The Most Beautiful Thing: a beautiful picture book

“My grandmother is so old, no one knows how old she is.”

So begins a non-fiction picture book that delves into the way of life of the author’s Hmong refugee family. On one level, it is the story of Grandma, who grew up in an unspecified country (assumed Laos) in Asia. She was a young orphan who had to look after her little brothers and sisters.

Image of Grandma and her siblings as children, as illustrated by Khoa Le, in The Most Beautiful Thing. — Illustration of Grandma and her siblings as children, by Khoa Le, from *The Most Beautiful Thing*

Hmong refugees

At another level it is about her grandchildren, who are Hmong Americans growing up with financial hardship. Many Hmong people were US sympathisers in the Vietnam War and were offered asylum in the United States.

Grandmother and grandchildren’s stories intersect in the scarcity of food, and the tenderness of their relationship. “The luckiest of the grandchildren got to help take care of Grandma.”

Illustration of grandmother's foot in The Most Beautiful Thing — Illustration by Khoa Le, from *The Most Beautiful Thing*

And this is no lip service care. The narrator proudly announces that she “got to clip [Grandma’s] fingernails and toenails”. She also got to trace the deep stained cracks of her feet and listen to the stories of daring that caused them.

Poverty

The family have enough meat once a year, at Hmong New Year. The narrator has to settle for ice cubes instead of the ice-cream van. But she always shares with her grandmother and receives a toothless smile in return.