Navigating Night - by Julie Leung (Hardcover)

Book Synopsis

A girl guides her dad on his route delivering Chinese take-out food in this touching picture book, written by an APALA-award winner, that celebrates the unique bond between immigrant parents and their children.

Every night, a girl must help her dad, whose English is not as good as hers, make deliveries for their small family restaurant. Sitting next to him in the car, she studies a map and gives him directions in Cantonese. She helps him get to the places he needs to go.

She hates doing this, though. Hates carrying grease-stained boxes of Mongolian beef and moo goo gai pan to customers' doors. Hates being different from the kids behind these doors. Why can't her family be normal like everyone else's?

But when her dad tells her about how he immigrated, all alone as a teenager, to the United States, she comes to better understand him, and appreciate how he has made her American life possible.

About the Author

JULIE LEUNG is an award-winning author of numerous children's books. Her picture book, The Truth About Dragons, was a 2024 Caldecott Honor Book and winner of the Asian/Pacific American Award for Literature. She is also the author of Paper Son, Mr. Pei's Perfect Shapes, and The Fearless Flights of Hazel Ying Lee, all of which received multiple starred reviews. By day, she works in book publishing.

ANGIE KANG is an illustrator and writer whose debut picture book, OUR LAKE, is publishing with Kokila in 2025. The recipient of fellowships and support from MacDowell, Tin House, VONA/Voices, the Sundress Academy of Arts, and other organizations, she was shortlisted for the Cartoonist Studio Prize. Her work has appeared in The New Yorker, Narrative, The Believer, The Rumpus, Ecotone, and elsewhere.