By Doan Phuong Nguyen and Jesse White
If your voice was taken from you, would you still have the courage to save yourself?
In Mèo and Bé, author Doan Phuong Nguyen and illustrator Jesse White deliver a middle-grade historical novel that is as heartbreaking as it is hopeful. This 2023 Freeman Book Award Honorable Mention winner takes us to Vietnam just as the conflict begins to escalate. We follow eleven-year-old Bé, a girl who has lost her voice due to trauma and faces incredible hardships, including abuse and a terrifying kidnapping. Accompanied by her resilient three-legged kitten, Mèo, Bé must find the inner grit to escape her captors and survive the mounting chaos of war. Nguyen, who draws from her own family’s history in Vietnam, crafts a narrative that focuses on the strength found in quiet moments and the families we choose for ourselves. It is a striking piece of fiction that has earned high praise from Kirkus and Booklist, offering a perspective on war that provides a necessary balance to the typical history textbook.
For librarians looking to build a Changemaker collection, this book provides a clear window into SDG 16: Peace, Justice, and Strong Institutions. Bé’s struggle against exploitation and her journey through a landscape of injustice offer a visceral look at why protecting child rights is vital. Educators can use this story to anchor a Grade 5 or 6 history unit, moving beyond troop invlovement to discuss the human cost of conflict from a Vietnamese perspective. A great classroom activity would be to have students create an “Empathy Project,” writing letters to the protagonist that explore how she displays the IB Learner Profile trait of being caring despite her own suffering. This isn’t about grand political gestures; it’s about the small, principled choices a young girl makes to stay alive and keep her companion safe. By witnessing Bé’s quiet strength, students see that taking a stand starts with the courage to protect one’s own dignity. This story serves as a foundation for lessons on global ethics, showing that even the smallest person can model moral strength in a world that feels broken.
