WHAT WILL MY STORY BE?

In a starlit room, an unnamed protagonist listens to her aunties tell stories.

The female elders tell tales of immigration, multilingualism, and change. The protagonist soaks the stories up, completely rapt. Every word her aunties say feels “steeped in love and lore.” The more she listens, the more she wants to tell her own story. But how will she know what her story will be? Soon, her imagination takes flight. Will her story be about sailing away with pirates who have forgotten their trousers? Or will her story be about teaching magical creatures their alphabets? She wonders if she will become an explorer. When her aunties hear that she is trying to tell her story, they encourage her to find her own voice. That is when the protagonist realizes that her story is more than just her present and future: It is also her past, including all the memories and adventures and histories she’s inherited from women like her aunties. By the end of the book, the narrator still isn’t sure what her story will be, but—with the help of her aunties—she is excited to find out. The book’s text is lyrical, whimsical, and inspiring, the vision of interweaving individual and collective stories both accessible and heartwarming. The illustrations of the brown-skinned protagonist and racially diverse aunties are gentle and playful. (This book was reviewed digitally.)

Wisely counsels looking to our past to find our future.