This audiobook is read by the author.
Tomatoes in My Lunchbox is a moving audiobook from a debut author about the first day of school, layered with themes about the immigrant experience and the universal experience of feeling out of place.
A child, newly arrived in another country, feels displaced, lonely, and a little scared on her first day of school. Her name doesn't sound the way she's used to hearing it. She knows she doesn't fit in. And when she eats her whole tomato for lunch, she can feel her classmates observing her—and not quite understanding her.
But sometimes all it takes is one friend, one connection, to bring two worlds together, and gradually the girl, her tomato, and her full name, start to feel at home with her new friends and community.
This emotionally sweeping debut audiobook by Costantia Manoli, with vibrant art by Magdalena Mora, artfully captures feelings of displacement and the joy that comes from forging new friendships.
A Macmillan Audio production from Roaring Brook Press
1 of 1 copy available
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Creators
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Publisher
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Release date
June 21, 2022 -
Formats
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OverDrive Listen audiobook
- ISBN: 9781250855985
- File size: 4804 KB
- Duration: 00:10:00
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Languages
- English
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Reviews
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Starred review from October 31, 2022
“I don’t recognize my name at roll call the first time. The teacher says it like it’s too hard to understand.” And when other children say it, confides the brown-skinned child narrator of this sensitively articulated picture book: “It sounds like a question every time.” Manoli, whose first name inspired this debut, offers exposition via emotional phrases that discuss how “we left the place/ where my name fit” and came to a place where “our things look weird.../ My clothes are weird.../ The whole tomato in my lunchbox is weird.” Swaths of color dominate Mora’s lushly wrought illustrations as the protagonist tries to fit in with other children, portrayed with varying skin tones. But trying to be like others “doesn’t fit me.” Soon, advice from the child’s grandmother leads to a tentative friendship, and the eventual feeling that “my name is not a question anymore.” Ages 4–8.
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