SONG OF THE BUFFALO BOY

An Amerasian born 17 years ago—an outcast in her Vietnamese village—dreams of the American soldier who appears with her mother in an old photo. Loi also dreams of Khai, the buffalo tender who returns her love but whose family considers her inferior. To avoid an arranged marriage, Loi stages a fake death and disappears to the streets of distant Ho Chi Minh, where she awaits Khai and considers going to the US as part of a program for Amerasians. When the two are finally reunited, she decides to remain in Vietnam, but arranges for a rascally orphan who's befriended her to gain passage to America. It's unfortunate that the issue of interracial children is not explored here in a cultural or historical context; rather, the author repeatedly reminds readers how beautiful Loi is because of her Caucasian freckles and curly hair—as if those features make her superior to those who ostracize her. That's the wrong message. In every other way, the story is vividly realized: effective and moving, from the people inhabiting these seldom- glimpsed lands to the genuine poignancy surrounding the plight of Amerasians. Glossary. (Fiction. 12+)