Eyes That Weave the World’s Wonders

PreS-Gr 3–Siu gently begins with coauthor Kleinrock’s “Dear Reader” letter that asks, “When was the first time you saw yourself represented in a book?” and self-answers, “Never”—until she and Ho created this one together. Siu’s is a tender performance, softly capturing the lyrical verses of a Korean child’s transracial adoption, both “joyful and painful, often at the same time.” In family pictures, “Everyone [is] matching in every way… Except me.” The little girl is obviously nurtured and beloved, but she still contemplates “who and where and why and what if and what happened” to transplant her from her birth mother and birth country: “All I know for sure…sometimes love must look like letting go.” Comforted by “trinkets that traveled with me between lives,” the girl’s eyes connect her to past and present, encouraging her to “spin stories and weave the world’s wonders.”