By   Gloria Whelan

Discussion Guide by   Pat Bowes

Setting:  Vietnam, South China Sea, Hong Kong

Main Characters:
Mai Vinh -- (Hai) - 13-year old protagonist
Tran Vinh - father
Thu Vinh - mother
Grandmother
Anh Vinh - 9-year old sister
Thant Vinh - 6-year old brother
Diep Van Tien - uncle and family who escaped
The Chans’ -- storekeepers
Quach Loc -- escape contact
Captain Muoi - owns escape boat
Bac si Hong - female doctor
Kim - daughter of Bac si Hong
Le Hung -- cook
Pham Van Quong and family - on boat
Vu Loi -- rescued boy
Binh -- Hong Kong greeter
Nguyen and Ly -- friends at Hong Kong warehouse
 

Topics:
Refugees
Communism
Geography
Family
Ancestral importance
Tet

1) Does Mai and her family live in northern or southern Vietnam?  How do you know?

2) Why did the government come and take most of the rice the villagers produced?

3) List three reasons why Mai and her family left Vietnam.  Of these reasons, which is
    the most important to you?  Why?

4) As the family is preparing to leave, Mai says, “Leaving the house made me feel like
    a turtle that had climbed out of its shell.”  What did Mai mean by this statement?

5) In what month of the year is the family leaving?  How do you know?

1) "Even if the voyage was dangerous and uncomfortable, even if we were crowded
     together in a tiny rotting boat in the middle of the sea with little water and food and a
     crazy captain, at least we could speak our thoughts aloud."  Why is this so
     important to the people on the boat?  What guarantee do you have to speak your
     thoughts aloud?

2) Kim has just played a beautiful song on her flute and everyone on the boat is struck
     with awe.  No one says a word and yet Mai says to herself, "I had never heard such
     sounds.  They were a puzzle.  How could someone speak to you so well without
     words?  Then I thought, there are many things that do that, the fragrance of rice
     when the harvest was near, the taste of ripe mangoes from the tree in our yard.  For
     some things words were not needed."   Write about a time when you
     communicated without using words?

3) Kim tells Mai about movies and even a television set.  Mai is amazed and thinks
     that television is "magic beyond believing."  Watching television is often criticized.
     List some good things and some bad things about television.  About how many
     hours of television do you watch each week?

4) After the small boy is taken out of the water he finally falls asleep but has
    nightmares.  "We didn't dare think about what nightmares he was having -- or
    worse, that they might not be nightmares at all but memories."  What’s the
    difference between a nightmare and a memory?  Have you ever had a nightmare?
    Which is worse, a nightmare or a bad memory?
5) Once Tet arrived the mood on the boat changed and people began to make
    apologies to each other.  Why were they being nice to one another?

6) Compare and contrast  Bac si Hong and Grandmother.

7) Despite her reservations Mai eats part of a turtle and says, "... when the time came
     to eat it, I was so hungry I took a small piece.  It tasted like chicken, and I ate it
     greedily."  Why is Mai uncomfortable at first?  What does she mean when she says,
     "I ate it greedily"?

8) "All night I lay in my cramped position, leaving Quang's small space open."
     Should Mai do this?  Why or why not?

1) Why does Bac si Hong get upset at what some of the people in Hong Kong are
     yelling?  How did what they were saying make you feel?

2) The father says to Loi, "Loi you are in a country now where you must think for
     yourself."  What does the father mean by this?  Explain the difference between
    thinking "for" yourself and "of" yourself.

3) Do you think it is right for the people of Hong Kong to put the Vietnamese refugees
     in a warehouse?  Do you feel they should be able to go wherever they want in Hong
     Kong?  Why or why not?

4) Binh tells the Vinh family that they have a sponsor in America.  What is a sponsor?
    Why is it necessary for the Vinh family to have a sponsor in America?  Why can’t they
    just go where they want whenever they want?

5) Why would the people in Hong Kong not want Bac si Hong to help them with their
    many patients?  Do you agree or disagree with this rule by the people of Hong
    Kong?  Support your answer.

6) As Mai and her family are flying away Mai says, "I had looked up at the planes in the
    sky from the rice paddies.  From such a distance how small they had seemed!
    Now we would be up in the sky looking down. Everything we were leaving behind
    would grow small, but not so small that we would ever forget it."  Describe what you
    think Mai means by this.  Put yourself in the position of the grandmother and explain
    What you think she was feeling at the same time?

7) On a scale from 1 through 20, with 20 being superior, rate this book and support
     your rating.