Vo, Young. (2026). Gibberish. Levine Querido.
If you’ve ever gone to a new school, you know how scary it can be. Now imagine if you had just moved to the country, didn’t speak the language, people had difficulty understanding you, and couldn’t even get your name right! Well, that’s what happened to Dat.
His mom told him that everything might sound like gibberish, and just to do his best.
He got so frustrated and rightly so!
During recess, he and the other students couldn’t understand each other so he had no one to play with, until, someone took a chance, and Dat took a chance back. You don’t need to understand gibberish when you understand fun (play).
They had such a good time. But back in class, Dat was frustrated once again. And on the bus, he was lonely, until…there was his playground friend again!!!
And together, they started to draw pictures and write out words and suddenly, Dat started to hear words instead of gibberish and they started to understand one another!
And his friend found his name was Dat…
and Dat found out his friend’s name is Julie!!
Dat and Julie ran off the bus to their moms and Dat says, ” This is my friend Julie!” And the world seemed like a lot less gibberish, with a lot more joy.
I need to believe that people can be good and sometimes all it takes is that one person, to have empathy, and kindness, and see more sameness than difference, to help make life easier for someone else. In doing so, we often make connections that make our lives that much richer.
And I think that those are important lessons to teach children when they are young. It makes them brave, and kind, gives perspective and growth. And maybe, just maybe, it gives some perspective to the adult reading it with them, too.
Recommended Ages: 3-6
