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Home in a Lunchbox
Cherry Mo's stunning debut is about a young girl who immigrates to America and finds home in an unexpected place.
When Jun moves from Hong Kong to America, the only words she knows are hello, thank you , I don’t know , and toilet . Her new school feels foreign and terrifying.
But when she opens her lunchbox to find her favorite meals—like bao, dumplings, and bok choy—she realizes home isn’t so far away after all.
Through lush art and spare dialogue, Cherry Mo’s breathtakingly beautiful debut picture book reminds readers that friendship and belonging can be found in every bite.
When Jun moves from Hong Kong to America, the only words she knows are hello, thank you , I don’t know , and toilet . Her new school feels foreign and terrifying.
But when she opens her lunchbox to find her favorite meals—like bao, dumplings, and bok choy—she realizes home isn’t so far away after all.
Through lush art and spare dialogue, Cherry Mo’s breathtakingly beautiful debut picture book reminds readers that friendship and belonging can be found in every bite.
40 pages, Hardcover
First published June 11, 2024
About the author
Cherry Mo
2 books35 followersCherry Mo grew up in Hong Kong and moved to the United States at the age of ten. HOME IN A LUNCHBOX is her debut picture book and was inspired by her first days of school in America. Cherry writes and illustrates stories that she hopes bring young readers a sense of comfort and belonging.
Praises for HOME IN A LUNCHBOX:
Junior Library Guild Gold Standard Selection
July/August 2024 Kids' Indie Next List Pick
"In an exceptional debut, Mo deploys digital illustrations that expertly use selective coloring to depict an experience of finding common ground." — Starred review from Publisher's Weekly
"Inspired by Mo's move from Hong Kong to the United States at the age of 10, this remarkable story about finding comfort in a new home by bringing along familiar traditions is a must-purchase for picture book collections and will resonate with any child who has struggled to fit in." — Starred review from School Library Journal
"Round-faced, endearing Jun is utterly expressive; her sadness upon returning home each day is especially palpable... A touching immigrant story that hits the heart — and stomach." — Kirkus Reviews
"With its spare text (most of which is speech-bubble dialogue), the story is primarily conveyed through Mo’s sensitively drawn, sometimes paneled illustrations, which vividly depict Jun’s emotional state. This debut picture book captures the immigrant experience, highlighting the impact of small gestures of kindness and celebrating the unifying power of food across cultures and languages." — The Horn Book
"This story is brimming with rich and warm illustrations that invite you to discover the unifying power of food: how the simple act of sharing a meal with others can create and invoke belonging and community." — Courtney Roach, The Novel Neighbor, Webster Groves, MO
"This lushly illustrated book takes readers on a journey of memory and hope, highlighting the power of food to build connections across language, space, and time." — Joanna Ho, New York Times bestselling author of Eyes that Kiss in the Corners
"This story reminds us all how anyone can feel lonely, but small gestures can travel for miles. A beautiful book." — Erin E. Stead, illustrator of the Caldecott Medal-winning book A Sick Day for Amos McGee
Praises for HOME IN A LUNCHBOX:
Junior Library Guild Gold Standard Selection
July/August 2024 Kids' Indie Next List Pick
"In an exceptional debut, Mo deploys digital illustrations that expertly use selective coloring to depict an experience of finding common ground." — Starred review from Publisher's Weekly
"Inspired by Mo's move from Hong Kong to the United States at the age of 10, this remarkable story about finding comfort in a new home by bringing along familiar traditions is a must-purchase for picture book collections and will resonate with any child who has struggled to fit in." — Starred review from School Library Journal
"Round-faced, endearing Jun is utterly expressive; her sadness upon returning home each day is especially palpable... A touching immigrant story that hits the heart — and stomach." — Kirkus Reviews
"With its spare text (most of which is speech-bubble dialogue), the story is primarily conveyed through Mo’s sensitively drawn, sometimes paneled illustrations, which vividly depict Jun’s emotional state. This debut picture book captures the immigrant experience, highlighting the impact of small gestures of kindness and celebrating the unifying power of food across cultures and languages." — The Horn Book
"This story is brimming with rich and warm illustrations that invite you to discover the unifying power of food: how the simple act of sharing a meal with others can create and invoke belonging and community." — Courtney Roach, The Novel Neighbor, Webster Groves, MO
"This lushly illustrated book takes readers on a journey of memory and hope, highlighting the power of food to build connections across language, space, and time." — Joanna Ho, New York Times bestselling author of Eyes that Kiss in the Corners
"This story reminds us all how anyone can feel lonely, but small gestures can travel for miles. A beautiful book." — Erin E. Stead, illustrator of the Caldecott Medal-winning book A Sick Day for Amos McGee
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 338 reviews
August 19, 2024
The best picture book that I’ve read ALL year long. The artwork is absolutely beautiful! If this doesn’t get a Caldecott in January of 2025 I will be pissed.
