Mai’s Ao Dai

Celebrity fashion designer Thai Nguyen from Netflix's Say I Do joins forces with bestselling author Monique Truong and illustrator Dung Ho in this irresistibly charming picture book about embracing your heritage and the traditions that tie generations together--centered around Tet, the Vietnamese Lunar New Year. It's the morning of Tet, and Mai can't wait to celebrate at her beloved grandmother's home. With the perfect dress: a poofy, sparkly Cinderella dress that makes Mai look like the movie star she dreams of being! But when Mai's father suggests that she wears an ao dai, a traditional Vietnamese outfit, to her Ba Noi's party, Mai is disappointed. Stars don't wear ao dai, she thinks. Then Ba tells her the story of a true star, her very own Ba Noi, who sewed beautiful, highly sought-after ao dai in Vietnam and brought her magic with her when she immigrated to the United States.

So maybe stars wear ao dai after all! But how can Ba Noi know what Mai's wearing when Ba Noi is losing her eyesight? Ba tells her every ao dai is sewn with love, and the beauty of love is that you don't need to see it to know it's here.