Outside, Inside by LeUyen Pham

Lauren Fuller
Mar 3, 2022
3 min read

Updated: Mar 18, 2022

I don't know where to start with this book, I could say so much. Outside, Inside is about Covid.

Does anyone have a box (or boxes) of books they are keeping for their littles when they get older? My mama did that for me and I am now doing that for my daughter. This will be a book we keep forever.

Covid was a hard time for everyone and thats putting it lightly. The new moms, the essential workers, the elderly, the immunocompromised, the children that couldn't go to school, the parents that had to stay home and miss work and many, many more. I've lived with constant anxiety my whole life, Covid brought a whole new level of anxiety out that I didn't even know I had. This book hits home for me.

There was a part that honestly brought tears to my eyes, "we had birthdays without parties". The guilt of being a first time mom and not having a first or second birthday for my daughter had me in tears more than I'd like to admit. That feeling of guilt when you saw people who don't believe in Covid having the time of their lives (so they thought until someone in their family got sick). My little turns 3 this year and this year will be the first birthday party.

As I read this out loud for the first time I was super emotional but then I read the most important part.. "So why did we all go inside? Well, there were many reasons but mostly because everyone knew it was the right thing to do". Bam. That's what I needed to read. It was the right thing to do. It was what we needed to do to keep ourselves safe and the people around us safe.

I loved how LeUyen added, "Outside the world kept growing. Inside, we kept growing too". Even though we were missing out on important things we were still growing. My daughter was hitting milestones, I was learning how to be a mom, we did what we needed to do. I truly love this book so much. The pictures are sweet, most everyone can relate to at least a few spots in this book. We all had very similar emotions. We have every right to be sad about missing birthday parties, family functions, school, vacations, ect but at the same time we knew we were doing what was best for our family and the people around us. Health was priority and still is (at least in my house).

What I read in the authors note gave me chills.

"Nearly every face painted in this book is inspired by a real person, from the people in the news, to family, friends, and neighbors. The images inside the hospital are based on real events: a woman giving birth while suffering from the virus: an older woman, isolated from her family, celebrating her birthday with kindly nurses the day before she died: the grateful man showing through the hospital window his love for the nurses who saved his wife's life. Stories that moved me found their way into my drawings. One of the most difficult spreads for me to create was the one explaining why we sacrificed as we did. It features real people who were in most danger during this time-some who have either survived or succumbed to the virus-and includes friends who have lost loved ones. Knowing that every character is based on someone real gives me both joy and pain".

Chills right? I had a whole new perspective of the book and how life was living in a time of a horrible virus. Reading it the second time and knowing almost all the paintings are real people just leaves me speechless. LeUyen mentioned that sketching moments was a way for her to cope. I think about all the little things I did to cope.

10/10. I say, "this book is a must have", all the time and honestly I do mean it but please buy this book. Keep it safe. I still get chills every time I read this to my daughter, I don't think that will ever change.

"On the outside, we are all different. But on the inside, we are all the same".