A Different Pond & You Are Life

Yoto Says: Two beautiful stories about family and the celebration of identity.

As a young boy, Bao and his father awoke early to fish on the shores of a small pond in Minneapolis. Unlike many other anglers, Bao and his father fished for food, not recreation. Between hope-filled casts, Bao's father told him about a different pond in their homeland of Vietnam.

'A Different Pond' offers a powerful, honest glimpse into a relationship between father and son—and between cultures, old and new. This joyful poem celebrates the wonderful and complex identity of children of immigrants and refugees, embracing all that they are—a dancer, a shining light, a K-pop song—and promising what they will never be: invisible. 

'In You Are Life', poet Bao Phi reminds young listeners that who they are and what they love will always be enough.