The Rock in My Throat

by Kao Kalia Yang (Author) Jiemei Lin (Illustrator)

Reading Level: 2nd − 3rd Grade

At first, no one noticed when I stopped talking at school.

In this moving true story, Kao Kalia Yang shares her experiences as a young Hmong refugee navigating life at home and at school. Having seen the poor treatment her parents received when making their best efforts at speaking English, she no longer speaks at school. Kalia feels as though a rock has become lodged in her throat, and it grows heavier each day. Although the narrative is somber, it is also infused with moments of beauty, love, and hope.

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Kirkus

A powerful window into the perspective of a young immigrant.

Publishers Weekly

Based on personal history, per an author's note, Yang traces a Hmong-speaking child's experience of selective mutism. For the child narrator, "Recess is the hardest time of day," a period of loneliness in which they turn to the natural world: "I am relieved when I see a feather on the ground." At home, the child engages with family in Hmong, "a song, uninterrupted" that "flows and flows." But "I don't want to be like the many people who speak English"--including an impatient store cashier who "grew bigger and bigger" while "my mother and I grew smaller and smaller." At school, the child's silence goes unnoticed until a substitute teacher recognizes that "the only sound I'm able to make is a shaking cough." Lin's digital illustrations employ scale and perspective to smart effect; background characters are portrayed with various skin tones. An author's note and Hmong pronunciations conclude. Ages 5-10. (Mar.)

Copyright 2024 Publishers Weekly, LLC Used with permission.

Review quotes



Kao Kalia Yang
Kao Kalia Yang is a Hmong-American writer. She is the author of the adult memoirs The Latehomecomer: A Hmong Family Memoir, The Song Poet, and Somewhere in the Unknown World. Yang is also the author of the children's books A Map Into the World, The Shared Room, The Most Beautiful Thing, and Yang Warriors. Yang is a 2023 Guggenheim Fellow, and her work has been recognized by the National Endowment for the Arts, the National Book Critics Circle Award, the Chautauqua Prize, the PEN USA literary awards, the Dayton's Literary Peace Prize, the American Library Association, Kirkus Best Books of the Year, the Heartland Bookseller's Award, and garnered four Minnesota Book Awards. Kao Kalia Yang lives in Minnesota with her family, and teaches and speaks across the nation.
Classification
Non-fiction
ISBN-13
9781728445687
Lexile Measure
-
Guided Reading Level
-
Publisher
Carolrhoda Books (R)
Publication date
March 05, 2024
Series
-
BISAC categories
JNF053140 - Juvenile Nonfiction | Social Topics | Prejudice & Racism
JNF007000 - Juvenile Nonfiction | Biography & Autobiography | General
JNF050000 - Juvenile Nonfiction | School & Education
JNF053230 - Juvenile Nonfiction | Social Topics | Depression & Mental Illness
Library of Congress categories
Immigrants
United States
Refugees
Thailand
Selective mutism
Hmong Americans
Yang, Kao Kalia
JUVENILE NONFICTION / Social Topics / Depress

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