Title:  Butterfly Yellow by Thanhha Lai

Reviewer:  Deb Alig, Circulation Assistant

Genre:  Historical Fiction

Suggested Age:  Young Adult Literature

What is this book about?  It’s 1981 and Hang, an eighteen-year-old Vietnamese refugee who just arrived at her Uncle’s house after living in a camp in the Philippines, is on a bus heading to Amarillo, Texas with the help of her cousin En Di, hoping to find her younger brother who was taken to America in 1975 during Operation Babylift.  She is heading to Amarillo because she was given a slip of paper from an American volunteer with an Amarillo address on it when her brother was taken from her and put on a plane.  Hang gets sick while on the bus so the driver pulls over and leaves her alone at a rest stop.  She approaches an elderly couple for help and shows them a card that En Di made which says, “I come from Vietnam to rescue my brother.” The couple then encourages an eighteen-year-old aspiring cowboy named LeeRoy whom they meet to drive her to Amarillo, and as fate would have it, he does.  Unfortunately, the address in Amarillo is a dilapidated church with no sign of Hang’s brother living there.  Fortunately, Hang and LeeRoy meet Mrs. Brown who lives next door who remembers a young Vietnamese boy who was adopted and taken to Los Cedros Ranch in Canyon, Texas.  Hang sketches a picture of her brother, Linh, and Mrs. Brown recognizes him, but refers to him as David.  Hang and LeeRoy head to the Los Cedros Ranch.  When they arrive it is clear that Linh does not remember his sister and Linh’s adoptive mother, Cora, is troubled that they are there.  Cora feels threatened by Hang’s presence, and to complicate matters, Hang and Linh’s uncle who lives in Texas shows up at the ranch and pressures Hang to testify in front of a judge that Linh was kidnapped and therefore cannot be legally adopted by Cora.  But Hang knows better.  She has been keeping a secret for six years.  Linh was not kidnapped.  He was taken by the Americans as an orphan when she attempted to escape Vietnam by plane with him in 1975.  Hence, Cora can legally adopt him.

LeeRoy and Hang get hired by Mr. Morgan, Cora’s neighbor, to work on his ranch for the summer.  David, or Linh, cares for his horse at the stable and also helps out at the ranch.  Cora has made it clear to Hang that she is not to spend any time with her son.  Though she is not to go near him, she is grateful that she can see him even from a distance.  When she has the chance to talk with him, he ignores her.  She feels as though he does not remember her, their family, or Vietnam.  She writes 184 stories about Vietnam as best she can in English and sketches pictures of fruit in hopes her brother will remember or recognize something from his past.  The climax of the book occurs near the end when LeeRoy, Hang, and David go to the fair where they ride a Ferris Wheel.  While at the top, a yellow butterfly lands on David, and Hang begins to sing in Vietnamese a song about a yellow butterfly that she used to sing to her brother when he was little.  Surprisingly, David begins to sing along with his sister in Vietnamese.  After six long years of missing her little brother while he was in the United States and she was in Vietnam, Hang’s dream of reconnecting with him has finally come true as symbolized by the yellow butterfly which signifies hope in Vietnamese culture.

My Review:  Butterfly Yellow is a complex book to read.  First, the story takes place in both Vietnam and the United States during two different time periods.  Second, there are two main characters, LeeRoy and Hang, who have specific life goals that intertwine with each other. Third, Hang tries to speak in English, but with Vietnamese pronunciation, which makes her dialogue very difficult to understand.

While reading this book, I learned about the struggles of Vietnamese families at the end of the war and about the Vietnamese refugees who came to the United States to relocate.  I also learned about Vietnamese customs, language, and culture.  Overall, the story was very intriguing. I highly recommend reading this book.

Rating: 5/5

Three Words that Describe this Book:  historical, traumatic, hopeful

Give this a try if you like:   Inside Out and Back Again; When Clouds Touch Us; Listen, Slowly (all by Thanhha Lai)

Find it at the library!