This remarkable and bestselling novel from Thanhha Lai, author of the National Book Award–winning and Newbery Honor Book Inside Out & Back Again, follows a young girl as she learns the true meaning of family.
Listen, Slowly is a New York Times Book Review Notable Book and a Publishers Weekly Best Book of the Year!
A California girl born and raised, Mai can’t wait to spend her vacation at the beach. Instead, she has to travel to Vietnam with her grandmother, who is going back to find out what really happened to her husband during the Vietnam War.
Mai’s parents think this trip will be a great opportunity for their out-of-touch daughter to learn more about her culture. But to Mai, those are their roots, not her own. Vietnam is hot, smelly, and the last place she wants to be. Besides barely speaking the language, she doesn’t know the geography, the local customs, or even her distant relatives. To survive her trip, Mai must find a balance between her two completely different worlds.
Perfect for fans of Rita Williams-Garcia and Linda Sue Park, Listen, Slowly is an irresistibly charming and emotionally poignant tale about a girl who discovers that home and culture, family and friends, can all mean different things.
Twelve-year-old Mai can't wait to take a break from being perfect. But all straight A's and countless extracurricular activities have gotten her is an unwanted trip to a foreign country she's never been to—over eight thousand miles from home.
Mai's parents are making her spend her vacation in Vietnam so she can learn more about her roots and help her grandmother learn what really happened to her grand-father during the Vietnam War. Since Mai barely knows the language or customs, she is desperately counting down the days until she can go back home. But as time goes on, Mai begins to grow closer to her family and develops an understanding of a culture and an entire world that she never really knew about.
In this sharply funny and poignant story, Mai realizes that home is not found on a map but is instead made up of the people she calls family.
"In this free-verse narrative, Lai is sparing in her details, painting big pictures with few words and evoking abundant visuals."
