cover image Tuan

Tuan

Olsson Eva Boholm, Eva Boholm-Olsson. R & S Books, $11.95 (27pp) ISBN 978-91-29-58766-1

Tuan is a Vietnamese boy, only five years old, whose night includes dreams disrupted by mosquitoes that come through the paneless windows, and whose day includes romping with a water buffalo with a friend (who has to return to the fields to work before too long). When Tuan is bitten by a rabid dog, the village doctor has no way to guarantee that he will be able to get the medicine to save him. In her introduction, Boholm-Olsson expresses her desire to show how children in the Third World live, and she has accomplished that. The illustrations extend the portrait in fluid watercolors, with puddles of paint enhancing every scene. The book is of universal appeal, for those who want to see another part of the world, or those children who are, perhaps, homesick. Ages 3-up. (July)