Customer Reviews

Song of the Buffalo Boy (Great Episodes)

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Song of the Buffalo Boy is a wonderful book about some of the effects of the war in Vietnam. It was written by Sherry Garland. It is 282 pages, but has a double-spaced format, which makes it fly by. It tells the story of a fifteen year old farm girl in a town near Da Nang, Vietnam. She is very tall, with large hands and curly black hair. This is because she is Amerasian. During the Vietnam war, many Vietnamese women slept with soldiers for money. Loi remembers being with a tall blonde man and her mother when she was young. He seemed kind, and gentle. She has a picture of herself, her mother and this soldier. She is certain that this is her father, although whenever she brings up the subject her mother won't tell her anything. Her dream is to go to America and find her father. She has no idea about the Amerasian Homecoming project, which was set up in Vietnam for children of the wars. It was a real program that gave over 80,000 Amerasian children the opportunity to go to America.. The other dream she has is to ,marry a young Buffalo herder by the name of Khai. They love each other, but his family thinks it will be dishonorable for him to marry a Con-Lai. A Con-Lai means a half breed in Vietnamese. This book takes place in 1989, but it seems like a long time before that because her lifestyle is so simple. The author did a really great job at describing things and giving the characters distinct, passionate personalities. It isn't a predictable book at all. The books takes many twists and turns, ending in one final curve in the story. I thought this book gave a really wonderful insight into the lives of farming Vietnamese in this time period, and is probably fairly the same today. She did a lot of research for this book, and it was one of the most phenomenal books that I have ever read.

Title of the Book: Song of the Buffalo Boy
Author: Sherry Garland
Publishers: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, Year Published: 1992

Author: Sherry Garland was born in Rio Grande Valley, Texas she was born on July 24th. She attended The University of Texas at Arlington; she received a bachelor's degree in French. She majored in linguistics and in English. She has written twenty-five books, both for children and adult. Most of her books are about Vietnam.

Thesis: Some people live in places where they have to very concern about their cultures and traditions, which it keeps them from going beyond and do something good for their selves. The main idea of the book is to believe in yourself, no matter how hard it takes to get what you want never give up. Courage is what everyone needs to get something that would be called "prohibited", unless you fight for it which good rewards come after.

Summary and Analysis:
Vietnamese people hated Americans because they were the ones, who had destroyed and poisoned their town, and since Loi was half American she was not welcomed. The only person who would talk to Loi except her family was Khai, a young l boy that Loi loved. Her uncle wanted to marry her to an officer but Loi did not wanted to marry him but she didn't wanted to go against her uncle's words. Loi and Khai decided to run away but they got separated because of Khai's brother. Loi goes to the city by herself hoping that Khai will come after her, but after a few weeks she realizes that Khai would never come. As she explores the dangerous city she gets an opportunity to go to America and find her father but she gives up that opportunity when she sees that her love one has come to get her. Loi finds out the truth about her American father and she lost interest in knowing him. She decides to go back to her town and marry Khai.
Vietnamese people had so much hate on Americans that they would never mix their blood and who ever had part of American blood it was a disgrace to their culture. During the war in Vietnam American soldiers would get a girls pregnant but had to kill the baby if she wanted to stay with her family. In this book, Loi's mother was thrown out of her house and her family did not helped her when she was having the baby in the street. People were still recovering from the war, they lost everything they had some were well know but after the war they had to struggle in order to survive and they would blame Americans.

I had read this book when I'm a freshman in highschool. I just happen to find the book and begin reading. I really like the book. The author seem to understand the Vietnamese culture. The book gives me the feeling of how the country people in Vietnam lives and its culture. The love between Loi and Khai caught me the best. It's a wonderful book to read.

Loi wanted to get married with Khai but her mom and uncle made her get married with Officer Hiep and she doesn't want to so she escapes to Saigon so she can go to America and find her dad, then she arrived to Saigon andand Khai came after and she found him and didn't want to go anymore so she went back home and got married with Khai in their village. I agree with the author because it was a really good bookand she put a lot of details and good events in the book. My favorite part when she was pretending to look like a bumb on her engagement day with officer Hiep.The title connects with the book. I would recomend this book to probably anybody or people that like a little romance because this bookis kind of like a romance. I think it would be a great book for anyone.

