Onion Tears

A strange bed-fellow for the rest of the series and a prime example of why you need to look at each title individually, since anyone handing this to a newly fluent reader would come a complete cropper. Although the language itself is quite straightforward, some complex skills of interpretation are required, pushing this book well into the 11/12 year-old range. Australia-settled Vietnamese refugee Nam Huong is so traumatised by her experiences she does not speak and cannot accept that the rest of her family are probably dead. The only tears she can cry are when chopping onions in the kitchen of her adopted Aunty's restaurant. Nam's private writings, intercut with an episodic plot, slowly reveal the full horror of her flight and survival. Based on the writing of Vietnamese girls settled in Australia, this is a haunting story for older, thoughtful children who will find many of the same themes in Bernard Ashley's Boat Girl.