Hundred Years of Happiness by Thanhha Lai, Phung Nguyen Quang, Huynh Kim Lien
Published by HarperCollins on April 5, 2022
ISBN: 0063026929
Pages: 32
Genres: Realistic Fiction
Format: Picture Book Fiction
Goodreads

From the celebrated author of Inside Out and Back Again, this picture book features An’s relationship with her grandparents, particularly her grandmother Bá who is experiencing memory loss. An and her grandfather Ông, try to stir Bá’s memories by growing a fruit that they ate when they were married in Vietnam. The author, Thanhhà Lai, addresses Bá’s memory loss realistically and tenderly, without providing an unrealistic ending to the story. Vietnamese words are included throughout the book, as well as an author’s note about her memories of Vietnam, and a recipe in the back. This book will bring a diverse voice to grandparent/grandchild stories in any library and it would pair well with Rashin Kheiriyeh’s Saffron Ice Cream for a lesson on food and memory. School librarians and teachers could use these books as mentor texts when asking students to write about a food that reminds them of a memory or a place.

Reviewed by Elizabeth Andersen, Dyer Elementary School