October 16, 2024
This is a debut. I can barely believe this is a debut because WOW.
Home in a Lunchbox uses limited words to tell the story of a young girl, Jun, who has moved to the USA from Hong Kong, doesn't speak more than a few words of English, and struggles to get on at school. Each day she really just gets by without much pleasure, oftentimes with much awkwardness, except for the homemade lunches her mom sends her each day, which brighten things considerably for her. Mo illustrates how the food makes Jun feel and how it makes her think of family and friends and home in a way that is so hard to capture but so incredibly easy to relate to. Ultimately young Jun is able to make friends when her classmates bond with her by sharing different foods with each other and creating new food memories. The story is touching, the emotions are relatable, and the art is absolutely gorgeous. The food illustrations are especially delicious looking, but every single page is stunning.
I highly recommend this one. I can't wait to see what else Mo does, because of this is where she's started, I can only imagine where that's going to take her.
Home in a Lunchbox uses limited words to tell the story of a young girl, Jun, who has moved to the USA from Hong Kong, doesn't speak more than a few words of English, and struggles to get on at school. Each day she really just gets by without much pleasure, oftentimes with much awkwardness, except for the homemade lunches her mom sends her each day, which brighten things considerably for her. Mo illustrates how the food makes Jun feel and how it makes her think of family and friends and home in a way that is so hard to capture but so incredibly easy to relate to. Ultimately young Jun is able to make friends when her classmates bond with her by sharing different foods with each other and creating new food memories. The story is touching, the emotions are relatable, and the art is absolutely gorgeous. The food illustrations are especially delicious looking, but every single page is stunning.
I highly recommend this one. I can't wait to see what else Mo does, because of this is where she's started, I can only imagine where that's going to take her.
February 21, 2025
Fresh from Hong Kong with her immigrant parents, little Jun starts school knowing a literal handful of English words. Overwhelmed, her single comfort every weekday is the lunch her mother has made for her that reminds her of her real home. And her visible joy over the wonderful smelling food is just the icebreaker she needs.
The art is deliciously cute, and the story rightly relies on it to tell most of the story, with just a few word balloons here and there.
Super sweet.
The art is deliciously cute, and the story rightly relies on it to tell most of the story, with just a few word balloons here and there.
Super sweet.
July 16, 2025
Cherry Mo’s nearly wordless 2025 Caldecott honour winning picture book Home in a Lunchbox uses delightful and expressively colourful digital illustrations to sweetly, realistically (and hugely relatable to immigrants both young and old) tell a personal story about a young girl (Jun) who after moving with her family to the USA from Hong Kong (and feeling both out of place and also knowing only very few words of English) finds solace and the comforts of the home she has left through the foods her mother packs in her daughter's daily school lunchbox. And after Jun and her family arrive in the United States, most of Mo's story for Home in a Lunchbox occurs at the school now Jun attends, but that some of the illustrations in Home in a Lunhbox also depict and describe Jun's mother kissing her daughter on the cheek when Jun leaves for school, hugging her supportively when Jun returns from school feeling discouraged, overwhelmed, and that when Jun opens up her lunchbox filled with familiar Chinese food treats such as braised tofu, vegetable chow main, rice, dumplings etc., Cherry Mo shows wisps of vapour, appreciation, visions of home and of comfort drifting above the meal Mom has made for her daughter, with Jun smiling with her eyes closed, clutching her lunchbox with both hands and feeling much comfort and also less homesickness because of her lunchbox.
