A remarkable literary debut by a stunning new voice in children's fiction.Two years after being airlifted out of war-torn Vietnam, Matt Pin is haun...
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May 18, 2009
Kristen
rated it: 
Young Matt was born in Vietnam, his father was an American soldier that abandoned his family. Matt was around ten years old when his mother begged American Soldiers to take her son to the U.S.A in hopes that he would have a better life.
Now in the States Matt is adopted by loving parents, and surrounded by an amazing support group, that teaches him baseball and piano. Still, two years later, his difficult past still haunts him, he wakes up at night from nightmares, a few kids at sc More...
Now in the States Matt is adopted by loving parents, and surrounded by an amazing support group, that teaches him baseball and piano. Still, two years later, his difficult past still haunts him, he wakes up at night from nightmares, a few kids at sc More...
Jan 31, 2010
Josiah
rated it: 
"There is darkness on the water.
There is darkness on the land.
There is darkness all around us,
but I will hold your hand.
You are safe, my precious child.
You are safe now, you are home.
We have found you and we love you.
You will never be alone."
—All the Broken Pieces, PP. 11-12
The feel of this book in general will be familiar to readers who loved Karen Hesse's Newbery Medal-winning Out of t More...
There is darkness on the land.
There is darkness all around us,
but I will hold your hand.
You are safe, my precious child.
You are safe now, you are home.
We have found you and we love you.
You will never be alone."
—All the Broken Pieces, PP. 11-12
The feel of this book in general will be familiar to readers who loved Karen Hesse's Newbery Medal-winning Out of t More...
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Feb 09, 2009
Lisa
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No complaints about this one. I enjoyed how it tied in baseball and the Vietman war from the perspective of a Vietnemise boy adoped into an American family (he is actually the son of an America Soldier). The was the boys tells the story through poems makes it accessable to reluctant readers without making it simple. I will definitely share this one with both baseball fans and non-baseball fans!
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Dec 20, 2011
Treyton
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I liked this book because it tells about a kid was was sent to the United States after bombing in Vietnam and was adopted by a caring family. The book is also in free verse making it easier to read. Parts about the book I didn't like were that it didn't tell enough about the life back in Vietnam. It would just have a couple of flashbacks. The plot is that Matt Pin tries out for the high school baseball team and makes it but is ridiculed because of his race. The setting of the book is at Mat
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Sep 10, 2011
Barky
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This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers.
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Jul 13, 2011
Jessica
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Two years ago, Matt was airlifted out of Vietnam, leaving behind his family, just as the Vietnam War was in full swing. When he is brought to the United States, he is adopted by an American family, learns English, and begins going to school. Matt’s story is told in verse and weaves information from both his past life and his present life. Matt is haunted by the memories and secrets he is holding within himself from his time living in Vietnam during the war, which was actually his whole life. Mat
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May 18, 2011
M.
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2012 Rebecca Caudill nominee. Matt, with a Vietnamese mother and an American GI father, was part of the Vietnam airlift of "orphans" at the end of the war. He has been adopted by an American couple and has a much younger brother, the natural son of Matt's adoptive parents. Two years later, Matt is in 7th grade and living a double life--trying to live a normal American life while remembering his life in Vietnam with his mother and disabled younger brother, a life of war and smoke an
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Apr 18, 2011
akibird
rated it:
All the Broken Pieces by Ann Burg (2009)
Novel in Verse, 218 pages
In brilliant verse, Ann Burg shares the experiences of Matt Pin, a Vietnamese refugee who was adopted by an American family. Airlifted out of war-stricken Vietnam when he was 10, he still remembers it all, and the memories haunt him: the mother who made him leave her to come to America, his younger brother’s limbs lost to war, the American father who never returned for him or his mother. Now in seventh grade, Ma More...
Novel in Verse, 218 pages
In brilliant verse, Ann Burg shares the experiences of Matt Pin, a Vietnamese refugee who was adopted by an American family. Airlifted out of war-stricken Vietnam when he was 10, he still remembers it all, and the memories haunt him: the mother who made him leave her to come to America, his younger brother’s limbs lost to war, the American father who never returned for him or his mother. Now in seventh grade, Ma More...
