Skip to main content

When Heaven Fell - Carolyn Marsden


Binh’s family lives in a small Vietnamese village. They are so poor they can’t afford to send Binh to school. Instead she spends her days selling fruit from a cart to make the little extra money needed to get by. Then one day Ba Ngoai (her grandmother) announces that Binh has a previously unknown aunt who lives in the United States and is now coming back for a visit. Binh is certain this new aunt must be rich, (Isn’t everyone in America?) and dreams of how her own life will change now that Di Hei is coming home.

This book is filled with loving family, culture conflicts and the basic longings of every human heart. I was glad to finally see a juvenile fiction book in which the Vietnam War was touched upon. I learned a few things I did not know about this important event in world history. I also enjoyed seeing how those of other cultures might view the strange unorthodox ways of those who come from that far off place called America. I would recommend this gentle heartwarming story to anyone looking for a good read.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Dude, That's Rude! (Get Some Manners) by Pamela Espeland & Elizabeth Verdick

If there's one book today's kids need to read, it is Dude, That's Rude! (Get Some Manners) . The authors provide a fun format for teaching etiquette to children. They discuss proper behavior at home, at school, at other people's homes and in public places. The information is completely up-to-date with cellphone manners and netiquette included. Fun, cartoony illustrations are on practically every page giving the book great visual appeal. This book is perfect for boys and girls in the fourth grade or older. WARNING: Bodily functions are discussed.

Faces of the Moon by Bob Crelin

Faces of the Moon by Bob Crelin Illustrated by Leslie Evans Charlesburg; 2009; unpaged Faces of the Moon is a short nonfiction book that describes the different phases of the moon and why the moon appears like it does on certain nights. This book is short and sweet so even the youngest of moon lovers will enjoy it. The layout is simplistic and easy to follow. I don’t know much about the moon so I found it very interesting.

Review: The Factory

The Factory By Catherine Egan New York, NY : Scholastic Inc., 2025. Fiction. 306 pages.  Thirteen-year-old Asher Doyle has been invited to join the Factory, a secretive research facility in the desert which ostensibly extracts renewable energy from the electromagnetic fields of its young recruits. But Asher soon realizes something sinister is going on. Kids are getting sick. The adults who run the Factory seem to be keeping secrets. And the extraction process is not only painful and exhausting, but existentially troubling. Asher makes a handful of new friends who help him with an investigation that turns into a resistance, which turns into...a cliffhanger! The Factory is a page-turning sci-fi with multidimensional characters, an intriguing plot, and refreshingly straight-forward writing. Egan weaves in detail about climate crises and social unrest, making the story's dystopian setting feel rich and plausible. With its sophisticated themes and accessible storytelling, I would recomm...