thi bui the best we could do an illustrated memoir

A Different Pond went on to win the Caldecott Honor for illustration. She worked on the book as an illustrator and collaborated with spoken word artist and writer Bao Phi for the project. The same year, A Different Pond, a children's picture book, was published. For the 2017 to 2018 academic year, it was selected as UCLA's Common Book and was incorporated into its undergraduate program. In 2017, it made Bill Gates' top five book list. The book went on to receive critical acclaim and a number of accolades including National Book Critics Circle, American Book Award and was also a finalist for the Eisner Award for Best Reality-Based Work category among others. She worked on the novel for over a decade. The book delves into themes of immigration, war and intergenerational trauma. In 2017, Bui published her first graphic novel The Best We Could Do chronicling the life of her refugee parents and siblings, their life in Vietnam prior to their escape after the Vietnam War and their eventual migration to the United States. The range of Bui's work often focuses on political and social issues. Prior to her career as an illustrator, she had never had any experience with drawing.

Since 2015, she has been a faculty member of the MFA in Comics program at the California College of the Arts. There, she worked as an art and digital media teacher. She was one of the founders of Oakland International High School in Oakland, California, the first public high school in California for recent immigrants and English learners. They were eventually granted asylum to the United States and migrated there in 1978.īui has worked as a school teacher for years having worked in schools in New York City and Oakland. She and her family were part of the wave of ' boat people' from Southeast Asia, arriving at a refugee camp in Malaysia. She is one of six children two of her older siblings passed away prior to her birth. Thi Bui was born in what was then Saigon, Vietnam three months prior to the Fall of Saigon during the Vietnam War.

She is most known for her illustrated memoir The Best We Could Do. Thi Bui (born 1975) is a Vietnam-born American graphic novelist and illustrator.

Thi bui the best we could do an illustrated memoir