The River of Caregiving

In a reverent intergenerational narrative, Chung and Gonzales highlight reciprocal acts that functionally support an extended family, which cues as of Taiwanese descent. Via limpid lines, an unnamed child protagonist compares their family’s ongoing efforts to a flowing river: “The way we care for one/ another never stops./ It connects each generation/ to the next/ and back again.” Examples include now-grown children bathing and feeding adults who once did the same for them, and the narrator’s mutual relationship with A-gong: “He picks me up from school... I go with him to his doctors’ appointments,” each with “a snack and a smile.” A water motif weaves throughout digitally finished watercolor, gouache, and colored pencil illustrations, its gently scalloped curves framing softly rendered familial interactions, and a stirring closing sequence highlights connections that endure across life and death, proximity, and age. An author’s note concludes. Ages 3–7. (May)