The first two tales told in The Magic Fish are " Cinderella" stories, and were chosen by the author to highlight the different backgrounds of the son and mother characters. Throughout Nguyen's graphic novel, three fairy tales are shared by the main characters. Nguyen was born in a refugee camp and moved to the United States with his parents, where they learned English together, which included reading fairy tales. The story told in The Magic Fish is partially based on the author's life. One aspect noted by reviewers in Trung Le Nguyen's graphic novel is the use of different colors to "distinguish each story line." Kirkus Reviews called it "a road map for readers", with the three colors being used to highlight whether the current panel is "set in the present, the past, or within the fairy tale." Nguyen uses the color red for panels in the present, yellow for those in the past, and purple for panels representing fairy tales, filling the panels with those colors. Nguyen was nominated for an Eisner Award for his work, and the book was shortlisted for the British Fantasy Award, GLAAD Media Award and Lambda Literary Award. Nguyen's debut graphic novel was published in 2020 by Random House Graphic, an imprint of Penguin Random House. The novel tells the story of Tiến Phong, a second generation American Vietnamese teenager, who helps his mother learn English through fairy tales while struggling to tell her about his sexuality. The Magic Fish is a semi-autobiographical graphic novel written and illustrated by Trung Le Nguyen.
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