By Thanhha Lai
4RBooks: 4/6, grades 5-8
Amazon rating: 4.6/5, grade level 3-7
Good Reads: 4.13/5
Common Sense Media: 5/5, age 10+
260 pages
Synopsis:
Ha is a ten-year-old girl living in South Vietnam with her mother and three older brothers. Her father left on a mission for the Navy and was captured nine years ago. They haven’t seen or heard from him since. As war comes to Saigon, Ha’s family is persuaded to leave their homeland for new opportunities in America.
They travel by boat to Guam and then fly to Florida. Eventually a sponsor arranges for them to live in Alabama. The boys get jobs and go to school, and Ha starts fourth grade. It’s a struggle as she is not accepted at first and doesn’t know English. She had been a very good student in Vietnam, but now finds school hard. With the help of a neighbor, Ha begins to learn English and finds some friends to eat lunch with and help her learn.
Still, there are students who call her names and make life hard. The story is written in first person through a series of free verse journal entries. The reader can feel the emotion in every sentence Ha writes about adjusting to her new life.
Parental Guidance: low
*Ha’s father is missing because of the war in Vietnam.
*Because of the war, Ha’s family leaves Vietnam before Saigon falls.
*The family must deal with difficult situations on the ship leaving Vietnam, and on
the ground in the USA.
*A sponsor gives them a chance to settle in Alabama where they are not
welcomed, at first.
*The family gets baptized at the church because their sponsor says it will help
people accept them. They don’t know what they are doing and continue to
practice their Vietnamese religion (never specified).
*Ha is bullied at school; laughed at and called names. When they yell Buddha girl
at her, she responds with Gee-sus.
Recommendation:
This book was a Newberry Honor Award book in 2012, and it was a National Book Award Winner, too. Written in free verse journal entries it is an easy ready and accessible to all reading abilities. I used to joke as a teacher that when you had a girl who was the youngest of three brothers, she usually turned out to be the toughest of them all. Ha fits that description perfectly. She is feisty, opinionated, and doesn’t give up. She has her sensitive low moments but bounces back quickly.
This would be a good book for a classroom read with teacher-directed lessons. Though not necessary, a basic understanding of the Vietnam War and the fall of Saigon would help. Themes include family, immigration, starting over, bullying, fitting in, and hope. Children with a family history connected to Vietnam would be able to use this book to connect with the stories of their parents and/or grandparents.
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