“We’re home,” Andy’s father says as the plane lands at Hanoi airport, but it’s not Andy’s home. Although his father was one of the “boat people” who escaped dangerously from Vietnam, Andy lives in Australia, where his father settled. In this multicultural high school book, you are about to visit a relative you never knew.
Culture shock sets in quickly: risking death to cross the street through insane traffic; vendors cooking over small charcoal fires on the sidewalk; street kids selling postcards for $ 5.00 each, speakers broadcasting the news to the neighborhood before dawn. Also, Andy has questions. Why is your father wearing a gold watch and a diamond ring that Andy has never seen before? And why did they tell you the family had a fancy restaurant when it’s just a hole in the wall? When Andy and his father pass out the gifts they brought, their relative quarrel and get into each other, although most of the gifts are nothing more than shampoo or toothpaste. Andy feels that they are selfish and contemptuous.
It takes him a while to find out who all his relatives are, but he quickly realizes that his thirteen-year-old cousin Minh is at the bottom of the food chain. She is basically an unpaid maid, working hard in the restaurant without pay. Later, while she is supposed to be at school, he sees her on the streets, as part of a group of street children selling postcards and souvenirs to tourists. He talks to her and she tells him why she does it.
The family restaurant may be barely the size of Andy’s room at home, but he quickly discovers that the food is delicious and that Minh is a talented cook. However, even though the restaurant is full of local customers, it is clearly not making a lot of money. He and Minh come up with a plan to help him generate more income. The results of his plan and its impact on the family create a moving and satisfying ending.
Andy is a friendly, courageous and funny tour guide for our indirect trip to Hanoi. I admire the enterprising way he and Minh carry out their plan. Andy’s father is a more complex and poignant character, happy to be back home, but learning that “you can’t go home.”
Author Ruth Starke includes some “extras” at the end: several easy recipes for Vietnamese dishes (yum!) And some information about Vietnamese street children, including how we can help through an organization called KOTO.
Reading level: 10 and up