My Name Is San Ho [Library Binding]

Jayne Pettit (Author)

Book Description

Age Level: 8 and up

Haunted by memories of war, young San Ho struggles to adjust to life in the United States after his mother marries an American serviceman, and the many differences lead to difficulty in accepting his new land as home.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Despite the deluge of material dealing with the Vietnam War and its aftermath, readers rarely get to see what the war was like for the people who felt its impact the most: the Vietnamese. Pettit aims to redress that imbalance with this earnest narrative. At nine San Ho has never known peacetime--or his father, who was killed in the army before the boy's birth. After Communists wreak havoc on his South Vietnamese village, San Ho's mother takes him to Saigon to stay with a friend. Three years later and remarried, she sends for her son to come to America. Most of the novel describes San Ho's acculturative efforts, but filtered through his adult sensibilities this bland section suffers by contrast with the powerful emotions and drama of the Vietnam scenes. (The American portions contain very little dialogue or conflict--San Ho never resents his mother for leaving him, and his stepfather is conveniently offstage for most of the story.) Although ultimately unsatisfying, this book powerfully depicts the effects of the war on its innocent victims. Ages 8-12.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From School Library Journal

Grade 3-6-- Written in the first person, this plotless work chronicles the life of a young Vietnamese boy growing up in a war-ravaged land; joining his mother and stepfather in America; and learning to adjust to a new way of life. Born in a small village north of Saigon that was subjected to both napalm attacks and raids by the Viet Cong, San Ho is sent to Saigon by his mother for his own safety. Fearful and lonely, he attends a Catholic school and stays with his mother's friends on weekends. Always there is the war--the daily air-raid drills, the nightly gunfire, the danger of explosions. After three years, his mother, now married to an American marine, is finally able to bring San Ho to their home outside Philadelphia. In the concluding chapter San Ho reveals he has become a high school teacher of American history. Although it is not always clear, presumably this older San Ho has told the story throughout. While Pettit often treats facts, events, and emotions in prosaic fashion, this linear account may nonetheless be useful in communities having not only new residents from Vietnam but also immigrants from other countries in conflict. --Diane S. Marton, Arlington County Library, VA
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 8 and up
  
• Library Binding: 149 pages
• Publisher: Scholastic Trade (April 1992)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0590441728
• ISBN-13: 978-0590441728
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.7 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,857,007 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3.0 out of 5 stars san ho he did not live in mexico, April 7, 2004

By 

josh (shawnee, KS USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: My Name Is San Ho (Library Binding)

San ho was born in Ni Hung. Because of the war his mom felt she had to send him to Saigon to live with his moms old friend Kim B. He went to school in Saigon. While in Saigon his mom got married and moved to America. When Saigon fell he was taken by plane to America where he was reunited with his mom. He has a hard time in America. He had to deal with people who didn't like him.

I didn't like the book because I thought he lived in Mexico. This complicated things.

3.0 out of 5 stars San Ho He Did Not Live In Mexico, April 7, 2004

By 

josh (shawnee, KS USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: My Name Is San Ho (Library Binding)

San ho was born in Ni Hung. Because of the war his mom felt she had to send him to Saigon to live with his moms old friend Kim B. He went to school in Saigon. While in Saigon his mom got married and moved to America. When Saigon fell he was taken by plane to America where he was reunited with his mom. He has a hard time in America. He had to deal with people who didn't like him.

I didn't like the book because I thought he lived in Mexico. This complicated things. but you might like it so read it

0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The Hardships of War, March 1, 2005

A Kid's Review

This review is from: My Name Is San Ho (Library Binding)

The beginning is that San Ho lives in a little town and he can here sounds of the war. He does not like that but he goes to school his father had to go to the war and he will never come back the soildiers said to San Ho's teacher they wanted him to teach the class the new stuff. So one day the soilders come to the school and he is teaching the old stuff so the kill the teacher in front of the the class with a bunch of guns. The middle is San Ho and his mother are afraid that the soildiers are going to come back to the town and take them away. So San Ho and his mother get on their bikes and go to a new town and he goes to a new school and lives with his moms friend. They also work in the fields and they are away from the war but the war comes closer to that town. I did not like this book because it was to slow and I don't like wars because people go away for a long time and people die. A better book is the Band of Brothers I rate this a 4 because they explain it really good.