Watercress

Written by Andrea Wang and illustrated by Jason Chin

The 2022 Caldecott Medal and Asian/Pacific American Award for Literature Winner (as well as so many other awards to name!), Watercress is a beautifully illustrated, heartfelt, cultural read.

Summary
The autobiographical picture book tells the memory of a Chinese girl that, living in rural Ohio, is ashamed of picking watercress from a ditch with her family. There is no way she is having ditch food for dinner, even if it is free! However, that night, her mother opens up about her own memories of watercress and China, and how she lost her brother to famine. The girl digs in, grateful not only for the food on the table but for her mother sharing a part of her past.

Analysis
Chin brings to life Wang’s memory in his dreamy afternoon-yellow pallete. The story and art are reminiscent of Allen Say’s (Japanese) autobiographical work. I particularly liked the detail Chin took to depict the story’s era in his fashion and car model choices. Like my undergrad short story writing professor taught us, Watercress is focused on a grain of sand (one particular memory) in which bigger, more universal concepts are rooted, and I believe this is what makes the story so powerful.

Watercress will definitely resonate with immigrant children from all backgrounds, and perhaps even with bilingual American children. Living in rural Ohio, Wang and her family were likely the only Chinese family, so anyone spotting them in the ditch (such as the passing station wagon) would have immediately identified them. This would be embarrassing for a pre-teen girl, and would likely be recorded nowadays.

In her author’s note, Wang incites parents to speak about their histories, even if painful, because that is how past trauma is healed and future trauma avoided. Knowing histories may cause children to feel less resentment or shame toward their culture, and base it on understanding.

Content will be best appreciated by older readers, but the text is brief enough and the illustrations captivating enough for toddlers.

Note to Parents
As bilingual parents, speaking two languages or having different customs may seem difficult to your children, or they may even feel singled out or different because of it. However, we must normalize the concept. As long as we are being respectful in public most people nowadays will realize a foreign language is a “mother tongue”/ home language, and will not take offense. I often like to point out to my son when I hear a different language spoken in public, so he is aware, “oh, we’re not the only ones who can or HAVE to do that!”  As an immigrant child with immigrant parents, I definitely identify with Wang. But, as an immigrant bilingual parent, Watercress definitely made me more aware of having a dialogue with my children about customs that may differ from the mainstream, and that they may feel self-conscious about. We may feel close to these customs but it may be harder for our children, further removed from a foreign culture, to understand the meaning behind them.

Translation Difficulty: Medium. Parents could summarize the gist of every page. But I think discussing the book in your native language would be stronger.