The Most Beautiful Thing

A warmhearted and tender true story about a young girl finding beauty where she never thought to look.

Drawn from author Kao Kalia Yang's childhood experiences as a Hmong refugee, this moving picture book portrays a family with a great deal of love and little money. Weaving together Kalia's story with that of her beloved grandmother, the book moves from the jungles of Laos to the family's early years in the United States.

When Kalia becomes unhappy about having to do without and decides she wants braces to improve her smile, it is her grandmother—a woman who has just one tooth in her mouth—who helps her see that true beauty is found with those we love most. Stunning illustrations from Vietnamese illustrator Khoa Le bring this intergenerational tale to life.

"A deep and moving reflection on enduring hardship and generational love. . . . Poignant storytelling with stunning visuals."—starred, Kirkus Reviews

"A sincere narrative that centers on the power of family love."—starred, School Library Journal

Minnesota Book Award Finalist, ALA Notable Children's Book, New York Public Library Best Book for Kids, NPR Best Book of the Year

“"Yang centers her cherished paternal grandmother in this poignant picture book memoir. Utilizing the past tense, Yang's narration is effectively mythologizing ('All my life with her, even with just her one tooth, Grandma never said no when we offered her something to eat'), crafting a portrait of her grandmother as a strong matriarch who was orphaned young, foraged for food for her three younger siblings, and once faced down a tiger, yet still persisted. As Kalia gets older, though, she begins to grow frustrated with the amenities her family regularly forgoes as poor Hmong refugees-- and when Kalia asks for braces, Grandma reminds her what truly matters. The level of detail in Le's textural illustrations, rendered in mixed media and digitally, recalls the intricate needlework designs of traditional Hmong textiles, and the story's depths of familial love and history ground the narrative. Front matter includes a bilingual glossary, including pronunciations."--Publishers Weekly”

"A sincere narrative that centers on the power of family love."—starred, School Library Journal

Kao Kalia Yang is a Hmong American writer, teacher and public speaker. Born in the refugee camps of Thailand to a family that escaped the genocide of the Secret War in Laos, she came to America at the age six. Yang holds degrees from Carleton College and Columbia University. Her work has won numerous awards and recognition including multiple Minnesota Book Awards, a Charlotte Zolotow Honor, an ALA Notable Children's Book Award, the 2023 Asian/Pacific American Award for Literature, Dayton's Literary Peace Prize, and a PEN USA Award in Nonfiction. Khoa Le has illustrated picture books published in a number of different countries, including the 2020 Sydney Taylor Honor book Miriam at the River. She is also an author, a graphic designer, and a painter. Khoa has a passion for travel, an eagerness to learn about different cultures, and a desire to discover the beauty of the world. Her inner moth makes her attracted to any source of light, but her dream is to one day see the northern lights. She lives in Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam, with her five cats.

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