Caged is a very poignant picture book based on the author’s experiences as a child in a Hmong refugee camp. It tells how being watched over by guards, eating meager meals, and waiting for approval to leave were normalized in the lives of children. Yet despite all of this, the children’s imagination, youthful joy, and loving connection to family make the story one of hope. While physically caged, the essence of the individual, the families, and the larger community refused to be bound. Creative and colorful illustrations help juxtapose the feelings of confinement and hope.

In the Author’s Note, Kao Kalia Yang describes how a question from her daughter about the detention of immigrant children on the US-Mexican border inspired her to revisit her experiences as a child in a refugee camp. Beyond it’s picture book audience, this powerfully personal story has abundant curriculum connections for secondary social studies.