who had much difficulty with the English. It is a book which helps to learn acceptance. Well suited for reading WITH someone of any age including ESL, and great for gifting to anyone, but especially to a school or your local public library!
The illustrations by Jiemei Lin are clear, simple, muted colors, and meaningful.
I requested and received a free temporary e-book on Adobe Digital Editions from Lerner Publishing Group, Carolrhoda Books ® via NetGalley. Thank you!

Jul 30, 2021 · The St. Paul-Minneapolis metropolitan area is home to 70,000 Hmong, while about 30,000 to 40,000 Hmong live in California. Hmong refugees from Laos make up 10 percent of the population of Wausau, Wisconsin.

This is a beautiful picture book that depicts the author, Kao Halia Yang, and her experience with selective mutism as a young child. She and her family migrated to the United States and spoke their native language Hmong in the home. The book describes in first person narrative what it felt like for her (a rock in her throat) when she was called upon to use her words at school. Neither she, her parents, nor her teachers at the time understood why she couldn’t speak/use her voice.

As an elementary school social worker (child mental health), I have had the opportunity to work with students experiencing selective mutism. There are a lot of misconceptions about it, such as “the child just doesn’t want to speak,” “the child has a trauma history” ect.. These have been debunked, but they continue to persist. Selective mutism manifests from strong social anxiety. Think of the fight, flight, freeze we experience when we feel anxious. For young children with selective mutism, they freeze. The current research supports that children from homes whose native language is different than the language spoken by the greater communities do experience selective mutism at higher percentages.

I thought this book was a fantastic and accurate description of what a child feels who experiences this.

The illustrations by Jiemei Lin are stunning.

Thank you Netgalley and Lerner Publishing Group, Carolrhoda Books Imprints for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

In this story, the author shares her own experience through which she learns to be patient and which led her to being a person of written words rather than spoken.

Kao Kalia Yang comes with her family to US as a young Hmong refugee. At school, she picks English words and at home, she feels comfort of her family and speaks her native language. But it’s what she sees when she is with her mother outside their comfortable space. When her mother tries to speak English and other people don’t take time or don’t make any effort to understand her, Kao turns inwardly. At school, she stops speaking English. It’s her silent revolution, which she reveals years later.

It is a very touching story. The feelings of the child are well-expressed. You can feel her loneliness and struggle to speak out the words even when she wants to. There is a girl who offers her friendship and it shows the author’s appreciation for people who offer friendship.

The writing is poetic and original. The target audience for this book is 5-10 years. For those who are around 10 and good at reading, I can see them reading it themselves, but for the rest, it might be one of those stories that is read to children and touches their minds and stays with them for a long time.

This touching picture-book is accompanied by lovely illustrations that express well the child’s feelings and her story.

A beautiful, heartbreaking story about a young girl who moves to the United States from Thailand. Kao Kalia is self conscious and feels like an outsider after her family moves. She tries to make herself as small as possible and doesn't speak. She only feels comfortable with her family. The author does a fantastic job at showing children what it was like for her and her family moving to a completely new country and how difficult it was to adjust due to language barriers and being isolated. The illustrations are wonderful and fit the story very well. This would be an excellent story to teach children about the experience of others.

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for providing this ARC. All thoughts are my own.

This was interesting! I don't think I've read a book quite like this before. It was sad and didn't have a very happy ending, but it was hopeful. The author's note helped explain her situation and provided a unique perspective.

Kao Kalia Yang is a little girl who has recently moved to the United States. Kao is struggling to connect with her classmates due to the language barrier since she only speaks Hmong. Kao describes the feeling of not being able to speak with the other children as a rock in her throat. This story resonated with me personally because as a child I often felt isolated from my classmates due to the language barrier. The illustrations are beautiful and help visually reflect the message Kao is conveying to the reader. This a must be read book for anyone who works with children who are learning English as a second language.

Thank you NetGalley, Lerner Publishing Group, and Carolhorda Books for sending me an ARC in exchange of an honest review of the book received.

This book was so adorable, I loved everything about it, the illustrations were so well done, they suited the book perfectly, the story was amazing as well. I’m sure the kids are going to be just as enthralled with this amazing book as I was. I will definitely recommend! Thank you netgalley and the publisher for this early copy

I became interested in this book because of the cover, then I read the description and I was hooked. In a way it was a sad book. It teaches a good lesson. It’s the story of a young girl who doesn’t speak English and moves to the States. She’s having a difficult time adjusting and even harder time speaking English, which is necessary. Seems to me she is definitely an introvert. I was given an ARC to review if I desired. I feel this is an important book to teach children about diversity and especially to try to understand how difficult it is to adjust to a new country, culture and language. The illustrations were lovely. Looking forward to more by this author.

This children's memoir is beyond sweet. It speaks to the soul of the experience of moving to America and having to transition between languages.

This sweet child has a rock in her throat, every time she tries to speak in English. At home, there is no issue speaking Hmong, her Thailand native tongue. This book speaks to the experience of transitioning between languages and cultures, and how children may perceive this experience. The guilt, shame, and othering that occurs, whether it is intentional or not.

This rock is a metaphor for the many aspects of culture, language, behaviors, and expectations we place on children learning a new language in a new country, and how they may perceive it.

As a Spanish speaker, who moved to America in their teen years, this story resonated with me. My rock was different, I was very good at spoken English, so good other immigrants and migrants were often upset with me. Just as others were upset with me, I witnessed others be belittled and compared to my fluency. My accent didn't betray me in either language, and that made me feel guilty enough that I stopped speaking Spanish in public. This did come to bite me very hard when my teachers realized I could not read academically or write in English, but my point is that like the character in this book, I developed a rock in my throat due to the guilt and cultural shame that came from the experiences around me.

I think any child and anyone, from any culture who has moved to another country with a different language than their native tongue can absolutely see themselves in Kao Kalia's shoes. We can all describe a rock in our throats, developed from a range of emotions and experiences. We can commiserate on our shared loss of control, culture, and experiences in a new, unfamiliar land.

I completely recommend this book for children, it is a 5/5 for me.

*Jaw drop*
*inhale*
*exhale*

THIS IS REALLY GOOD BOOK! This book has a lot of meaning since it portrays the narrative of someone from an ethnic minority who finds it hard to make friends in an unfamiliar environment. to acknowledge diversity more, to be more tolerant, and to be okay when you are different.

Thanks to Netgalley for making this book available for an honest review.

Sobering book based on the author’s childhood when she hated being misunderstood so much when she spoke English that she stopped speaking in school at all, until she entered college. She understood English. She just hated when people made fun of her and her mother so much that she just couldn’t talk.

At first her teachers don’t notice, because she does all the work, but then they do.

Sad, but a good book for children to understand what it is like to be made fun of and to come into a country when you are an immigrant.

Thanks to Netgalley for making this book available for an honest review. This book comes out the 5th of March 2024.