Mar 22, 2011
Drew
rated it:
I think this book was great. Sad, but great. The description were short but if you thought deeper into individual words, especially in the ones that seem to make no sense and try to over think? think deeper it to its meaning or what its similar too than a vibrant story unfolds. Most of the setting is up to you, but my the mood and tone its pretty easy to formulate with out ever describing the house other than that is has thin walls. I liked the boys thoughts in the story, specifically when he th
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Mar 14, 2011
Joanie
rated it:
Maybe love is like
a monsoon rain.
When it rains
really hard and heavy,
it seems like
it will never end
and we will swim in mud
forever.
But then the wind shifts,
and the earth grows
dry and cracked.
Every gurgle and ooze
tiptoes away
and we're left wishing
and waiting
for rain again.
Maybe love is like that
Maybe the wind shifts
and love just tiptoes away.
Had to include this. My f More...
a monsoon rain.
When it rains
really hard and heavy,
it seems like
it will never end
and we will swim in mud
forever.
But then the wind shifts,
and the earth grows
dry and cracked.
Every gurgle and ooze
tiptoes away
and we're left wishing
and waiting
for rain again.
Maybe love is like that
Maybe the wind shifts
and love just tiptoes away.
Had to include this. My f More...
Feb 25, 2011
Kate
rated it:
Wow. This is a book I wouldn't have picked up if the sixth graders had not picked it for our book and bag discussion. I do love novels in verse and verse suited this story so well, it kept the story moving and clear and beautiful.
Matt is a 10 year old Vietnamese boy who was born during the war. His father was an American solider. He is one of the hundreds of children air lifted out of Vietnam at the end of the war. He left behind his mother and younger brother who was injured. In More...
Matt is a 10 year old Vietnamese boy who was born during the war. His father was an American solider. He is one of the hundreds of children air lifted out of Vietnam at the end of the war. He left behind his mother and younger brother who was injured. In More...
Jan 11, 2011
Leslie
rated it:
Just finished this wonderful book about the aftermath of Vietnam. Beautifully written and quick to read, but it leaves you thinking about the war in a whole different way. I highly recommend this book, but it's a definite RWK (read with Kleenex)!
From the book jacket: Two years after being airlifted out of war-torn Vietnam, Matt Pin is haunted: by bombs that fell like dead crows, by the family - and the terrible secret - he left behind. Now, inside a caring adoptive home in the United More...
From the book jacket: Two years after being airlifted out of war-torn Vietnam, Matt Pin is haunted: by bombs that fell like dead crows, by the family - and the terrible secret - he left behind. Now, inside a caring adoptive home in the United More...
Jan 10, 2011
All the Broken Pieces
By: Ann E. Burg
Written by: Erin Behe
“My brother died because of you.” How would you like it if someone said that to you everyday? That’s what it’s like for Matt. A kid that got lifted out of the Vietnam War when he was little. But still, all the memories flood him of what happened in Vietnam. He starts to go to Veteran voices, or VV to share about what happened in Vietnam. Matt doesn’t like to talk about what happened. He left his mother and his dea More...
By: Ann E. Burg
Written by: Erin Behe
“My brother died because of you.” How would you like it if someone said that to you everyday? That’s what it’s like for Matt. A kid that got lifted out of the Vietnam War when he was little. But still, all the memories flood him of what happened in Vietnam. He starts to go to Veteran voices, or VV to share about what happened in Vietnam. Matt doesn’t like to talk about what happened. He left his mother and his dea More...
Nov 15, 2010
Barbara
rated it:
The story of 7th grader Matt Pin is told in verse, a format I usually dislike (I'm not a poem person). But this one gripped me from page 1 and never let me down. The tight writing enabled me to feel what the boy struggles through as, three years after leaving his Vietnam home, he deals with enemies in school, a beloved coach facing cancer, a new baby brother who might take his adopted families love away, and injured Vietnam veterans who force him to confront his past. Matt and his mother were ab
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Sep 11, 2010
Meaghan
rated it:
A very sweet, touching story, making real the horrors of the Vietnam War but at the same time still appropriate for 9-to-12s. Airlifted out of Vietnam and evacuated to safety in America, twelve-year-old Matt has been living for two years with adoptive parents who adore him. But the war lingers, in his own mind and in the world around him. He misses the family he left behind; he blames himself for his lost little brother's land mine injuries. Once a week he goes to a meeting for Vietnam veterans,
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Nov 10, 2009
Aaron
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Matt is a bui doi, a child born of an American solider and a Vietnamese mother during the course of America's war in Southeast Asia. His mother made arrangements for him to come and live in the United States. He is adopted by a family with another son, who is younger than Matt. The year is 1977, and Matt is learning to live with the guilt of his connections to the war.
