Goodbye, Vietnam

Whelan, Gloria

3.63

512 ratings by Goodreads

ISBN 10: 0679922636 ISBN 13: 9780679922636

Publisher: Knopf Books for Young Readers, 1992

"When Mai's family discovers that Vietnam government soldiers will soon apprehend her father and grandmother, the family slips away in the night. They trudge through the swamps of the Mekong Delta toward the sea. The gut-wrenching trip to Hong Kong is just another step toward a new life, which the family eventually finds. Whelan's characters are distinctive, and her story is riveting, haunting, and memorable, reflecting the human virtues of determination, hope, love, and courage in the face of the most devastating of circumstances and injustices."--Booklist.

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About the Author:

Gloria and her husband Joseph moved from Detroit to the woods of northern Michigan several years ago.  Many of Gloria's books take place during the summer -- because she does a lot of her writing during the northern Michigan blizzards!
Gloria has been telling stories for as long as she can remember.  Before she could read or write, she used to dictate stories to her baby-sitter, who would type them out.  Being an only child, many of Gloria's stories were about having a brother or sister.
Gloria would like to have written Little Women, because Jo March was one of her role models growing up!
Gloria once had a set of five wtching guinea pigs, all named after Detroit Tiger baseball players!

From Publishers Weekly:

Whelan's ( Bringing the Farmhouse Home ; Hannah ) latest novel examines the monumental struggle and privation that a group of people must endure to escape political and economic oppression in contemporary Vietnam. Thirteen-year-old Mai is frightened and distraught to learn that her parents have planned to leave their home and secure passage to Hong Kong. But with hopes of freedom and prosperity to spur them on, Mai and her relatives cram themselves onto a barely seaworthy boat captained by a crusty, greedy man. The voyage is difficult at best: food and water are scarce; illness, lice, rats and blazing sun plague the debilitated passengers. When they finally reach Hong Kong, the challenges of a police inspection and a camp filled with thousands of other refugees await them. Although it chronicles many brutal realities, Whelan's story maintains an air of cool composure. Mai is the perfect narrator through whom to introduce a large cast of unusual, sympathetic characters; her emotional control and keen observations prove to be a source of calm in the storm that swirls around her. Readers will be introduced to elements of a new culture and made painfully aware of social conditions in other parts of the world. Ages 8-12.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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