My Name is San Ho

Despite the deluge of material dealing with the Vietnam War and its aftermath, readers rarely get to see what the war was like for the people who felt its impact the most: the Vietnamese. Pettit aims to redress that imbalance with this earnest narrative. At nine San Ho has never known peacetime--or his father, who was killed in the army before the boy's birth. After Communists wreak havoc on his South Vietnamese village, San Ho's mother takes him to Saigon to stay with a friend. Three years later and remarried, she sends for her son to come to America. Most of the novel describes San Ho's acculturative efforts, but filtered through his adult sensibilities this bland section suffers by contrast with the powerful emotions and drama of the Vietnam scenes. (The American portions contain very little dialogue or conflict--San Ho never resents his mother for leaving him, and his stepfather is conveniently offstage for most of the story.) Although ultimately unsatisfying, this book powerfully depicts the effects of the war on its innocent victims. Ages 8-12. (Apr.)