The Secret of the Jade Bangle - Linda Trinh

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Author: Linda Trinh

Illustrator: Clayton Nguyen
Series: The Nguyen Kids
Genre: Children's Fiction
Rating: 4 stars.

A sweet little story that tackles the dark topic of racism in a way children will relate to. This is the fist book of the Ngyuen kids series.

9 year old Anne Nguyen is the eldest of three children. Her Grandma Noi has passed away recently and Anne’s family is paying respects to her spirit by putting out food in the family altar every new moon. Grandma Noi has kept certain gifts to be passed on to her grandkids and Anne inherits a pretty jade bangle. Surprisingly, when she wears the bangle, her Grandma’s spirit visits her and demands more authentic Vietnamese food as offerings instead of the Canadian food that Anne’s parents keep. Noi also offers to teach Anne how to cook traditional Vietnamese dishes.
A parallel track is of Anne’s experience with a racist teacher in her ballet class. Her words and her attitude affect Anne deeply and she begins wondering where she belongs as a Canadian with parents of Vietnamese origin.

Though racism can be a pretty intense topic for a children’s novel, the book handles it pretty well. It highlights how racism isn’t necessarily outright but can be hidden in subtle remarks and sneaky actions. I am sure children of different ethnic backgrounds with parents/grandparents from another country will be able to relate to Anne’s struggles. Her questions over her identity begin with relatable things such as language, food or routine habits. Anne is named after “Anne of Green Gables”, and just like Anne Shirley, Anne Nguyen also tackles the situation with honesty and sincerity.

What I especially appreciated was how the story incorporated the parents too in Anne’s solution. So many children’s books show the kids tackling major problems either by themselves or with the help of their friends. If books leave out parents from the equation, children too won’t consider parents the first line of support.

I would have liked to see more of Anne’s interactions with her two younger siblings. Whatever little I glimpsed in the book was very sweet. But this is a three book series with each book focussed on one sibling, so I hope to see more of the younger two in the subsequent titles.

Anne’s relationship with her Grandma was well depicted and the dash of magical realism with Grandma’s ghost adds a nice fantastical touch to the story. The story also highlights many elements of Vietnamese culture.

The book has wonderful grayscale illustrations which complement the story wonderfully. The font is well-sized and extremely comfortable to read.

All in all, if you are looking for a sweet little story of a girl who wants to belong but doesn’t know where to belong, this is the right book.

My thanks to Annick Press and Edelweiss+ for the DRC of “The Secret of the Jade Bangle”. This review is voluntary and contains my honest opinion about the book.


To check out my review of the second book in this series, "The Power of the Pearl Earrings", click HERE.

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