Children's Picture Book Database at Miami University

Jun moves from Hong Kong to America and has to learn new words to start school. Her mother helps her write a few words on her hand each day so she can transition into a new life. The best moment of the day is when Jun eats her favorite meal from her lunch box, which her mother has prepared. By the end of the first week of school, Jun has lived through the terrifying moments of being alone, laughed at, and lost in school activities. The breakthrough moment is when Jun shares her food with girls at school then her Mom has Jun's new classmates come over to eat at their house.

Sangoel feels homesick after leaving his Sudanese homeland where his father died in the war. With his mother and sister, Sangoel arrives to the United States to start a new life where they learn so many things about technology, escalators, cooking stoves, and televisions. With a clever use of writing in his new school classroom, Sangoel helps his teacher and classmates learn how to pronounce his name. He will always be a Sangoel just like "his father and grandfather and his father" before him in Africa.