And although I am usually not all that much a fan of wordless or of nearly wordless picture books (since I tend to prefer and often even need a sufficiently descriptive written text for true reading pleasure, and yes, even with and from picture books), Mo with Home in a Lunchbox indeed does an absolutely and totally marvellous and also a wonderfully realistic job showing with both her gorgeous artwork and equally so with very few but essential words Jun’s attempts at speaking to classmates, how she thinks that everyone at school is speaking gibberish (and oh boy, does this ever sound relatable and familiar, as when I moved to Canada from Germany when I was ten, I felt and thought pretty well exactly the same), how the list of English words and phrases Jun has memorised does not get her all that far and actually tends to cause frustration as well as embarrassment (such as for example Jun using UK word toilet instead of washroom and which I also did in fact when newly arrived in Canada from Germany and with everyone giggling) and thus of course also experiencing more and more homesickness, that her classmates are obviously having fun at school whilst Jun is mostly majorly struggling and is really only happy at lunchtime, when in Home in a Lunchbox she gets to eat her comforts of home food and thinks fondly about Hong Kong (with Cherry Mo having colourful fireworks appearing and Jun looking overjoyed sharing food with friends and family in her old life but bien sûr and a bit sadly only in her memories, only in her dreams).
However and happily, after a few days, three classmates join Jun's table at lunchtime, she shares her food and they share theirs (including pizza and hamburgers), with the final spread of Home in a Lunchbox showing Jun walking home with her new friends and her mother preparing Asian food and tea for them all to enjoy, a sweetly positive and glowingly optimistic ending for Home in a Lunchbox and with both my inner child and also adult I enjoying not only Mo's nearly wordless and oh so relatable story but also appreciating the informative supplemental details being provided. But just to say in conclusion that there in my humble opinion should also be some recipes provided in Home in a Lunchbox, and I do have to admit that while for me what Cherry Mo has provided and shown in Home in a Lunchbox is both delightfully wonderful and also as already mentioned above majorly relatable, in particular my inner and recently arrived in Canada from Germany child is actually somewhat envious regarding the positive ending for Home in a Lunchbox (since this certainly did not happen for me at school and that my classmates tended to always make fun of my German lunches and that even the teachers were annoyed and critical that I brought deli meats, pickles, spätzle and sauerkraut in my lunchboxes).
And although I am usually not all that much a fan of wordless or of nearly wordless picture books (since I tend to prefer and often even need a sufficiently descriptive written text for true reading pleasure, and yes, even with and from picture books), Mo with Home in a Lunchbox indeed does an absolutely and totally marvellous and also a wonderfully realistic job showing with both her gorgeous artwork and equally so with very few but essential words Jun’s attempts at speaking to classmates, how she thinks that everyone at school is speaking gibberish (and oh boy, does this ever sound relatable and familiar, as when I moved to Canada from Germany when I was ten, I felt and thought pretty well exactly the same), how the list of English words and phrases Jun has memorised does not get her all that far and actually tends to cause frustration as well as embarrassment (such as for example Jun using UK word toilet instead of washroom and which I also did in fact when newly arrived in Canada from Germany and with everyone giggling) and thus of course also experiencing more and more homesickness, that her classmates are obviously having fun at school whilst Jun is mostly majorly struggling and is really only happy at lunchtime, when in Home in a Lunchbox she gets to eat her comforts of home food and thinks fondly about Hong Kong (with Cherry Mo having colourful fireworks appearing and Jun looking overjoyed sharing food with friends and family in her old life but bien sûr and a bit sadly only in her memories, only in her dreams).
However and happily, after a few days, three classmates join Jun's table at lunchtime, she shares her food and they share theirs (including pizza and hamburgers), with the final spread of Home in a Lunchbox showing Jun walking home with her new friends and her mother preparing Asian food and tea for them all to enjoy, a sweetly positive and glowingly optimistic ending for Home in a Lunchbox and with both my inner child and also adult I enjoying not only Mo's nearly wordless and oh so relatable story but also appreciating the informative supplemental details being provided. But just to say in conclusion that there in my humble opinion should also be some recipes provided in Home in a Lunchbox, and I do have to admit that while for me what Cherry Mo has provided and shown in Home in a Lunchbox is both delightfully wonderful and also as already mentioned above majorly relatable, in particular my inner and recently arrived in Canada from Germany child is actually somewhat envious regarding the positive ending for Home in a Lunchbox (since this certainly did not happen for me at school and that my classmates tended to always make fun of my German lunches and that even the teachers were annoyed and critical that I brought deli meats, pickles, spätzle and sauerkraut in my lunchboxes).
November 17, 2024
I don’t rate many picture books. For one thing, my son is mostly too old for them now, so I don’t borrow as many from the library. This one is an exception, though. What a moving story! Told with very few words and an amazing use of color and illustrations, it shows how a girl new to the US and with very little English navigates starting at a new school in a new country. Her lunch from home is the one place of love and belonging in her day at first, and the way it is depicted is so wonderful. And the panel where she arrives home after her first day made me cry. The book ends in a hopeful way, though. I am in awe of how much is conveyed in so few pages and with so few words.
