Butterfly yellow

Title:

Butterfly yellow

Author:

Summary:

In the final days of the Việt Nam War, Hằng takes her little brother, Linh, to the airport, determined to find a way to safety in America. In a split second, Linh is ripped from her arms -- and Hằng is left behind in the war-torn country. Six years later, Hằng has made the brutal journey from Việt Nam and is now in Texas as a refugee. She doesn't know how she will find the little brother who was taken from her until she meets LeeRoy, a city boy with big rodeo dreams, who decides to help her. Hằng is overjoyed when she reunites with Linh. But when she realizes he doesn't remember her, their family, or Việt Nam, her heart is crushed. Though the distance between them feels greater than ever, Hằng has come so far that she will do anything to bridge the gap.

Edition:

First edition.

Physical Description:

284 pages ; 22 cm

Genre:

Historical fiction.

Subject Term:

Refugees -- Fiction.

Vietnamese Americans -- Fiction.

Siblings -- Fiction.

Geographic Term:

Texas -- Fiction.

Publisher:

Harper, an imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers,

Publication Date:

2019

ISBN:

9780062229212

Publication Information:

New York, NY : Harper, an imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers, [2019]

Call Number:

YA LAI

Holds: Copies:

Available:*

Item Barcode	Collection	Call Number	Status	Item Holds
33607003436154	Young Adult	LAI	Searching... Unknown	Searching... Unavailable

Bound With These Titles

On Order

Summary

Winner of the Scott O'Dell Award for Historical Fiction! Perfect for fans of Elizabeth Acevedo, Ibi Zoboi, and Erika L. Sánchez, this gorgeously written and deeply moving novel is the YA debut from the award-winning author of Inside Out & Back Again. 4 starred reviews!

Six years later, Hằng has made the brutal journey from Việt Nam and is now in Texas as a refugee. She doesn't know how she will find the little brother who was taken from her until she meets LeeRoy, a city boy with big rodeo dreams, who decides to help her.

Hằng is overjoyed when she reunites with Linh. But when she realizes he doesn't remember her, their family, or Việt Nam, her heart is crushed. Though the distance between them feels greater than ever, Hằng has come so far that she will do anything to bridge the gap.

Author Notes

Thanhha Lai was born in 1965 in Vietnam. She is an American writer of children's literature. At the Fall of Saigon April 30, 1975, her soldier father was missing in action. Mother and children fled to the United States and moved to Montgomery,Alabama, because one man there was willing to sponsor all ten of them. Before high school, the family had moved to Fort Worth, Texas. Lai graduated from University of Texas, Austin with a degree in journalism and from 1988 worked about two years for the Orange County, California newspaper The Register, covering Little Saigon, the local Vietnamese community. She earned a Master of Fine Arts from New York University and settled in New York City, where she teaches at Parsons The New School for Design.

In 2011, she won the National Book Award for Young People's Literature and a Newbery Honor for her debut novel, Inside Out & Back Again, published by HarperCollins. It is a verse novel based on her first year in the United States, a ten-year-old child who spoke no English when she arrived. In 2013 this novel made The New York Times best seller list.

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(Bowker Author Biography)

Reviews (2)

School Library Journal Review

Gr 9 Up--After the fall of Saigon during the Vietnam War, hundreds of children were airlifted from Vietnam to the United States. Hang saw to it that her three-year-old brother Linh was one of these children, though at the airport she's shocked to discover she's too old to accompany him. Six years later, 18-year-old Hang arrives in Texas, where her uncle and his family live, carrying an address, the only connection she has to her brother. Although her uncle promises that he will take her to the address in Amarillo, she cannot wait. She catches a bus and eventually a ride with LeeRoy, who is headed to Amarillo to meet his rodeo hero. When they arrive, Linh does not remember her and wants nothing to do with her. LeeRoy and Hang get jobs at a neighboring ranch where she tries to connect with her brother and LeeRoy tries to learn how to be a cowboy. Hang and LeeRoy, as well as the other main characters, have complex personalities that often clash. Hang's English dialogue, written in Vietnamese syllables, has to be sounded out by readers and can be difficult to interpret, though it becomes clearer when LeeRoy repeats what she says. The plot has a nice blend of external and internal action although some knowledge of the Vietnam War would make for better understanding of Hang's trauma. VERDICT While this is not Lai's strongest book, the universal truths about the lingering aftermath of war make it one that will find readers.--Janet Hilbun, University of North Texas, Denton

Publisher's Weekly Review

Lai (Listen, Slowly) centers her remarkable YA debut on two 18-year-old protagonists: Ha˘'ng, a determined Vietnamese refugee, and LeeRoy, an aspiring cowboy. Just after her arrival in Texas from Vietnam in 1981, Ha˘'ng sneaks out of her uncle's house to look for her younger brother, who was evacuated by American troops years before. Armed only with an address in Amarillo, she sets off on a bus, and, at a rest stop, collides with hopeful LeeRoy when strangers convince him to drive her, and their lives become further intertwined after they both find work on a ranch near Ha˘'ng's brother's adopted home. In chapters that alternately focus on the protagonists' perspectives, the layered narrative gradually unwinds Ha˘'ng's tremendous guilt about her brother, the trauma of her journey from Vietnam, and the intensity of the pain caused by her brother's indifference. Lai ably sketches the chemistry between Ha˘'ng and LeeRoy; he interprets her English and helps her relate to her brother, she models dedication and loyalty, and the two slowly become friends and more. Told with ample grace, Lai's finely drawn narrative and resilient characters offer a memorable, deeply felt view of the Vietnam War's impact. Ages 13--up. (Sept.)