Some picture books play out in their own worlds. They happen in imaginary realms and unspecified times.
Some–a few–are timeless. They make such an impression that they linger, with parents and grandparents passing them on to the next generation.
We Are American, Too is very much a story of this world, and it is very timely. In this 2025 picture book, author Kristen Mei Chase brings her family’s heritage to life. She does this through telling the story of a celebration of the “great-great-great-grandfather Gong Moy,” who came to the United States from China in 1879, his marriage to Mamie at the 1983 World’s Fair, and many other specific details that defined her family. The memories blend Chinese elements, like one page showing a group doing tai chi in the park, with more mainstream American elements, like the Ferris wheel at that World’s Fair. The story, and this fusion of American and Chinese elements, ends up at the Friendship Archway in Washington, DC, which symbolizes that city’s friendship with Beijing.
Except the story clearly doesn’t end. This lineage comes up to the present and continues on, blending past and present, memory and perception, and, of course, China and America, so that every reader will understand why the lead says “We are American, too.”
The book focuses on family and culture, but doing so in 2025 makes it political as well.
Author Kristen Mei Chase is Chinese-American, and this is her story (or part of it).
Jieting Chen’s illustrations evoke the blur of memory, familiarity with designs like the cheongsam young Mei’s mother wears, and the simplicity of good cartoons.
