Vatsana's Lucky New Year

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

Vatsana grows apprehensive on learning that her aunt and cousin Ketsy are coming from Laos to live with her family in America. The 12-year-old's mother believes that her daughter and Ketsy will be like sisters, but Vatsana is not so sure. After all, she was born in America, and Ketsy will not even be able to speak English. Vatsana wishes her parents would talk less about their life in Laos and become more like Americans. But when the girl is confronted with prejudice and hatred, she must reexamine her feelings toward her Laotian heritage. Gogol lucidly addresses the issues of bigotry and assimilation, exploring these issues as they affect family values at home, relationships between peers in and out of school, life in the community. As Vatsana begins to grasp the importance and uniqueness of Laotian traditions, Gogol realistically and sensitively portrays her heroine's evolving thoughts and feelings. Ages 10-14. (Dec.)

School Library Journal

Gr 4-8-- Vatsana, 12, was born in Portland, Oregon, to Laotian parents. Two events make her come to terms with her ancestry: classmate Tom Connors continually bullies her with racial epithets and other name-calling, and her aunt and cousin arrive from a refugee camp in Thailand. Vatsana, who would only too happily give up her weekly Lao language class, can't understand why her cousin wants to continue learning Lao dance in the United States. At the traditional New Year's celebration, she finally sees how her dual heritage will fit together. Although the book is chock-full of accurate details about Lao life and customs, the thin plot and monotonous writing will not be enough to pull readers through. They would be better served by consulting a factual book such as Ralph Zickgraf's Laos (Chelsea, 1991). --Diane S. Marton, Arlington County Library, VA