Too Young to Escape by Van Ho and Marsha Forchuk - ADVISABLE

Too Young to Escape by Van Ho and Marsha Forchuk Skrypuch, 142 pages.  NON-FICTION Pajama Press, 2018.  $17.  

Content: Language: G: Mature Content: G; Violence: G.  

BUYING ADVISORY: EL, MS – ADVISABLE  

AUDIENCE APPEAL: AVERAGE  

When Van is only 4yo, she wakes up and goes to school like every other day, but she soon realizes that her mother and siblings have all left to escape Vietnam.  Because Van is so young, Van is left to live at her aunt and uncle’s house under the care of her grandmother.  Van learns that her mother and father escaped to Canada with her other four siblings because Van’s father fought for the South Vietnamese army and when they lost the war, the soldiers were sent to rehabilitation camps where they were brainwashed.  After five years of living apart from her family, it is finally arranged for 9yo Van and her grandmother to join the rest of Van’s family.  

I found this book fascinating, mostly because I didn’t realize this part of Vietnam’s history, and it gives a unique perspective from history.  I realize that a 4yo doesn’t have very detailed memories, but this book is very well written and was interesting.   I also enjoyed the pictures at the back of the book.  

Reviewer, C. Peterson.