His most obvious guilt is tied to the fact that he has left his mother and his younger brother, who was badly injured More...
His most obvious guilt is tied to the fact that he has left his mother and his younger brother, who was badly injured More...
Oct 17, 2009
The Loft
rated it:
Seventh grader Matt Pin is a child of war. Airlifted out of Vietnam by American soldiers and adopted by a loving American family, he carries within him inescapable visions of chaos: “the smell and the smoke and the sound of someone crying,” his mother’s “thin, shrill staccato” voice when she urged him away from her to safety “through sounds of whirring helicopters and open prayers,” and his 3 yr. old brother’s burned, dismembered body.
At the center of these visions is a dark secret, More...
At the center of these visions is a dark secret, More...
Sep 11, 2009
Tim
rated it:
Genre: Historical Fiction
Copyright: 2009
"All the Broken Pieces" was a great book whose protagonist was someone I related to in more ways than one. The book follows the life of a young Vietnamese boy named Matt, who leaves war-torn Vietnam and is adopted by a loving family in America. The story takes place during the end of the Vietnam War, and although Matt has left the war behind, he must battle his own war raging inside of him.
This story was very sad, an More...
Copyright: 2009
"All the Broken Pieces" was a great book whose protagonist was someone I related to in more ways than one. The book follows the life of a young Vietnamese boy named Matt, who leaves war-torn Vietnam and is adopted by a loving family in America. The story takes place during the end of the Vietnam War, and although Matt has left the war behind, he must battle his own war raging inside of him.
This story was very sad, an More...
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Aug 18, 2009
Tasha
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Matt Pin was airlifted from war torn Vietnam to the United States and has been adopted into a loving family. Now at age 12, Matt is struggling with the internal scars of war, combined with his questions of identity. He has haunting memories of his mother and brother whom he left behind in Vietnam. Matt has trouble giving a voice to his internal struggles, while externally he is having difficulties at school and is being bullied by boys on his baseball team. Can Matt manage to make peace with
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May 23, 2009
Cornmaven
rated it:
Another really good Vietnam historical novel, this one done in verse. Vietnamese kid who comes to US from the Saigon airlift is adopted by a family who have their own connections to the war. He has experienced great trauma, and is struggling with remembering all of it, and his guilt over what happened.
He also struggles with social acceptance. Kids call him Frog Face, Matt the Rat, etc. He sees his father's guilt over not enlisting, and begins to feel "like the coin you drop More...
He also struggles with social acceptance. Kids call him Frog Face, Matt the Rat, etc. He sees his father's guilt over not enlisting, and begins to feel "like the coin you drop More...
Sep 14, 2011
Lj
rated it: 
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers.
To view it, click here
Mar 23, 2010
Heather
rated it:
If you happened to stop by the library yesterday afternoon around 3:30, you may have seen me sitting in a corner with tears running down my cheeks. No, it wasn’t a super bad day at the library—I was just finishing up All the Broken Pieces by Ann E. Burg. I’ve been meaning to get to this for a while, but hadn’t managed until yesterday. Apparently, it hasn’t grabbed anyone else’s attention either, as I was the first to check it out. Maybe the words “a novel in verse” scares people off. I, on the o
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Jul 07, 2010
Jacki
rated it:
This book has many lovable qualities, not least of which is its originality; you don't see many stories about half-American, half-Vietnamese who were airlifted out of Vietnam following the war and went on to lead new lives in America.
Characterization here is beautifully executed, from the Vietnamese-hating boy who lost his older brother in the war, to the tough-but-wise baseball coach, to the scarred veteran. The main character is realistically developed: a child with a child's pers More...
Characterization here is beautifully executed, from the Vietnamese-hating boy who lost his older brother in the war, to the tough-but-wise baseball coach, to the scarred veteran. The main character is realistically developed: a child with a child's pers More...
Oct 12, 2011
SaraJane
rated it:
This is a beautiful story written in verse form about a young boy who is from Vietnam and adopted by an American family shortly after the war. Powerful language.....hence the many liked quotes.
Page 7: "It's no wonder the soldiers are broken, Dad says. When they left, they were high school heroes, stars of the football team, with pretty girlfriends. Now look at them - hobbling on crutches, rolling themselves in wheelchairs, while people throw things - tomatoes, rotten apples, angr More...
