New Voices Award Honor, Lee & Low Books
Choices, Cooperative Children’s Book Center (CCBC)

When he tries to surprise his sick mother with flowers that he grew, a Chinese American boy receives a nice surprise of his own.

One day Raymond sees a young woman smile with pleasure when she is given a gift of flowers. Maybe I could buy Mom some flowers, Raymond thinks, to help her feel better now that she is home from the hospital.

When Raymond realizes he doesn’t have enough money to buy flowers, he decides to grow them from seeds, but his mother has to return to the hospital before the flowers bloom. As the flowers grow and then begin to wilt, Raymond fears his mother will never see his present after all. The gift she receives instead is a total surprise, and more perfect than anything Raymond has planned.

Winner of LEE & LOW’S New Voices Honor Award, Raymond’s Perfect Present captures the innocence of a child’s love for his mother as he struggles through a difficult time. This heart-warming story reaches out to all readers who have sought to give those they love the perfect present.