Another Tongue by Yevgenia Nayberg (A Party for Florine) is a witty and compassionate picture book that explores the disorienting experience of entering a country whose dominant language is unfamiliar. Nayberg, writing in a direct second-person voice, draws readers into the emotional and physical sensations of language acquisition. She opens with a playful literalization of the phrase "mother tongue": "This is your tongue. This is your mother's tongue" accompanies a double-page spread featuring a child and a parent sticking out their tongues.
Fine-lined mixed-media illustrations extend the text's humor. When Nayberg writes that the "new language may taste funny on your tongue," a child stretches outward to catch falling letters like snowflakes. Misheard words become visual jokes, including an unforgettable "Vampire State Building" complete with fangs. Throughout, the use of red energizes the spreads and guides the eye across pages filled with floating letters. Nayberg is empathetic when capturing the exhaustion, confusion, and gradual exhilaration of learning a new language. She shares the empowering realization that understanding two languages means becoming bilingual ("Which means someone with two tongues!") and capable of moving between worlds. Nayberg transforms the frustrations of language learning into a celebration of resilience, connection, and self-discovery. The result is a perceptive, tender articulation of an aspect of many immigrant experiences and a memorable picture book that invites readers to see language not as a barrier but as a bridge. --Julie Danielson