Living in California with her adoptive fam - ily, Tracy/Tuyet grapples with her identity as the child of a Vietnam - ese mother and an American sol - dier and tries to understand the true meaning of home.

Children's fiction; historical (post-Vietnam). PTSD as shown by "half-breed" refugee as well as by her adoptive father (a GI who had served with her dad). Partridge has done a nice job handling the subject--it could've been awful, but the story turned out rather well. ( )

Tracey (Tuyet) is “con lai”, half breed; she has been told that she has the face of the enemy. Half Vietnamese and half American, her father was an American soldier serving in Vietnam. Adopted by an American family in California, she is not sure where or how she fits in. With the help of her best friend Stargazer she begins searching. When they discover an old ammo box in the garage containing a dogtag and a pair of boots, her Dad yells at them. She really does not understand and her adopted father, also a Vietnam War veteran, becomes even more angry, sullen and silent. With flashbacks to Tracey's earlier life in war-torn Vietnam, this excellent tween novel is a search for identity and understanding involving a war that no one wants to remember or discuss.

Sharyn H. / Marathon County Public Library
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A poignant, touching story that captures the many emotional complexities that came out of the Vietnam War. An excellent historical novel with extensive, informative notes by the author in an afterword. ( )

Flashbacks of Vietnam come up , and Tracy doesn't know who to talk to ... good story ( )