National Network for Equitable Library Service

“This charming short work recalls The Little Prince in its depiction of childhood sensibilities pitted against an often illogical and absurd adult world” (Publishers Weekly). A fable for all ages and a massive bestseller in the author’s home country of Vietnam, Ticket to Childhood captures the texture of childhood in all of its richness. Narrated by a man looking back, it explores the small miracles and tragedies, the misadventures and misdeeds, that made up his life. We meet his long-lost friends, none of whom can forget how rich their lives once were. Even if Nguyen Nhat Anh can’t take us back to our own younger days, he proves himself a master at capturing those innocent times with great deftness—in a novel that also offers “a startlingly vivid portrait of 21st-century Vietnam and its growing pains” (Shelf Awareness). “A hugely appealing and engaging author.” —The New Criterion