MTYT: Outside, Inside

Maria V. Acevedo-Aquiño, University of Texas A&M, San Antonio, Desiree W. Cueto, Western Washington University, and Dorea Kleker, University of Arizona

This month we consider the theme of “windows” as we discuss four recently published books, all with global connections. Windows provide distinct vantage points from which to consider our communities—people, spaces, relationships—and our place among them. While two of these books are centered specifically on the pandemic, we didn’t intend for this to be our focus. However, as we responded, it became clear that we couldn’t ignore the impacts the last year has had on our lives, our communities, the questions we wanted to ask one another and our visions for what comes next.

DESIREE: Megan McCaffrey featured LeUyen Pham in the March 24, 2021 segment of Author’s Corner. In that segment, LeUyen talked about her process of writing and illustrating Outside, Inside. For her, creating this book felt personal, born out of her own struggle to cope in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. But for readers of all ages, including me, Outside, Inside served as a window to the closed off world, inviting connection with the universal struggle and providing much needed hope and reassurance.

With simple words, supported by detailed illustrations, the book is both a record of devastation that reverberated around the globe and a tribute to the resilience of the human spirit. On the cover, a young girl and her cat peer out the window, noting that, “Everyone who was outside, went inside”. In another part of the book, readers are invited to look into the windows of different homes and to see the traditions, pastimes and bonds that resulted from families being sent inside. The accompanying text for this set of vignettes reads: “We made things together. We did things alone. We hoped and prayed and wished. We were all changing a tiny bit inside”. Although full recovery from this dark time is still on the distant horizon, this part of the book prompted me to consider the ways life changed, lessons to be learned and which aspects of this experience should be preserved once things get back to “normal”.

Dorea, after reading the book, what resonated with you? Given our focus on windows in this issue of MTYT, in what ways do you see this book as an opportunity for readers to develop a deeper understanding about the wider world?

DOREA: In the Author’s Note at the end of the book, LeUyen Pham shares her thoughts about what Outside, Inside means to her personally and her process for writing this book. She reflects that this book is different from the many others she has written and/or illustrated: “My career has been devoted to drawing the world as I would like it to be, my version of a happy world. This is the first time that I have cataloged the world as it is”. She continues by sharing that nearly every face and scene that appears among the pages is a reflection of an actual person, both those she personally knows and others she has heard and read about during the pandemic.

Desiree, you asked what resonated with me and I had trouble selecting just one thing to write about; this entire book resonates so strongly with me. After reading the author’s note, I realized that perhaps this is because the vignettes are deeply rooted in familiarity. While many of the physical locations look different from my own, the facial expressions (uncertainty, worry, grief, love) and the actions (caretaking, Zoom meetings, watching and waiting) are those I’ve experienced and witnessed firsthand. These authentic points of connection throughout the book can remind readers that as a global community we have lived—and continue to live—through a shared event that has impacted us all. Near the end of the book there are two full-page spreads of windows, the first shown in the daylight where we see the faces of many different children peering out. In the second, these same windows exist in the darkness, faces hidden but with love and human connection pouring out through the many hearts on the pages. “On the outside we are all different. But on the inside, we are all the same”.

Title: Outside, Inside
Author: LeUyen Pham
ISBN: 9781250798350
Publisher: Roaring Book Press
PubDate: January 5, 2021

Throughout July 2021, Desiree Cueto, Maria Acevedo-Aquiño, and Dorea Kleker discuss four recently published picturebooks with global connections around the theme of “windows”. Check back each Wednesday to follow the conversation!

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