The Magic Fish is So. Beautiful. From the story, the stories within the story, the ART STYLE - it's all striking and amazing. The art is so clean with strong lines and amazing details while using only bare color palettes. I am very, very impressed and in love with the style!

Then you add in the stories within the story. Different versions of stories we've all grown up (and they are definitely not Disney!) All beautifully depicted in a gorgeous art style. And finally the main story - the touching and true meat of the book. Trying to span bridges across generations and cultural differences. When you put all the elements together, it is a wonderful presentation.

As a member of the queer community I cannot explain the strange, tight feeling in my chest when Matthew Shepard was brought up. Suddenly the story had a timeframe I understood and it felt so deeply personal.

I love The Magic Fish and hope to see much much more by Mr. Nguyen in the future.

I really enjoyed this graphic novel. This novel was so cute and the art style was brilliant and the way the colors shifted from what was being told in the fairy tales and what was happening in the real world was great. I am a sucker for that sort of color scheme so this worked on so many levels when it came to the art.
I also really loved the fairy tales and how they weren't the sweet happily ever after ones we are all told but closer to their true counter parts. I also loved learning the Vietnamese versions of these tales I have know for most of my life. Not only did I love how they were told but also how they related to and easily slid into the narrative of the rest of the novel was great.
I adored the main charter as well. He was so sweet and cute and I loved seeing what was going on with him as well. I also loved the little flashbacks we got of the mom's story as well and how these fairy tales were such a big part of her life and her story as well.
This was just such a great book, it had some great rep as well. (I am not own voices though so please seek out those reviews first!) I loved the art and the story just filled me with so much joy. I will be reading this one again and again for years to come.

This is a STUNNING graphic novel. The artwork is immaculate, and I loved the fairy tale retellings within the story. The story itself is so sweet, about a Vietnamese immigrant mother and her American-born son trying to find common ground between their two worlds. The supplementary materials in the back are illuminating. Wow. Just wow.

TW: family member death, religious homophobia, forced outing

The story is centred around Tiến, a young Vietnamese-American kid. He and his parents take out books from the library and read them aloud to each other as a way for his parents to practice English (based on the author’s own experience with his parents!).

This book is really about communication as Tiến struggles to talk to his parents about being gay (even trying to research with the librarian what the word is in Vietnamese). His mom faces a similar struggle in trying to find ways of sharing her experience of immigrating to the States and the trauma she faced, as well as feeling lost between two cultures. She feels that she’s forgetting the Vietnamese stories she grew up with and still doesn’t feel completely at home in America.

The author is able to tackle this communication barrier so beautifully as the characters read aloud from their book of fairy tales, finding different ways to relate these fantastical stories to their own feelings and experiences in hoping that the message gets across. These fairy tales are not the Disney-fied version (and from multiple cultures!) so be prepared for more gruesome depictions.

It is quite short and I would’ve loved more but the author does specifically says in the afterword that he wanted to write a “very short story” so I can respect that! I absolutely LOVE reading the author’s thoughts after the book and learning how personal this story was to the author, the intention of his approach in telling this story about immigrants, and getting more insight into the art choices (like clothing from different time periods to represent the stories told by specific characters).

rep: Vietnamese-American gay mc, Vietnamese mc, Vietnamese characters, sapphic characters
tw: cannibalism, off page death, on page death, murder, blood, homophobia

ARC provided by the publisher.

It’s a simple story at the first glance but don’t be fooled, there’s so much going on here, you’ll be thinking about The Magic Fish for days. And the book does an excellent job of accentuating different arcs, different story lines: the present is drawn in red, the past in yellow, and the fairy tales in blue.

But the stories and colors intertwine; sometimes there’s a single blue panel between a page of red to make you realise how the protagonist thinks about something. The faces are also the same ones across the present/past and the fairy tales. Because, really, our lives can be just as magical.

There’s talk of escaping from your own homeland so you can live safely, of pain caused by living on foreign soil far away from everything & everyone you know and love, of feeling disconnected from your own flesh & blood because you grew up in vastly different circumstances, of… At its core, though, The Magic Fish is a story about love.

