This is Tet

“Dung La Tet” is a lovely poem about a little urban girl who has experienced her very first traditional Tet in her parents’ hometown. “Tet” is how Vietnamese people call Lunar New Year. It has a variety of meanings: memories, reunion, love, happiness, and forgiveness. Like Christmas in the Western, people go back home to reunite with friends and family during the Tet season. In the spirit of Tet:
Tet is here! Tet is there!
We’re all rushing everywhere.
Goodbye bikes
and cars racing.
Let’s go home. Grandma’s waiting!

The big idea of making the book “Dung La Tet” came to Mai and the Poet Bui Phuong Tam when they were searching for materials for a new Vietnamese children book. During the 2019 Tet Holiday, Mai and Tam spent their time photographing and capturing their family’s activities, especially the emotions of Tam’s two years old daughter, a typical city child experiencing her first traditional Tet. The character designs were based on Tam’s family.They are a classical Vietnamese family of four generations. Mai used the pictures from the 90s of the Northern Vietnamese hometown and her childhood memories of Tet for the setting of the book.
The book was published on January 13th, 2020.