★ 07/22/2019
Lai (Listen, Slowly ) centers her remarkable YA debut on two 18-year-old protagonists: Hằng, a determined Vietnamese refugee, and LeeRoy, an aspiring cowboy. Just after her arrival in Texas from Vietnam in 1981, Hằng sneaks out of her uncle’s house to look for her younger brother, who was evacuated by American troops years before. Armed only with an address in Amarillo, she sets off on a bus, and, at a rest stop, collides with hopeful LeeRoy when strangers convince him to drive her, and their lives become further intertwined after they both find work on a ranch near Hằng’s brother’s adopted home. In chapters that alternately focus on the protagonists’ perspectives, the layered narrative gradually unwinds Hằng’s tremendous guilt about her brother, the trauma of her journey from Vietnam, and the intensity of the pain caused by her brother’s indifference. Lai ably sketches the chemistry between Hằng and LeeRoy; he interprets her English and helps her relate to her brother, she models dedication and loyalty, and the two slowly become friends and more. Told with ample grace, Lai’s finely drawn narrative and resilient characters offer a memorable, deeply felt view of the Vietnam War’s impact. Ages 13–up. (Sept.)
In this radiant pearl of a book, Lại shows that we human beings are singing the very same song: a song of grace and redemption, a song of courage, a song of hope.” — New York Times Book Review
★ “Every sentence is infused with warmth, and Lại shows readers that countless moments of grace exist even in the darkest times. Masterfully conjures grace, beauty, and humor out of the tragic wake of the Vietnam War.” — Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
★ “Lại’s imagery awakens the senses. Most powerful is the deep throb of regret and the thinnest wisps of hopefulness that Lại conveys throughout. They touch the soul.” — Booklist (starred review)
★ “Remarkable. Told with ample grace, Lại’s finely drawn narrative and resilient characters offer a memorable, deeply felt view of the Vietnam War’s impact.” — Publishers Weekly (starred review)
★ “Lại writes with charm and spark, and she is especially original in her conveyance of Hằng’s limited English. Hằng remains resilient and purposeful, characteristics that make her compelling and even heroic. Ultimately, this is a bittersweet yet hopeful story of letting go and finding new ways to come together.” — Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books (starred review)
“Butterfly Yellow is so vivid and specific in its details, but truly, the power of this book is in its depiction of that universal hope of being able to find a new place to feel safe after everything has been torn apart. Timely, brutal, and full of love for life, Butterfly Yellow is a book for the times we’re living in.” — NPR
“One strength of the novel is the subtle character development. Another is Lại’s use of language. Those who hear Hằng’s remarkable tale can additionally think about contemporary connections to immigrant experiences, feelings of being an outsider, and the detours one’s life may take.” — The Horn Book
“Dedicated ‘In memory of the thousands of refugees at the bottom of the sea,’ Lại personalizes history with compelling characters, lively interactions and, most importantly, engrossing storytelling.” — Shelf Awareness
“Thanhha Lai’s Butterfly Yellow artfully blends comedy and tragedy in a deeply moving story about refugees, siblings, and youthful dreams. For someone who wants to know more about the Vietnamese refugee experience—or how to be a cowboy—this taut novel is a great place to start.” — Viet Thanh Nguyen, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Sympathizer
“Lai is a master of storytelling, and this tale will have you wanting to hug close every character even while you cheer for them to fly.” — Elizabeth Acevedo, New York Times bestselling and National Book Award winning author of The Poet X
“Butterfly Yellow is a beautiful, poetic story of unlikely friendship and grit and determination. Hằng is an unforgettable character. And Thanhhà Lại is one of the finest writers of our time.” — Matt de la Peña, New York Times and Newbery Medal winning author of The Last Stop on Market Street
Dedicated ‘In memory of the thousands of refugees at the bottom of the sea,’ Lại personalizes history with compelling characters, lively interactions and, most importantly, engrossing storytelling.
One strength of the novel is the subtle character development. Another is Lại’s use of language. Those who hear Hằng’s remarkable tale can additionally think about contemporary connections to immigrant experiences, feelings of being an outsider, and the detours one’s life may take.
In this radiant pearl of a book, Lại shows that we human beings are singing the very same song: a song of grace and redemption, a song of courage, a song of hope.
New York Times Book Review
★ “Lại’s imagery awakens the senses. Most powerful is the deep throb of regret and the thinnest wisps of hopefulness that Lại conveys throughout. They touch the soul.
Booklist (starred review)
Lai is a master of storytelling, and this tale will have you wanting to hug close every character even while you cheer for them to fly.
★ “Lại writes with charm and spark, and she is especially original in her conveyance of Hằng’s limited English. Hằng remains resilient and purposeful, characteristics that make her compelling and even heroic. Ultimately, this is a bittersweet yet hopeful story of letting go and finding new ways to come together.
Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books (starred review)
Thanhha Lai’s Butterfly Yellow artfully blends comedy and tragedy in a deeply moving story about refugees, siblings, and youthful dreams. For someone who wants to know more about the Vietnamese refugee experience—or how to be a cowboy—this taut novel is a great place to start.
“Butterfly Yellow is so vivid and specific in its details, but truly, the power of this book is in its depiction of that universal hope of being able to find a new place to feel safe after everything has been torn apart. Timely, brutal, and full of love for life, Butterfly Yellow is a book for the times we’re living in.
Butterfly Yellow is a beautiful, poetic story of unlikely friendship and grit and determination. Hằng is an unforgettable character. And Thanhhà Lại is one of the finest writers of our time.
Lại writes with charm and spark, and she is especially original in her conveyance of Hằng’s limited English. Hằng remains resilient and purposeful, characteristics that make her compelling and even heroic. Ultimately, this is a bittersweet yet hopeful story of letting go and finding new ways to come together.
Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books (starred review)
07/01/2019
Gr 9 Up– After the fall of Saigon during the Vietnam War, hundreds of children were airlifted from Vietnam to the United States. Hang saw to it that her three-year-old brother Linh was one of these children, though at the airport she's shocked to discover she's too old to accompany him. Six years later, 18-year-old Hang arrives in Texas, where her uncle and his family live, carrying an address, the only connection she has to her brother. Although her uncle promises that he will take her to the address in Amarillo, she cannot wait. She catches a bus and eventually a ride with LeeRoy, who is headed to Amarillo to meet his rodeo hero. When they arrive, Linh does not remember her and wants nothing to do with her. LeeRoy and Hang get jobs at a neighboring ranch where she tries to connect with her brother and LeeRoy tries to learn how to be a cowboy. Hang and LeeRoy, as well as the other main characters, have complex personalities that often clash. Hang's English dialogue, written in Vietnamese syllables, has to be sounded out by readers and can be difficult to interpret, though it becomes clearer when LeeRoy repeats what she says. The plot has a nice blend of external and internal action although some knowledge of the Vietnam War would make for better understanding of Hang's trauma. VERDICT While this is not Lai's strongest book, the universal truths about the lingering aftermath of war make it one that will find readers.—Janet Hilbun, University of North Texas, Denton
Gorgeous writing meets expert narration in this one-of-a-kind refugee story. Narrator LuLu Lam gracefully maneuvers listeners through Hang's efforts to reconnect her with her brother Lihn in Texas after the Vietnam War. Lam fully captures Hang's struggles and joys with learning English as well the text's Vietnamese dialogue, making this an especially appropriate novel for audio. Equally impressive is the Texas twang Lam gives to LeeRoy, a chatty cowboy-in-training who slowly becomes enamored with Hang. Most notably, Hang's memories of wartime trauma are not overly dramatized, allowing the listener to simply bear witness to her brutal past. With many parallels to today's immigrant experience, the story includes moments of beauty, sorrow, and hope. E.A.N. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award © AudioFile 2019, Portland, Maine
Gorgeous writing meets expert narration in this one-of-a-kind refugee story. Narrator LuLu Lam gracefully maneuvers listeners through Hang's efforts to reconnect her with her brother Lihn in Texas after the Vietnam War. Lam fully captures Hang's struggles and joys with learning English as well the text's Vietnamese dialogue, making this an especially appropriate novel for audio. Equally impressive is the Texas twang Lam gives to LeeRoy, a chatty cowboy-in-training who slowly becomes enamored with Hang. Most notably, Hang's memories of wartime trauma are not overly dramatized, allowing the listener to simply bear witness to her brutal past. With many parallels to today's immigrant experience, the story includes moments of beauty, sorrow, and hope. E.A.N. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award © AudioFile 2019, Portland, Maine
★ 2019-06-10
On that same day in 1981, an 18-year-old aspiring cowboy named LeeRoy is traveling to Amarillo to pursue his rodeo dreams. After some helpful meddling from a couple at a rest stop, LeeRoy finds himself driving Hằng on her search instead. They make an odd pair, a white boy from Austin and a determined Vietnamese refugee on a mission. But their chemistry works: Hằng sees through LeeRoy's cowboy airs, and LeeRoy understands Hằng's clever English pronunciations, cobbled together from Vietnamese syllables. When they find Hằng's brother and he remembers nothing about Vietnam, Hằng and LeeRoy settle in at the ranch next door. Hằng's heartbreaking memories of the day her brother was mistakenly taken by Americans at the end of the war, her harrowing journey to America, and the family she left behind are all tempered by LeeRoy's quiet patience and exasperated affection. It is their warm and comic love/hate relationship, developing over the course of the summer into something more, that is the soul of award-winning Lai's (Listen, Slowly , 2015, etc.) first young adult novel. Every sentence is infused with warmth, and Lai shows readers that countless moments of grace exist even in the darkest times.
Masterfully conjures grace, beauty, and humor out of the tragic wake of the Vietnam War. (author's note) (Historical fiction. 13-18)