Everything in this graphic novel only happens because someone loved another person and would do anything to protect them. There are different shades of it, different ways of showing it. Sometimes we can just say “I love you”, sometimes our love language is just small everyday life actions.

You could write a whole dissertation about the use of color in The Magic Fish, the use of fairy tales to tell a present-day story, the use of characters designs to help the reader make the right connections. But at the end of the day, all of those amazing artistic choices are there to make you feel, and this book will make you cry.

A beautiful, unique story. There are so many layers to this, about stories, immigration, identity, LGBTQIA community, and family.

13 year old Tiến lives with his Vietnamese immigrant parents in the Midwest. He and his mother Helen read fairy tales together to help bridge the gap between their primary languages, English for him, Vietnamese for her. Tiến is gay, and wants to come out to his mother but can’t find the right words in Vietnamese. When Tiến is outed, stories provide a way for them to communicate what they need to and, most importantly, express their love. The lush line art in this graphic novel is stunning, powerfully expressing both the fantasy of the stories and the reality of Tiến and his family’s lives. The back matter is rich, full of details on the influences for the style of settings and characters in this lovely, heartwarming, story.

Told in parallel narratives between fairy tales and real life, The Magic Fish is the story of Tiến, a Vietnamese teen who loves his family but lives with a secret that he fears will change things. He's gay, and doesn't quite know how to come out to them. He shares stories with his parents, particularly his mother, and we can see the story within the story here: each is about suffering, and eventually, rising above difficult circumstances, which mirrors not only Tiến's life, but his mother's escape from Vietnam to America and her longing to be with her mother. The artwork itself is breathtaking; the fairy tale scenes are incredible, dreamlike; Tiến's reality is realistically drawn with fleshed-out characters and expressive body language. Sensitive, beautifully drawn, and perfect for teen collections. The Magic Fish has starred reviews from Publishers Weekly, Booklist, Kirkus, and is an Indie Next pick.

This is just one of those graphic novels that manages to grab you and then never lets you go.

Tiến is an almost 13 year old who is of Vietnamese descent. While he grew up completely in America, his parents are immigrants. His mother speaks mainly Vietnamese and he speaks mainly English. But through stories, fairytales, they find their connection with each other daily. The story is told through the eyes of Tiến and his mother who try to find their way in life. Between losing a loved one and how to tell your parents you are gay, the fairytales are there to help guide the story.

It is an emotional story that will hit you hard. I was close to crying at some point and really wanted to throw something at the reverend. There is somethng about the way the artist manages to convey the unspoke words between Tiến and his mother. About the way he draws the body language.

Safe to say is that I greatly appreciated the art in this graphic novel. It was consistent and beautiful. The colour changes between the fairy tale and the story of Tiến were spot on. It made it easier to follow the story and to differ between the two, but it also added to the emotional balance.

This ARC was provided for review, but in no way affects the following impartial and unbiased review:
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5*
Those five stars are truly a thousand. This graphic novel is heartbreakingly beautiful. Through exquisite and detailed art and color schemes, the author tells the touching story that thousands of immigrants have lived through. Infused with captivating traditional Vietnamese tales, this novel shows the parallels between the native culture and current generations. It also includes a crucial point of view of being a queer child in today's times, the struggles of coming out and the homophobic fist of religion. It will make you tear up and it will break you heart, but you'll be a different person by the end of it.

This was a very interesting graphic novel that fused fairytales with every day life. I really liked the cultural representation of language, names and the fairytales. The illustrations were unique and beautiful. I appreciated the message of the story. The fables told in this story were beautiful and so well done. I was hooked. The only thing I wish is that the ending was a little longer. I feel like it was cut short and abruptly and I would’ve liked more for the ending. But the ending did wrap up very nicely.

Overall it was a lovely tale and I think many people would enjoy this graphic novel.

When you tell a kid a story, you also tell them what is good in our culture, what you value and what they should too. In Tran's family fairy stories are a way that his mother and he can communicate over the divide of language and culture. She does not have the words to talk of the loss of her mother. How the sea seems to split her between two worlds. Tran can't find the words to talk about his feelings for another boy.

But stories can also change in the telling and can stretch to stitch together two different cultures.

