In this post, we feature award-winning author Doan Phuong Nguyen, whose previous titles include Mèo and Bé, which was named a Notable Books for a Global Society Winner by the International Literacy Association, among other honors. You can hear her speak about her new novel, A Two-Placed Heart, and try her “invitation to imagine” activity. You’ll also find other resources to explore. Thanks for joining us, and let us know what you think in the comments below!
A Two-Placed Heart
- Written by Doan Phuong Nguyen
- Published by Tu Books, an imprint of Lee & Low
- Release date: September 24, 2024
Bom can’t believe that her sister doesn’t see herself as Vietnamese, only American. She says she doesn’t remember Vietnam or their lives there, their family there, their house and friends. How could her sister forget the terrible journey through Saigon and the airplanes and… everything? And what about Bom? She remembers now, but how long will she keep her memories? She always found comfort in the sound of her father’s typewriter’s clickity-clack, clickity-clacking. So she has an idea. She’ll write down all that she can remember: the time when her father was a spy, when her mother was nicknamed a “radio,” when they were so hungry Bom couldn’t walk well, when the family all said goodbye. Bom will even tell her sister, and herself, about what it was like moving to Tennessee. The ESL classes, bullies, strange new foods, icy weather, friendships, and crushes—and how her family worked to keep their heritage alive. She’ll type one poem at a time, until they’ll never forget again. Award-winning author Doan Phuong Nguyen draws on her own family story in this moving fictionalized memoir in verse.
From A Two-Placed Heart, written by Doan Phuong Nguyen.
“My dresser is a sea of notebooks.”
Click here to view a longer preview of A Two-Placed Heart, written by Doan Phuong Nguyen.
Explore A Two-Placed Heart
Listen to Doan Phuong Nguyen talking with TeachingBooks about creating A Two-Placed Heart. You can click the player below or experience the recording on TeachingBooks, where you can read along as you listen, and also translate the text to another language.
- Listen to Doan Phuong Nguyen pronounce her name.
- Sample the e-book of A Two-Placed Heart, by Doan Phuong Nguyen, on Overdrive.com.
- Sample the audiobook of A Two-Placed Heart, by Doan Phuong Nguyen, on Overdrive.com.
- Explore TeachingBooks’ collection of activities and resources for A Two-Placed Heart.
Invitation to Imagine
TeachingBooks asks each author or illustrator on our Virtual Book Tour to share a writing prompt, a drawing exercise, or just an interesting question to spark curiosity and creativity. Enjoy the following activity contributed by Doan Phuong Nguyen.
Imagination Activity with Doan Phuong Nguyen
Memories are so special, and yet fleeting, and we forget them as we get older. Think back on an important (possibly life-changing) moment in your life, one that you never want to forget. It could be a very happy moment, or a very sad one. What made this experience so impactful? Did your life change forever, or was it a temporary setback? Write a free-verse poem about that experience. Describe the setting, a conversation between the people, and how that experience made you feel. If you prefer drawing, you can also draw that scene and use speech and thought bubbles.
Finish This Sentence . . . with Doan Phuong Nguyen
As part of our Virtual Book Tour, TeachingBooks asks authors and illustrators to complete short sentence prompts. Enjoy Doan Phuong Nguyen’s response.
“Where I work is…”
As a working mom, I do my best writing either early in the morning before anyone wakes up (5 or 6am) at home, or at a coffee shop. When I’m in my home office, my cat (Clementine) usually lays on my lap or crawls back and forth over my keyboard. I live in a town with lots of cute local coffee shops. I’ll either use my laptop to write or an old-school free-writing typewriter when I am drafting a new story.
“I hope my book may encourage readers to think about…”
I hope that my book may encourage readers to think about what it means to balance multiple cultural identities. The United States is a racially and ethnically diverse country, and although there is social pressure to assimilate to one “American” identity, I hope kids (or teens) find ways to honor their other cultural identities as well. Even if you are born in the United States, where are your parents or grandparents or great-grandparents from?
Thank you!
To wrap up this Virtual Book Tour, we thank Doan Phuong Nguyen—and her son—for signing a book for all of us.
Doan Phuong Nguyen writes, “My five-year-old was upset that he wasn’t included in the family tree, so he drew himself in the book.”
More Connections to Doan Phuong Nguyen and A Two-Placed Heart
- Discover books like A Two-Placed Heart on TeachingBooks.
- Lee & Low’s page about A Two-Placed Heart, written by Doan Phuong Nguyen.
- Buy A Two-Placed Heart, written by Doan Phuong Nguyen.
All text and images are courtesy of Doan Phuong Nguyen and Lee & Low Books and may not be used without expressed written consent.
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