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!

Yumi and the Nightmare Painter by Brandon Sanderson

Reviewed by: Susie Rivera, Adult Services Specialist

Genre: Fantasy

Suggested Age: Teens, Adults

What is this book about? Yumi and the Nightmare Painter is Sanderson’s third secret novel in his Kickstarter-backed Secret Novels project that he started in 2020. Nikaro is a painter on a world where nightmares run wild. Painters are civil servants who are able to “trap” nightmares with paintings. His city, Kilahito, is perpetually dark but powered by cyan and magenta hion lines. It has the feel of a modern-day Tokyo. Yumi is a traveling priestess living in a very different location. She has the power to summon mystical spirits who are able to help her people. One day the two are unexpectedly thrust into each other’s worlds and must adapt to the vastly different ways of life.

My Review: This novel takes place in Sanderson’s Cosmere. There are several references to other novels and a couple characters from a different series show up. Sanderson fans will be delighted! However, newbies to the Cosmere could potentially jump into this book, even though it takes place farther into the timeline, and enjoy it as a stand-alone. Sanderson himself has started to recommend it as a beginning point for those interested in the Cosmere novels. I enjoyed his attempt at writing romance. I knew going into it that it would not be the same type of romance as Fourth Wing or ACOTAR. I loved the characters connection and how they got to know each other. The big reveals at the end were very reminiscent of other Sanderson works, but unique and exciting on their own. I would definitely recommend this to anyone looking for a Japanese/Korean-inspired fantasy with a clean romance story.

Three Words that Describe this Book: Duality, Mystical, Sweet

Give this a try if you like…Tress of the Emerald Sea by Brandon Sanderson, This is How You Lose the Time War by
Amal El-Mohtar, The Fragile Threads of Power by Victoria Schwab

Rating: 4/5

Find it at the library!

Streaming audio available on hoopla

The Red Badge of Courage by Stephen Crane 

Reviewed by:  Deb Alig, Circulation Assistant 

Genre:  Historical Fiction 

Suggested Age:  Recommended for Grades 9 – 12 

What is this book about?  This book takes place during the era of the American Civil War.  The main character, Henry Fleming, or the “youth” as he is often called, is a teenage boy who leaves home and enlists in the Union Army because he wants to experience what he imagines to be the glory of war.  The story begins with the fictional 304th New York Infantry Regiment waiting to engage in battle.  When battle finally begins, the Confederates are repelled.  Henry survives the scuffle only for his regiment to be attacked again.  This time his fear gets the best of him and he flees, shamefully deserting his regiment. Henry runs off into a nearby forest and encounters a group of wounded soldiers.  He bumps into a tattered soldier who has been shot twice and who proudly declares that his regiment did not flee from the fighting.  The tattered soldier asks Henry where he has been hurt, and knowing that he is not hurt, Henry scurries away feeling embarrassed and ashamed by the soldier’s question.  After encountering the wounded soldiers, Henry wishes that he too could earn a Red Badge of Courage, or a wound obtained bravely in battle.  Moving on from the wounded soldiers, Henry finds his regiment.  In the final battle, he experiences a rush of new found courage and proudly carries the Union flag after the color sergeant falls.  As described by Crane, the “sickness of battle” transformed the “youth” from a boy into a man. 

My Review:  Stephen Crane was born after the Civil War, yet The Red Badge of Courage reads as if it was written by someone who was there.  Crane obtained his facts about the war by spending time with Civil War Veterans and by reading articles published about the war in Century Magazine.  Many Civil War scholars are impressed with Crane’s work, especially with his detailed descriptions of the battlefields, the military maneuvers, and the artillery and infantry engagements.  Some historians even believe that the battle described in the book is based on the real Battle of Chancellorsville. 

I chose to read The Red Badge of Courage because I recently took a vacation to visit Civil War museums and battlefields.  I visited the Chancellorsville Visitor Center and that is where I saw a first edition copy of The Red Badge of Courage published in 1895.  Placards highlighted the plot and setting of the book and encouraged visitors to read it, especially for a genuine Civil War experience.  After taking tours and exploring museums and battlefields, The Red Badge of Courage brought to life all that I had seen and heard.  I highly recommend reading it. 

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

Give This a Try if You Like:   Woods Runner by Gary Paulsen; Jack Hinson’s One-Man War by Tom C. McKenney; Across Five Aprils by Irene Hunt 

Rating:  5/5 

Find it at the library!