The Magic Fish

Tiến is a boy who loves his family and his friends, and he is keeping a secret from all of them. He is gay, and he does not know how to say so. At home the problem is also one of language: his parents are still learning English, and he is not sure Vietnamese even has the words for what he is going through.

What the family does share is stories. Tiến borrows fairytale books from the local library, and he reads them aloud with his parents. Those shared readings give him a way to reach them when ordinary conversation falls short, and he starts to look at his own life through the tales.

This is a young adult graphic novel, drawn and written by Trung Le Nguyen. Fairytales run through the pages alongside Tiến's everyday life, so the book moves between the two. The tone is tender and open, and it treats the strain inside a family with care rather than melodrama.

The subject matter is serious: coming out, immigrant parents, and the distance that a language gap can create between a child and the people who love him. The book is written to be accessible to a wide range of ages, and it suits teens as well as older readers.