Too Young to Escape: A Vietnamese Girl Waits to be Reunited with Her Family

At the end of Vietnam War, four-year-old Van’s father fled with his eldest child as his collaboration with the U.S. made his life unsafe, and when Vietnam became more dangerous Van’s mother took her older children and fled, but left Van and Grandmother behind as the escape route was perilous. For four years Van and Grandmother avoided the police and worked as housekeepers until the family could sponsor them to live in Canada. This engaging autobiography is useful for class study of the push-and-pull factors of immigration, the legacies of war, authoritarian forms of government and the fear and limitations of living under them, and the difficult choices parents face to make a better life for their families.