Book Description
No one would believe me but at times I would choose wartime in Saigon over peacetime in Alabama.For all the ten years of her life, Hà has only known Saigon: the thrills of its markets, the joy of its traditions, the warmth of her friends close by . . . and the beauty of her very own papaya tree.
But now the Vietnam War has reached her home. Hà and her family are forced to flee as Saigon falls, and they board a ship headed toward hope. In America, Hà discovers the foreign world of Alabama: the coldness of its strangers, the dullness of its food, the strange shape of its landscape . . . and the strength of her very own family.
This is the moving story of one girl's year of change, dreams, grief, and healing as she journeys from one country to another, one life to the next.
Editorial Reviews
From Booklist
*Starred Review* After her father has been missing in action for
nine years during the Vietnam War, 10-year-old Hà flees with her mother
and three older brothers. Traveling first by boat, the family reaches a
tent city in Guam, moves on to Florida, and is finally connected with
sponsors in Alabama, where Hà finds refuge but also cruel rejection,
especially from mean classmates. Based on Lai’s personal experience,
this first novel captures a child-refugee’s struggle with rare honesty.
Written in accessible, short free-verse poems, Hà’s immediate narrative
describes her mistakes—both humorous and heartbreaking—with grammar,
customs, and dress (she wears a flannel nightgown to school, for
example); and readers will be moved by Hà’s sorrow as they recognize the
anguish of being the outcast who spends lunchtime hiding in the
bathroom. Eventually, Hà does get back at the sneering kids who bully
her at school, and she finds help adjusting to her new life from a kind
teacher who lost a son in Vietnam. The elemental details of Hà’s
struggle dramatize a foreigner’s experience of alienation. And even as
she begins to shape a new life, there is no easy comfort: her father is
still gone. Grades 4-8. --Hazel Rochman
Review
“The taut portrayal of H?’s emotional life is especially poignant
as she cycles from feeling smart in Vietnam to struggling in the
States, and finally regains academic and social confidence. An incisive
portrait of human resilience.”
About the Author
Thanhha Lai was born in Vietnam and moved to Alabama at the end of the war. She lives in Kansas with her family.Product Details
- File Size: 278 KB
- Print Length: 277 pages
- Page Numbers Source ISBN: 0061962783
- Publisher: HarperCollins; Reprint edition (February 22, 2011)
- Language: English
- ASIN: B0045U9WRS
- Text-to-Speech:
Enabled
- Lending: Not Enabled
-
Amazon Best Sellers Rank:
#10,126 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)
- #1 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Children's eBooks > Geography & Cultures > Explore the World > Asia
- #1 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Children's eBooks > Geography & Cultures > Explore the World > Fiction > Asia
- #3 in Books > Children's Books > Geography & Cultures > Explore the World > Asia
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