The Paper Boat by Thao Lam

Thanks to NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this book. It was released September 15, 2020, by Owlkids Books.

The Paper Boat is a wordless graphic novel that deals with a Vietnamese family fleeing Vietnam following the end of the war. 

It requires work on the part of the reader. 

It’s well worth the effort. 

Thao Lam used paper cut collages created from textured paper and drawings to create the stunning art. The end papers highlight newspaper headlines. Those at the front of the book provide snapshots of the war from its inception to the fall of Saigon. Those at the end reference refugees. 

The narrative begins with a table covered with ants. Some crawl into a bowl of something and a young girl rescues them. 

Eventually the family sits down at the table to eat. Outside a window, tanks and soldiers adorned with yellow stars stream past. At this, the family members gather what they need and separate. 

The girl and her mother set out on a journey together. At one point the mother covers the child’s face as soldiers with guns pass nearby. When it appears that they are lost, they follow a trail of ants marching to the ocean. While they wait the child folds a paper boat. Then when their boat arrives and they climb into it, she drops the folded ship. 

For the next while it becomes the story of the ants. They climb aboard the paper boat. Afloat on the ocean we see them seasick, being attacked by birds, drowning, getting so hungry and thirsty they begin to devour the boat and drink rainwater. A storm capsizes the vessel but eventually some ants make it to shore. There they are greeted by a massive collection of other ants. 

At this point the story returns to the young girl and her family. We see ants in a new land. As observers looking inside their window, we see one ant making its way across a table laden with delicious food. The girl and her family are sitting around it. 

Next we zoom out of their window and see an apartment full of many windows filled with diverse families.

In the author’s note in the back matter we learn that 1.6 million refugees fled Vietnam at the end of the war. 400,000 of these died at sea for assorted reasons. Those who survived ended up in crowded refugee camps. We discover that this graphic novel is based on her family’s escape. She is the young girl in this story. 

I had no difficulty making connections between what was happening to the ants and what happened to the many 'Boat People' as they were often referred to in the late 1970’s and 80’s. Throughout my career I taught many of their children. For those who might be confused, Thao Lam consolidates and extends the story as she explains how integral the ants are to her and her mother’s tale. 

I appreciate so much about this book. I love that I had to think and was compelled to go back again and again to unpack it more fully. I love the artwork. I am fascinated by the parallels between the ants and the people. The endpapers are just brilliant. 

This book makes me wish I was still teaching. I imagine putting these pages on a large screen and have conversations with students about what they see and what they think it means. I’ve read it at least three times and each go round I discover more.