"The sound of bamboo planted deep inside them:" Reclaiming Filipino American History and Identity in Lakas and the Manilatown Fish

This essay analyzes the significance of Children's Book Press' Lakas and the Manilatown Fish/Si Lakas at ang Isdang Manilatown, the first English-Tagalog picture book. This zany story about a "Pilipino" boy and a magic fish who race through the urban landscape of what was once San Francisco's Manilatown counters the continuing erasure of Filipino America through its invocation of an important but forgotten community. The two narratives are intertwined seamlessly, melding the whimsical and the sociohistorical. The author maintains that Lakas and the Manilatown Fish should be regarded as an act of decolonization and resistance that uncovers, reclaims, and celebrates Filipino American history and identity.