NANA, NENEK & NINA

Nina loves visiting her two faraway grandmas—one in Malaysia and one in England. Spot the similarities and differences between their homes in this cozy and beautifully illustrated picture book! Follow Nina from San Francisco as her two trips unfold side by side: Young readers will love poring over the details of what is the same and what is different at Nana’s home in England and at Nenek’s home in Malaysia. In each place, Nina wears different clothes, plays different games, and eats different food. But so much about visiting Nana and Nenek is the same, from warm hugs at the airport to beach days and bedtime snuggles. Nina is equally at home across the world in Malaysia or England, and both of her grandmas love her to California and back.

Published by Dial Books for Young Readers/Penguin Random House
🧳 Asian/Pacific American Award for Literature Picture Book Honor title 2023
🧳 A Junior Library Guild selection
🧳 Starred reviews from Publishers Weekly, the BCCB, and Shelf Awareness
🧳 A Shelf Awareness 2022 top picture book pick
🧳 Exhibited at the Society of Illustrators 2022 Original Art show
🧳 A Bologna Children’s Book Fair 2023 Opera Prima selection
🧳 A Bank Street College Best Children’s Book of the Year 2023, Outstanding Merit

reviews

★ “Simultaneous portrayals cleverly elevate Ferneyhough’s picture book debut . . . Balancing images, patterns, and hues, these juxtapositions convey the ease with which Nina lives in three cultures—and the affection she receives in each—in a book that conveys differences and similarities bound together by love, and offers a joyful narrative of multicultural childhood.”
—Publishers Weekly

★ “This graceful, meticulously detailed picture book is a loving ode to two cultures, as the symmetry of the spreads conveys the similarities of each destination while accentuating their different cultural activities and aesthetics. The colorful watercolor and quill-dip pen illustrations, rendered on tea-stained paper, create a sepia-toned nostalgic effect that augments the warmth of the grandmothers’ bonds with Nina. The clever parallels also extend to the simple text, as most scenes use the same sentence construction or include expressions from each grandmother’s language, with occasional statements that capture both scenes reaching across the divided page. Young readers will want to circle back to pore over the precise renderings of each place’s characteristics and to relive the day with Nana, Nenek, and Nina.”
—Bulletin for the Center for Children’s Books

“Though life with each of her grandmothers is different, ultimately Nina finds love with both of them in this gentle tale. The illustrations are studded with homey details, and the warm tones add to the welcoming and cozy atmosphere. A lovely story, grounded in visual details, about how identity can be uncomplicated.”
—Kirkus Reviews

Review from 7 Impossible Things

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🧳 Download a NINA coloring page HERE