The Cricket War
Written by Tho Pham
and Sandra McTavish
Published by Kids Can Press
It’s 1980, and 12-year-old Tho Pham lives with his family in South Vietnam. He spends his afternoons playing soccer and cricket fighting with his friends, but life is slowly changing under the Communists. His parents are worried, and Tho knows the Communist army will soon knock on their door to make his brother, and then him, join them. Still, it shocks him when his father says that arrangements have been made for him to leave Vietnam by boat, immediately. Tho tries to be brave as he sets out on a harrowing journey toward the unknown.
Co-authors Tho Pham and Sandra McTavish, childhood friends, have loosely based this historical fiction novel on Tho’s real-life experience as one of the Vietnamese Boat People, and have included many factual details from his journey on the South China Sea and in a Philippine refugee camp. Depictions of pirate attacks, hunger and loneliness make for a riveting survival story, sure to elicit empathy for refugees. Eventually adopted by a Canadian elementary school teacher, Tho’s story is ultimately one of hope, courage and resilience.
Primary ISBN: 9781525306556
Publication Date: October 2023
Available As: Hardcover, eBook
Middle Grade, Age 09 or older
Community Represented: Vietnamese/Vietnamese American
Themes: Canadian Connection, Family Relationship: Parents, Family Relationship: Siblings, Genre: Historical, Loss of Childhood, Own Voices/Lived Experience, Refugee Journey, Refugee: War/Conflict, Setting: Home Country, Setting: Refugee Camp, Trauma & Healing, Unaccompanied Minors
Setting: Vietnam, Philippines, Canada
Character's Place in the Immigration Journey: Home Country, On Journey, Refugee, Refugee Camp
Book Creator(s) Connection to the Community Represented: Own Voices/Lived Experience
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Source: Kids Can Press