Drawn Together

Six starred reviews don't happen by accident. Drawn Together earns every one of them. Minh Lê's story is nearly wordless at its core — a boy and his Thai-speaking grandfather discover each other through drawing when language fails them entirely. Dan Santat's artwork does the heavy lifting, visibly weaving the boy's bright markers and the grandfather's intricate ink calligraphy into a shared visual world, and the effect is quietly stunning. The spare text trusts young readers to feel the emotional shift rather than be told about it. Very young children may need an adult nearby to help them follow what's happening, but that conversation is exactly the point. A picture book worth returning to.