The Latehomecomer

The Latehomecomer A Hmong Family Memoir. 9781566892087. Kao Kalia Yang. 2008. Grade 8 or higher. Hmong

Kao tells the story of her family's journey to America, beginning with the Vietnam War. At the end of the war, Americans left and the communist government came into power in Laos. It was the government's goal to find and kill the Hmong people who had helped the Americans during the war. Many of the Hmong people fled to the forest and lived there for many years. In the forest is where Kao's parents met, married and became pregnant with Kao's older sister.

In the forest, there was an ambush where the women and children surrendered with the plan of the men coming to save them. The camp the women and children were brought to was a terrible place that chemical warfare was in affect.

The men came and saved the people from the camp and moved on foot to Thailand. They had made it just in time because not long after, Thailand stopped taking the Hmong people. In So Kow Toe, Kao's family lived in the Ban Vinai Refugee Camp, which is where Kao was born. They were moved then to the Panat Nikhom Transition Camp to America. The hope of making it to America was great in her family and Kao became afraid of dying in the camp and not making it to America. By the time Kao and her family made it to America, she was six years and seven months old.

Kao's family went to St. Paul, Minnesota and lived in the McDonough Housing and began the hard life in America. Kao and her older sister, Dawb, went to school and learned English. Dawb excelled at learning English and won the spelling bee in third grade while Kao struggled more. Finally in 1999, Kao graduated and chose to go to college in Northfield, Minnesota.

The Latehomecomer would be an excellent book to use in social studies to be an extra piece of literature to follow the lesson on the Vietnam War. It would also be useful to help learn about different cultures.

The characters are real in this book and it makes you cringe to read what happened to these people because they helped us, the Amerians. The reason this family went through what they did is because of the time and pleace they lived: Laos 1975.

The message the author is telling us is Hmong people are people and did not come from a certain country that they can go back to. They are looking for a home here in America. The author gives the reader an idea of what the Hmong people went through as well and she makes you have a feeling of respect for the Hmong people, instead of dislike or prejudice feelings toward them.