How We Say I Love You

by Nicole Chen, Lenny Wen (Illustrator)

Overview

In this heartwarming picture book, an Asian American girl shares how her family expresses their love for one another through actions rather than words.

How do you tell your family that you love them? For Hana, love is all around her: Mom stirs love into a steaming pot of xifan. Dad cheers with love at her soccer game. Hana says good night with love by rubbing her grandma's feet and pouring her grandpa his sleepy tea. And as the light fades, Hana's parents tuck her into bed and give her a good night kiss. 
 
So many families express their love in all they do for one another, every day. Here is a book that wraps you in a hug and invites your family to share their own special ways of showing love.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780593428412
Publisher:	Random House Children's Books
Publication date:	12/13/2022
Sold by:	Random House
Format:	eBook
Pages:	40
Lexile:	AD670L (what's this?)
File size:	21 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.
Age Range:	3 - 7 Years

About the Author

Nicole Chen’s experience growing up Taiwanese American, and the blend of Catalan, Spanish, Taiwanese and American influences in her present home, fuels her desire to write and tell stories that reflect a diverse and multicultural American identity. Nicole lives in sunny California with her Andorran husband and young daughter. This is her debut book. To learn more about Nicole, visit storiesbynicolechen.com.

Lenny Wen is an author-illustrator who was born in Indonesia. She loves to draw whimsical, spooky, and nostalgic childhood illustrations with a mixture of storytelling, imagination, and emotion. She was an SCBWI Portfolio honoree and has numerous upcoming books, including Halloween Is Coming and Better Together. She lives in Austria. To learn more about Lenny, please visit lennywen.com.

Editorial Reviews

11/01/2022

Gr 1–3—Hana's Asian American family shows its love for one another in actions instead of using a well-known three-word phrase. Hana feels her family's love every day in the delicious breakfast her mother makes to start the day off right; her grandfather walking her to school every day; her grandmother's delicious lunches; her father's encouraging words as she plays soccer and the way he reads to her at night. She shows them her love by trying her best in all things, pouring her grandfather's nightly tea, rubbing her grandmother's feet, and enjoying the sweetness of family time together. It's a love that Hana cannot wait to share with her unborn sibling to whom she whispers all the joys that await them. Chen's text has several Taiwanese and Mandarin Chinese words that work well in context. In addition, there is a helpful glossary at the book's end, though without a pronunciation guide. Using the style that has served her well in previous picture books, Wen's warm and cozy illustrations depict a multigenerational family that presents a vision of a happy home. The spreads are broken up with the effective use of occasional borders. Hana's classmates have various skin tones. VERDICT This is a successful story that shows not only the myriad ways families indicate love but also an extended family as well. A good general purchase.—Catherine Callegari

School Library Journal

2022-10-26
“My family loves me, and I love them. But we don’t use words to say ‘I love you.’ ”

As a child narrates, readers see a smiling mother, father, grandmother, and grandfather bustle about a cheery, colorful home doing chores. The narrator explains how each family member expresses their love with actions: Mom “stirs her love into a pot of steaming xī fàn” (Mandarin Chinese and Taiwanese Hokkien words are sprinkled throughout and defined in a glossary), Ah Gong walks the child to school in the morning, Ah Ma packs a lunch of noodles, and Dad cheers and encourages from the sidelines of a soccer game. The child also shows love, saying, “I do my best at school so they can feel proud.” Some readers may wonder: Is Chen implying that the family’s reticence when it comes to verbally expressing their love is rooted in their being Chinese? Or is this a Chinese family that happens to be less verbally demonstrative? That’s left up to readers to decide; regardless, it’s abundantly clear from the detailed spreads and expressiveness of the characters that they are full of love for one another, with or without words. (This book was reviewed digitally.)

A warm embrace of a book. (Picture book. 4-7)

Kirkus Reviews