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Escape from Saigon: How a Vietnam War Orphan Became an American Boy
An unforgettable true story of an orphan caught in the midst of war
Over a million South Vietnamese children were orphaned by the Vietnam War. This affecting true account tells the story of Long, who, like more than 40,000 other orphans, is Amerasian -- a mixed-race child -- with little future in Vietnam. Escape from Saigon allows readers to experience Long's struggl...more
Paperback, 128 pages
Published
September 2nd 2008
by Farrar, Straus and Giroux (BYR)
(first published September 9th 2004)
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I was an elementary school student at the end of the Vietnam War, but the newscasts of the Operation Babylift airlifts are seared in my memory. Hundreds of war orphans were being rescued and flown to the United States in the mid-seventies, as it became apparent that South Vietnam would be taken over by North Vietnamese forces. When one of the Babylift planes crashed, killing all the adults and many of the babies, I remember my mother crying at the kitchen table after she heard the news.
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While I hate to give such a low rating to a story about war orphans, this book is a bit confused in its mission. On one hand the length, clocking in at about 100 pages, suggests it is a book for young adults. However, the writing is about at the third grade level, suggesting the book is aimed at children. So does the rah-rah America sentimentality of the story, which at its heart is far from a simple morality tale - there is little examination of how Amerasian war orphans came to be in the sta...more
This is the true story of a young Ameriasian boy finds a new family in the United States. Being the son of a Vietnamese woman and an American man puts Long in a difficult position. Because of the war, many do not see Americans with an unbiased eye. When Long loses his mother and his grandmother can no longer support him, he goes to live in an orphanage run by a nonprofit organization from the United States. As the Communists get ever closer it, Holt International (the group running the orpha...more
I found this book in the juniors section of the library. It was on display and I read the inside jacket, found it intriguing and checked it out. I am so glad I read this book! It is about a boy who is "Amerasian" meaning a Vietnamese mom and an American dad. Of course since the dad was probably a serviceman, he wasnt in the boy's life. He ends up an prphan, through some unfortunate events during the Vietnam war. He is adopted by an American family and barely escapes to America before t...more
Fascinating and engrossing true story of Long, a young Amerasian boy in Vietnam who was part of Operation Babylift in 1975 and later adopted by a family in Ohio. Now known as Matt Steiner (his new American name) he went on to become the high school valedictorian and later a physician like his adoptive father. Andrea Warren brings Long's story to life using a narrative style that reads almost like fiction, but is clearly based on research about Vietnam and interviews with important characters. I...more
By far the saddest book I have ever read. It makes you want to go find your family and make sure they're alive, that majorly sad! The writing was so good you felt like you were really there! I couldn't believe that some parents had to give up their children, it must have been a big deal some people killed themselves so that they wouldn't have to face the North Vietnamese army. Some parts were so detailed instead of you being there and watching like it feels in the rest of the book it was like ...more
Written for kids but I was still able to get a lot from it. It was a real wake-up call for me. This happened right before I was born so I was unaware of the whole operation babylift and it was really interesting to read about. Many of the pictures are heartbreaking. This story focuses on a boy who through all the hardships, had a fairy tale ending.
None of my American history classes ever covered the Vietnam War. The little that I know of it is what I have seen in movies or heard in songs. Limited, eh? I thought that this book was an excellent introduction for young readers to the casualties of wars that you may have never even thought of. It was very interesting and would be a great conversation piece between parent and child. I look forward to discuss this one with my BOB girls.
pati m
rated it
Chronicles the experiences of an orphaned Amerasian boy from his birth and early childhood in Saigon through his departure from Vietnam in the 1975 Operation Babylift and his subsequent life as the adopted son of an American family in Ohio, and his return to Vietnam.
Chronicles the experiences of an orphaned Amerasian boy from his birth and early childhood in Saigon through his departure from Vietnam in the 1975 Operation Babylift and his subsequent life as the adopted son of an American family in Ohio.
Long, an eight year-old Vietnamese boy, lives through the Vietnam war with the help of an American-run orphanage, after his mother commits suicide and his grandmother realizes she is unable to support him. When an American family adopts Long, he, with many other orphans are flown to the United States, where they have to assimilate to the American culture(e.g. Long’s name is changed to Matt.) Warren presents Long’s life with enticing prose and descriptive pictures.
This is a very sad book about a vietnamese boy named Long/Matt escaping from Vietnam to become an American boy. Matt expresses how sad yet excited he is about going to a new family. It's a good book for kids who like those emotional books about kids.
This is about Operatoin Babylift (bringing Vietnamese orphans out of Vietnam at the end of the war).
A fabulous book about a forgotten tragedy!
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