Page 7: "It's no wonder the soldiers are broken, Dad says. When they left, they were high school heroes, stars of the football team, with pretty girlfriends. Now look at them - hobbling on crutches, rolling themselves in wheelchairs, while people throw things - tomatoes, rotten apples, angr More...
Oct 01, 2011
Alma
rated it:
Burg, Ann E. All the Broken Pieces. Scholastic Press. 2009. 224 pp. ISBN: 0545080924.
Genre: Novel in verse
Rating: 4 Stars. Matt Pin left Vietnam in 1975 and is in a loving adoptive family in the US when is he haunted by events that happened in his past.
Summary: Matt is adoptive into an American family after being air-lifted from Vietnam during the Vietnam War. This story goes through Matt's emotions that he goes through as he tries to deal with his past as he is also More...
Genre: Novel in verse
Rating: 4 Stars. Matt Pin left Vietnam in 1975 and is in a loving adoptive family in the US when is he haunted by events that happened in his past.
Summary: Matt is adoptive into an American family after being air-lifted from Vietnam during the Vietnam War. This story goes through Matt's emotions that he goes through as he tries to deal with his past as he is also More...
Jan 25, 2010
Thomas
rated it:
All the Broken Pieces is the story of Matt Pin, a twelve-year-old Amerasian boy who was born in Vietnam but currently lives in the United States. His mother was a native Vietnamese citizen but his father was an American soldier who abandoned him after the war. His mother urged him to flee to the US, and now he lives with a caring adoptive family. However, his guilt and sorrow over the Vietnam War still plague him.
I thought this was overall a decent story told in poems. I really felt More...
I thought this was overall a decent story told in poems. I really felt More...
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Dec 08, 2011
Erin
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All the Broken Pieces
by Ann E. Burg
Imagine you waking up tomorrow morning to the sounds of bombs exploding and smoke so thick in the air that you need to put a bandana around your mouth to breathe. That was Matt Pin's experience up until he was 10 years old. You see, Matt grew up in Vietnam during the Vietnam war. You may have heard about that time in the United States (not long ago) when our troops were fighting a war in Vietnam, just like they are in Iraq now. When Matt's brother s More...
by Ann E. Burg
Imagine you waking up tomorrow morning to the sounds of bombs exploding and smoke so thick in the air that you need to put a bandana around your mouth to breathe. That was Matt Pin's experience up until he was 10 years old. You see, Matt grew up in Vietnam during the Vietnam war. You may have heard about that time in the United States (not long ago) when our troops were fighting a war in Vietnam, just like they are in Iraq now. When Matt's brother s More...
Mar 26, 2011
Sherry
rated it:
A little too neatly oversimplified, but the story of a boy sent to the U.S. from Vietnam as part of the the airlift to save children from the war is one that is unfamiliar to most young teens. Matt has only been in the U.S. for two years and has been lovingly integrated into a family, taken up both piano and baseball. He faces discrimination at school and has to live with the aftermath of his own memories of the war.
Told in verse, Berg uses Matt's coach and piano teacher to provide Mat More...
Told in verse, Berg uses Matt's coach and piano teacher to provide Mat More...
Sep 22, 2011
Jordan
rated it:
I like this book, but it was a little confusing at times. It makes me wonder why the authors reason for formating the book like that. So, at times it made me a little confused on what i was reading.
This book is about, a kid named Matt Pinn who was exported from Vietnam, because of the war. He was exported because people did not want any of the kids that where half american to be in Vietnam because they knew these kids would not live through the war. Matt moved with his other mother, More...
This book is about, a kid named Matt Pinn who was exported from Vietnam, because of the war. He was exported because people did not want any of the kids that where half american to be in Vietnam because they knew these kids would not live through the war. Matt moved with his other mother, More...
Jan 08, 2010
The Reading Countess
rated it:
Publisher's Review: Two years after being airlifted out of war-torn Vietnam, Matt Pin is haunted: by bombs that fell like dead crows, by the family -- and the terrible secret -- he left behind. Now, inside a caring adoptive home in the United States, a series of profound events force him to choose between silence and candor, blame and forgiveness, fear and freedom.
By turns harrowing, dreamlike, sad, and triumphant, this searing debut novel, written in lucid verse, reveals an unforge More...
By turns harrowing, dreamlike, sad, and triumphant, this searing debut novel, written in lucid verse, reveals an unforge More...
