Home in a Lunchbox

Home in a Lunchbox by Cherry Mo follows Jun, a child who has just moved from Hong Kong to a suburb in the United States. At school the new language is hard to follow, other people's conversations sound like scribbles, and the world feels gray and confusing. The bright spot each day is lunchtime, when the foods packed from home bring back warm memories of family and the city Jun left behind. Over the course of a school week, that lunchbox becomes a way to reach across the language gap toward a classmate. Mo's art uses color to show how Jun feels from moment to moment, and the book includes a glossary of Cantonese words. It received a 2025 Caldecott Honor.