The art is elegant and lyrical like a mix between the work of Moto Hagio and Audrey Beardsley.

I feel like this should win all kinds of awards. It was so well done. I loved the combination of the fairy tale stories a family read aloud together with the main story of a 13-year-old kid trying to figure out how to come out to his mom. The art was lovely and perfectly complemented the text.

This is such a wholesome and magical story! I loved everything about it. How Tiên is such a sweet young boy who loves his family so much. How he and his parents use fairytales to help bridge the language barrier between them. The art is beautiful and elegant.

I also thought the use of colours to differentiate the fairytale parts from the flashbacks and from the present time was super clever and effective.

I’d definitely recommend this to every single person.

A beautiful story about family, coming out, and immigration, with different fairy tales weaved throughout. The art is incredible. There's so much heart and honesty in this, it's like nothing I've read before. Highly, highly recommended.

The Magic Fish follows Tién, a thirteen year old who loves reading stories with his parents. Throughout the book we watch Tién and his family read fairy tales to help better their English. Half of the story is made up of the fairy tales Tién is reading and the other half follows Tién and his family.

The Magic Fish deals with many important topics. Tién is young and has a crush on his male best friend, but he is scared to tell his mom that he is gay. The book also deals with complex families with Tién’s parents being immigrants. Us readers get to see their struggles and emotions while being away from their families in different countries then them.

I really loved the images in this story because they are absolutely beautiful. Each of the fairy tales are drawn to feel magical and it feels like Tién is reading the story to you along with his family due to the way they are drawn.

Overall, the Magic Fish is a beautiful graphic novel filled with beautiful fairy tales and a beautiful family. I highly recommend this story to anyone. It is truly special and will be loved by anyone who picks it up.

I’m not sure how, but this book managed to simultaneously break my heart, give me nightmares, and give me hope for the world. The art was BEAUTIFUL and the juxtaposition of the fairy tales being in a different color than the story itself was pure genius. I would definitely call this YA as opposed to middle grade because some of the fairy tales are downright horrifying (as they should be). It was a rocky start for me and I wasn’t expecting it to be as good as it was.

Tiến is starting to face the fact that he has something important to tell his parents and at some point, he'll have to tell them or someone else might. The biggest issue for him though is that he can't find the Vietnamese equivalent for what he's figuring out. His friends want to help, and will do what they can to be supportive friends. In the meantime, he will read aloud fairy tales to his mom as a way for her to work on her English.

With the help of fairy tales, Tiến and his mom find ways to express what is happening to them and what they're feeling. As much as the focus is on Tiến and his coming out, this is also a story of his mom coming to terms with time.

The Magic Fish is a coming out tale, but it is also an immigration story. Both aspects of the story are very much needed. Trung Le Nguyen uses the fairy tales effortlessly to weave the various parts of the story together. Three fairytales are featured in the story: Tattercoats, Cinderella (both traditional and Vietnamese), and The Little Mermaid. The retelling of The Little Mermaid and how Le Nguyen uses it moved me greatly (you have to read it to find out).

Random House suggests this for teens and YA, but I could easily see this in middle school and even upper elementary. It didn't feel like a title that would be lost on savvy readers at the upper elementary level (4th and 5th grades), but it certainly sits comfortably at middle school (Tiến is about 13 in the story).

Overall, this is an absolute must have on your library shelves. The Magic Fish is a coming out story, an immigration story, and a fairy tale retelling all in one. This book will be a mirror, a door, a window, and more. Make room for this and keep an eye on what Trung Le Nguyen publishes next

This is an amazing lyrical graphic novel that digs into issues of identity, culture, and family. The illustrations and the fairy tales that accompanied the main story were so beautiful and gorgeous. I loved how to touch on all kinds of issues such as cultural identity, love, homosexuality, and belonging. This will definitely appeal to all kinds of readers. I highly recommend this.

I loved this book so much. It was heartbreaking but in a good way. I loved the stories that Tien and his mother tell each other. The relationships that are explored are great. The artwork is fantastic. Everything about this book was just flawless. I really could find no fault with it as I was reading. I would highly recommend this to anyone, it was perfect.