Twelve-year-old Kia Yang-nicknamed "Little Cricket"-has always lived among her extended family in their tiny Laotian village. But their peaceful lives are shattered one day when North Vietnamese soldiers destroy much of their village, and Kia and her family are forced to escape the encroaching war. After three years in a Thai refugee camp, they finally receive heartbreaking news: only Kia, her brother, Xigi, and their grandfather may emigrate to America. In Minnesota, Kia is overwhelmed by her new life, isolated by culture and language. It is only when Xigi gets into big trouble and Grandfather becomes ill that Kia discovers that they are not as alone as she thought-and that others are more isolated than she'd realized. Set in Laos and Minnesota in the 1970s, this is a powerful first novel from a promising writer. Distributed by Syndetic Solutions, Inc.

This quietly told first novel about a tumultuous period in history begins with 12-year-old Kia Vang, nicknamed "Little Cricket," in a city far from home, before flashing back to the events that set her migration in motion: the 1970s invasion of her Laotian village by the North Vietnamese. Enemy soldiers conscript the village men to fight the U.S. The Americans retaliate by dropping bombs on suspected Communist camps near Kia's village. Her family flees to a refugee camp in Thailand, where they spend three years waiting to immigrate. When permission is granted, it's for Kia, her brother, Xigi, and grandfather only mother and grandmother must wait. The three relocate to Minnesota, where grandfather and Kia plant a garden of vegetables to sell at market, and Xigi grows distant. Marooned in an English-speaking world, Kia befriends two other outsiders. The pacing is uneven a few pages cover three years at the refugee camp, and some threads of the story, such as the fate an elderly friend left in the mountains, are left hanging. While the story feels familiar, and a prologue situating Kia in her new home robs the story of a potential source of tension, the details about Hmong culture will be new to most readers, and Kia's sense of alienation may resonate with other kids who feel displaced. Ages 9-12. Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. From: Reed Elsevier Inc. Copyright Reed Business Information

Gr. 5-8. When North Vietnamese soldiers destroy 12-year-old Kia's peaceful Hmong farming village, they nearly destroy her family: Kia's father disappears, and the remaining family makes the dangerous escape through the Laotian jungle to Thailand, where they settle in a refugee camp. A Minnesotan church agrees to sponsor the family's emigration to the U.S., but a paperwork error forces Kia's mother and grandmother to stay behind. It's Kia, her older brother, and her grandfather who travel overseas to cold St. Paul, where life is safe but foreign and the loneliness is crushing. Winner of Hyperion's Paul Zindel First Novel Award, Brown's debut is both a gripping survival story and a gentle, heart-wrenching portrait of an immigrant family. A few purposeful aphorisms and messages aside, Brown writes memorable scenes of a child's experience of war and relocation in graceful, richly detailed language, and Kia's quiet triumphs will thrill young readers. For other titles about Hmong Americans, suggest Pegi Deitz Shea's novel Tangled Threads (2003) or Susan Omoto's nonfiction book Hmong Milestones in America (2003). GillianEngberg. From: Syndetics Solutions, Inc. Distributed by Syndetic Solutions, Inc.