This is a wonderful book for seventh and eighth graders that I used when I was teaching junior high. My students tore through it. Sherry Garland weaves a terrific drama about an Amerasian girl, an outcast in her Viet Namese village, who goes off in search of her American father. She faces perils along the way and gains some hard-one wisdom. My students loved the characters and were crying out for a sequel.... Kevin Rush, author of Earthquake Weather a Novel for Catholic

Only novel for young adults that I have seen (though I am by no means an expert) that discusses some of the effects of the Vietnam War, in Vietnam, and in particular the issue of Amerasian children born of GIs. This is a touching story, and it seems to have a little bit of everything - - a little romance, a picture of village and farming life, and details about the struggle these Amerasian children face in gaining acceptance from either the Vietnamese or the American community. Plus one of the characters is a lovable little scamp and makes the novel fun!

A good choice in general, but also a good choice for the multicultural classroom.

Song of the Buffalo Boy is not only a book that will take you into a whole different world but also a book that is more inspiring then any other. A girl named Loi who live's in a small farm town in Vietnam after the War has a hard and undemocratic life. She is half American which means she is not as worthy as most of the people in her town. People call her a "Con-Lai" which means she is a half bread Vietnamese which is very insulting. She wishes she wasn't half American but just a normal Vietnamese girl. In her culture, they have arranged marriages. She is supposed to get married to a man she hates and despises, having to give up her real love Khai. So she plans an escape with Kaih to go to the big city of DaLat and get married, but it doesn't work out that well. She has to go through many changes, living on the streets, waiting for him with her new friend who would give any thing to be half American so he would be able to live his dream by going to his dream land America. The ending of this book is unpredictible and keeps you on your feet wondering what will she choose - America, Khai or what?

This story makes me realize how grateful I should be to get an education, food and water, shelter and loving friends and family. It's extremely inspiring and teaches us to become stronger and happier people. Personally, I look for answers to my questions and am curious just like Loi with her American Father. As I read this book Loi started to grow on me more and more and I learned just like her that sometimes we don't always need exact answers, just having questions is good enough.

Song of the Buffalo Boy is a wonderful book about some of the effects of the war in Vietnam. It was written by Sherry Garland. It is 282 pages, but has a double-spaced format, which makes it fly by. It tells the story of a fifteen year old farm girl in a town near Da Nang, Vietnam. She is very tall, with large hands and curly black hair. This is because she is Amerasian. During the Vietnam war, many Vietnamese women slept with soldiers for money. Loi remembers being with a tall blonde man and her mother when she was young. He seemed kind, and gentle. She has a picture of herself, her mother and this soldier. She is certain that this is her father, although whenever she brings up the subject her mother won't tell her anything. Her dream is to go to America and find her father. She has no idea about the Amerasian Homecoming project, which was set up in Vietnam for children of the wars. It was a real program that gave over 80,000 Amerasian children the opportunity to go to America.. The other dream she has is to ,marry a young Buffalo herder by the name of Khai. They love each other, but his family thinks it will be dishonorable for him to marry a Con-Lai. A Con-Lai means a half breed in Vietnamese. This book takes place in 1989, but it seems like a long time before that because her lifestyle is so simple. The author did a really great job at describing things and giving the characters distinct, passionate personalities. It isn't a predictable book at all. The books takes many twists and turns, ending in one final curve in the story. I thought this book gave a really wonderful insight into the lives of farming Vietnamese in this time period, and is probably fairly the same today. She did a lot of research for this book, and it was one of the most phenomenal books that I have ever read.

Have you ever wondered how it was for children that had American fathers but lived in Vietnam? Well this story Son of the Buffalo Boy is just about that. The main character Loi was trying to look for her "father" who now lives in America. First she was arranged to marry a person who she didn't like so she faked her death and ran away with the person she loved, Khai. However, when they were getting on the bus Khai didn't make it so Loi had to go to the new town all alone. When she got there, she had no money so she had to practical beg for food and steal money. She also meets her "brother" Joe who was an orphan. He took her to the place were she could register to go to America. He then took her to live with him in Amerisian Park. Two weeks later when she was walking down the street, she saw one of Khai's carvings and she he was there so she left a message with the storeowner. To know if she meets back up with Khai or goes to America you have to read it first.

A girl born in Vietnam has fallen in love with a buffalo herder who has seen the mayhem in the war. The girl, Loi lives on the streets. The buffalo herder Khai is whom she has fallen in love with instead of an officer. Those thoughts have been trailing the minds if Loi should leave her family to have a better life in America.