Myo Yim – illustratör

Three starred reviews! Based on the true story of the author’s great-grandmother, this “affectingly gentle” (Kirkus Reviews, starred review) picture book about surviving the Armenian Genocide sparkles with hope and heart even amid unspeakable tragedy—perfect for readers of The Proudest Blue and Yuyi Morales’s Dreamers.Rose is what my parents call me:Dzovinar, their rose by the sea. Dzovinar (“zill-ven-ar”) lives with her family in Armenia, where the hillside is dotted with sheep and the apricot trees bloom every spring. She loves her home—but one day, soldiers storm her village, and she returns to an empty house. Their parents gone, Dzovinar and her sister are forced to flee. Afraid and alone, they journey across the desert, then over the ocean: first to France and then to America, where they hope a new future will bloom. Changed but not lost, Dzovinar takes root in a new land…forever a rose by the sea.

Filo’s Butterflies is a charming own voices picture book about how a young Samoan boy calms his nerves before his first siva performance at a family wedding.Aunty Rosie and Aunty Eve are getting married traditional Samoan style,  and it’s time for Filo to dance his first siva fa’ataupati! He’s been practising for weeks, but as the time for the siva gets closer, the butterflies in his tummy get bigger and bolder – they even flutter right up to his throat! Filo tries to calm them down, but will they stop him from performing the siva with his brothers and cousins?Filo’s Butterflies features the siva fa’ataupati, a traditional Samoan dance only performed by men.