My Chinatown - by Kam Mak (Paperback)

About the Book

This tribute to family, community, and childhood features the familiar streets of Chinatown, its people, its storefronts, its smells, and its sounds. With stunning, realistic illustrations and simple, vivid poetry, readers enter a wonderful place where two cultures meet and live side by side. Full-color illustrations.

Book Synopsis

My Chinatown is a critically acclaimed, spectacularly illustrated picture book homage to family, culture, and a childhood spent in one of the most striking places in any city--Chinatown.

Kam Mak grew up in a place of two cultures, one existing within the other. Using extraordinarily beautiful paintings and moving poems, he shares a year of growing up in this small city within a city.

My Chinatown explores a boy's first year in the United States--after emigrating from China--as he grows to love his new home in Chinatown through food, games, and the people surrounding him. Through Kam Mak's spare verse and richly detailed artwork, the streets of Chinatown come vividly alive. Included in Brightly.com's 2017 list of recommended diverse poetry picture books for kids.

Chinatown--a place of dragons and dreams; fireflies and memories
Chinatown--full of wonder and magic; fireworks on New Year's Day and a delicious smell on every corner
Chinatown--where every day brings something familiar and something wondrously new to a small boy
Chinatown--home?

From the Back Cover

Chinatown--a place of dragons and dreams, fireflies and memories.

Chinatown--full of wonder and magic, fireworks on New Year's Day, and a delicious smell on every corner.

Chinatown--where every day brings something familiar and something wondrously new to a small boy.

Chinatown--home!

Kam Mak grew up in a place of two cultures, one existing within the other. Using extraordinarily beautiful paintings and moving poems, he shares a year of growing up in this small city within a city called Chinatown.

Review Quotes

The simplicity of language and beautiful paintings evoke poignant imagery... -- Kirkus (Starred Review)