Drawn Together
Author: Minh Le
This collaboration between author Minh Le and illustrator Dan Santat explores the communication barriers between a young Thai American boy and his grandfather, and how they bridge language and generational differences by creating art together. Caldecott medalist in illustration Dan Santat and children’s book author Minh Le both remember loving but stilted relationships with their grandparents.
“There are moments where we just didn’t know what to say to each other,” Minh Le recalls of his grandfather, a “man of few words” who had left Vietnam before the worst of the war. Santat, whose family is from Thailand, “had a personal connection with his grandmother that was very similar.”
This poignant story, told mostly through Santat’s vivid watercolors, shows how love can transcend a lack of words. The protagonist and his grandfather struggle to talk but learn to see each other through sketching and painting fantastical scenes of wizards and dragons. Reading this book might inspire your own children to connect more deeply with their elders.