The Best We Could Do: An Illustrated Memoir

National bestseller!
National Book Critics Circle (NBCC) Finalist
American Library Association (ALA) 2018 Notable Books Selection
"Gives powerful context to refugees everywhere." --New York Times Book Review
"A book to break your heart and heal it." ―Viet Thanh Nguyen, Pulitzer Prize-winning author, The Sympathizer

An intimate and poignant debut graphic novel portraying one family's journey from war-torn Vietnam, from Thi Bui.

This beautifully illustrated and emotional story is an evocative memoir about the search for a better future and a longing for the past. Exploring the anguish of immigration and the lasting effects that displacement has on a child and her family, Bui documents the story of her family's daring escape after the fall of South Vietnam in the 1970s, and the difficulties they faced building new lives for themselves.

At the heart of Bui's story is a universal struggle: While adjusting to life as a first-time mother, she ultimately discovers what it means to be a parent--the endless sacrifices, the unnoticed gestures, and the depths of unspoken love. Despite how impossible it seems to take on the simultaneous roles of both parent and child, Bui pushes through.

With haunting, poetic writing and breathtaking art, she examines the strength of family, the importance of identity, and the meaning of home. The Best We Could Do brings to life, with words and images, Bui's journey of understanding and provides inspiration to all those who search for a better future while longing for a simpler past. It is a powerful look at one woman's life and a war fought decades ago, but her story and the book's message resonate remarkably today.

Author: Thi Bui
Publisher: Harry N. Abrams
Published: 04/17/2018
Pages: 336
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 1.82lbs
Size: 8.90h x 6.50w x 1.20d
ISBN: 9781419718786

Accelerated Reader:
Reading Level: 4.4
Point Value: 2
Interest Level: Upper Grade
Quiz #/Name: 193830 / Best We Could Do: An Illustrated Memoir

About the Author
Thi Bui was born in Việt Nam three months before the end of the American War, and came to the United States in 1978 as part of the "boat people" wave of refugees from Southeast Asia. Her debut graphic memoir, The Best We Could Do (Abrams ComicArts, 2017), has been selected as UCLA's Common Book for 2017, a National Book Critics Circle finalist in autobiography, an Eisner Award finalist in Reality Based Comics, and made several Best of 2017 book lists, including Bill Gates's top five picks. Bui is also the Caldecott Honor-winning illustrator of A Different Pond, a picture book by the poet Bao Phi (Capstone, 2017). Her short comics can be found online at The Nib, Reveal News, PEN America, and BOOM California. She is currently researching and drawing a work of graphic nonfiction about how Asian Americans are impacted by incarceration and deportation, to be published by One World, Random House. Bui taught high school in New York City and was a founding teacher of Oakland International High School, the first public high school in California for recent immigrants and English learners. Since 2015, she has been a faculty member of the MFA in Comics program at the California College of the Arts. Thi Bui lives in the Bay Area.