Over the centuries, migration occurs when countries undergo economic hardships and war. People were unable to stay as Imperial China had been battered from the Opium Wars brought by the Westerners (1830s, 1850s), the Japanese Invasion (1930), a World War (1940s), and the Chinese Civil War (1920s,1940s). Many migration stories of people leaving China were shared between generations.

This is adapted from my grandmother and mother’s journey to witness perseverance, to hear about a time of turmoil, and read about a family’s migration -on land and sea.

Though it themes simliar to Thi Bui’s “The Best We Could do” (2017), it is a lighter story but with a young main characters like Marsha Skrypuch's "Too Young to Escape" (2008) set two decades before in Asia and George Takei’s “They Called Us Enemy” (2019) set a decade after taking place in the other half of of the world. This graphic novel shares Chinese beliefs, food, customs, and folktales like Gene Yang’s “American Born Chinese” (2006) and Chinese words phrases like Harmony Becker’s “Himawari House” (2021).

List of picture book comps: Muon Thi Vin and Vito Ngai “Wishes” ( 2021), Amanda Addison and Manuela Adreani’s ““Boundless Sky” (2020), Jose Jorge Letra and Andre Letria’s “War”(2021).