August 24, 2024
Beautifully illustrated with heart-warming messages about patience, kindness, and inclusivity without the need of extensive dialogue to convey them. Cleverly designed, too! After you read it, look under the dust jacket for a lovely nod to Jun's story.
June 11, 2024
Brought tears to my eyes.
June 29, 2024
Home in a Lunchbox by Cherry Mo is gorgeous, endearing, heartbreaking, and heartwarming all at once. As a former ESOL teacher for adults, my heart went out to Jun in her first days of school in a new country with a language she doesn’t speak or understand … except for the handful (literally) of words she’s penned in her palm for consulting throughout the day. I wanted to reach in and hug her from the rough beginning to the hope-filled end of this sweet picture book.
The author’s choice to use minimal text, conveying the story in mostly pictures, serves multiple insightful purposes. Not only does it help readers empathize more with Jun by showing what the world is like when you can’t understand the language around you, it hopefully will prompt them to reach out to students like Jun more easily in the future, too. It also allows readers whose language of origin is not English to immediately identify with Jun AND have a book they don’t have to struggle to read. But even beyond the obvious multicultural lessons, Home in a Lunchbox provides all readers with a loving reminder that we don’t have to be at home to feel the warmth and security of home (or … for those who don’t have a safe home, maybe it’s school or church that represents that safety instead).
Bottom Line: What Home in a Lunchbox by Cherry Mo conveys with only a few words will linger in my heart for a long time. Thanks to the vibrant illustrations that capture Jun’s emotions and struggles so poignantly, as well as the little details that point to her home culture, it doesn’t need a lot of text to speak volumes. I loved the warmth that home represents to adorable Jun, the comforting power of familiar food and a mother’s hug, and I especially appreciated the way that Jun’s lunch – so different from that of her peers – is the catalyst to new friendships and not a negative. This is certainly a beautiful and emotional look at the immigrant experience – and an important tool to foster compassion and education – but it’s relatable to all children on a deeper level, too. Every time I look through it, I find something new to love. Home in a Lunchbox is touching, sweet, and simply gorgeous – a wonderful addition to anyone’s home/school/church library. I’m glad it’s in mine.
(I voluntarily reviewed a complimentary copy of this book)
first reviewed at Reading Is My SuperPower
The author’s choice to use minimal text, conveying the story in mostly pictures, serves multiple insightful purposes. Not only does it help readers empathize more with Jun by showing what the world is like when you can’t understand the language around you, it hopefully will prompt them to reach out to students like Jun more easily in the future, too. It also allows readers whose language of origin is not English to immediately identify with Jun AND have a book they don’t have to struggle to read. But even beyond the obvious multicultural lessons, Home in a Lunchbox provides all readers with a loving reminder that we don’t have to be at home to feel the warmth and security of home (or … for those who don’t have a safe home, maybe it’s school or church that represents that safety instead).
Bottom Line: What Home in a Lunchbox by Cherry Mo conveys with only a few words will linger in my heart for a long time. Thanks to the vibrant illustrations that capture Jun’s emotions and struggles so poignantly, as well as the little details that point to her home culture, it doesn’t need a lot of text to speak volumes. I loved the warmth that home represents to adorable Jun, the comforting power of familiar food and a mother’s hug, and I especially appreciated the way that Jun’s lunch – so different from that of her peers – is the catalyst to new friendships and not a negative. This is certainly a beautiful and emotional look at the immigrant experience – and an important tool to foster compassion and education – but it’s relatable to all children on a deeper level, too. Every time I look through it, I find something new to love. Home in a Lunchbox is touching, sweet, and simply gorgeous – a wonderful addition to anyone’s home/school/church library. I’m glad it’s in mine.
(I voluntarily reviewed a complimentary copy of this book)
first reviewed at Reading Is My SuperPower
January 30, 2025
I forget who recommended this to me but it was everything. Wish I was 2 years old so someone could read this to me at bedtime
October 31, 2024
10/30/24 I am raising this one to 3.5 stars. I reread it as Mock Caldecott preview. Looking at it through a picture book lens, this is a beautiful story about the joy of sharing a meal and how food can connect us.
10/20/24 This one reminded me a lot of Young Vo's Gibberish. In this mostly wordless picture book, a young girl can't understand the classmates around her and her attempts at English are not well received.
