cover image LITTLE CRICKET

LITTLE CRICKET

Jackie Brown, Jacquelyn M. Brown, . . Hyperion, $15.99 (224pp) ISBN 978-0-7868-1852-5

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. (June)