Drawn Together
by Mihn Le, illustrated by Dan Santat
Disney Hyperion, 2018
A boy visits his grandfather and they sit in silence, as one speaks Vietnamese and the other English. Finally, the boy pulls out his art materials and creates a superhero figure. Grandfather sees what he is doing and next to the boy’s caped superhero emblazoned in color, grandfathers creates a detailed black ink drawing of a Vietnamese warrior. Suddenly they communicate—through their art. Each one’s imagination adds to the other, the boys in color, the grandfathers in black ink. They create their new world, building a closeness, until… that old distance comes between them. But, having bridged their gap, they find a way to love one another.
A beautiful story of a relationship built on mutually shared gifts. Santat’s breathtaking, detailed art flushes out Le’s story bringing a compounded richness to each page.