10/20/24 This one reminded me a lot of Young Vo's Gibberish. In this mostly wordless picture book, a young girl can't understand the classmates around her and her attempts at English are not well received.
June 24, 2024
My new favorite 2024 release. Debut author/illustrator, Cherry Mo, has hit the ball out of the park with her new picture book. Heartfelt, incredibly well written and illustrated. I love it!
November 13, 2024
Beautifully illustrated picture book about inclusivity and kindness.
December 10, 2024
A favorite of 2024
November 17, 2025
read for a project, this one is actually so wonderful and beautifully done. gorgeous artwork, tells so much story while being mostly wordless!
April 30, 2026
G-Rated. The immigrant experience as experienced by a child.
June 23, 2024
Not quite wordless. Also some graphic novel features. Under the dust jacket is FABULOUS!
February 9, 2025
I adored this. The illustrations are cute and cartoony without being vomitous. The story is kind without feeling fake. There are so many picture books about an immigrant kid bringing "weird food" to school and being mocked before finally being accepted; the plot of Home in a Lunchbox is such a refreshing change. No one makes fun of our protagonist's food! they all find it DELICIOUS! The problem here is a language barrier, which causes our little heroine's loneliness (plus the fact that in Hong Kong you'd say "toilet" instead of "bathroom," and American kindergarteners screech at the public use of the word "toilet"). Just get it and talk about it with the wee folks in your life, especially now when adults in charge are demonizing "the other" like whoa.
January 22, 2025
Jun is a young immigrant girl from Hong Kong. She feels isolated and alone at her new school in America because she doesn't know the language. However, she finds comfort in the familiar food packed in her lunchbox.
The author’s autobiographical take on the immigrant experience in a new school in a new country is told mostly through the beautiful illustrations and sparse dialogue, which so perfectly captures what these students experience while learning a new language. They literally do not have the words, and are so easily overwhelmed by their new experiences. It’s a great story for multi-language learners, or Dual Immersion classrooms, and it’s one that is applicable for all ages. Definitely recommend it for your classroom library.
The author’s autobiographical take on the immigrant experience in a new school in a new country is told mostly through the beautiful illustrations and sparse dialogue, which so perfectly captures what these students experience while learning a new language. They literally do not have the words, and are so easily overwhelmed by their new experiences. It’s a great story for multi-language learners, or Dual Immersion classrooms, and it’s one that is applicable for all ages. Definitely recommend it for your classroom library.
May 3, 2026
Beautiful story that captures the confusion and adjustment process of a little Cantonese speaking girl after her family moves to America. Amidst the murkiness of school life in a confusing new land, there is lunch....and all the joy, memories, and heart packed into her lunchbox. Appropriately, much of the story is wordless, allowing the illustrations to convey her first week in school. The story also conveys compassion, shown throughout by a classmate; and connection as that compassion is extended through the vehicle of food. Back matter regarding the language and food represented is a real asset. Outstanding!
January 29, 2025
5 stars. Jun is having a rough first week at school in the United States after moving from Hong Kong, her only bright spot in her day is when she opens her lunchbox. All she hears is gibberish until one day a classmate sees her name on the lunchbox and they connect over trying each other’s food. Love the ending and illustrations of food. The last page will make you hungry!
April 14, 2025
A little Chinese girl who only speaks Cantonese struggles with language barriers when school begins, but she quickly learns that food can bridge cultural differences and provide a common means of communication. Appetizing illustrations add to the appeal of the story’s message. End pages include a glossary of Cantonese words mentioned in the story and a diagram of what’s in Jun’s lunchbox. Yum!
January 8, 2025
I need another tag. Books that make me cry. OMG! This is so astounding beautiful. Just breathtaking. The part that made we cry was when the kids shared their lunches—because that is just what kids do. So stunningly beautiful. Definitely a March Madness book.
October 9, 2024
This was such a beautiful book and actually made me cry. The artwork is incredible. I loved this book.
November 24, 2024
Illustrations are amazing. For a debut novel so impressive. It is a shame there were not better transition plans in place when the author moved to America. It seemed too unbelievable- but is based on her experiences.
February 19, 2025
Reading age
4 - 8 years
CALDECOTT HONOR 2025
4 - 8 years
CALDECOTT HONOR 2025
February 23, 2025
Cute, wholesome and delicious!
March 2, 2025
Sweet story
April 10, 2026
Food always has a way of connecting you and making you feel like home.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 338 reviews