Butterfly Yellow by Thanhha Lai

Interest Level: YA

Lexile: HL810L
Genre: Realistic Fiction
Reading Level: 5.4

In the final days of the Vietnam War, Hằng takes her little brother, Linh, to the airport, determined to find a way to safety in America. In a split second, Linh is ripped from her arms--and Hằng is left behind in the war-torn country. Six years later, Hằng has made the brutal journey from Vietnam and is now in Texas as a refugee. She doesn't know how she will find the little brother who was taken from her until she meets LeeRoy, a city boy with big rodeo dreams, who decides to help her.

I was looking for books by Vietnamese authors. Thanhha Lai's "Inside Out & Back Again" and "Listen Slowly" are very popular among the middle school students. So, I decided to check out "Butterfly Yellow" and see if it was appropriate for middle school students. I like this book the best of all three. I struggled with how Hang spoke but the author uses the character LeeRoy, who understands Hang, to translate for the reader. I cared about what was going to happen to Hang, her brother and LeeRoy. I wish that there would be a sequel so I could find out what the future holds for these three. I will be buying this book for the middle school library. I highly recommend it to 4th graders and up.