My Father, the Panda Killer

A poignant coming-of-age story told in two alternating voices: a California teenager railing against the Vietnamese culture, juxtaposed with her father as an eleven-year-old boat person on a harrowing and traumatic refugee journey from Vietnam to the United States.

San Jose, 1999. Jane knows her Vietnamese dad can't control his temper. Lost in a stupid daydream, she forgot to pick up her seven-year-old brother, Paul, from school. Inside their home, she hands her dad the stick he hits her with. This is how it's always been. She deserves this. Not because she forgot to pick up Paul, but because at the end of the summer she's going to leave him when she goes away to college. As Paul retreats inward, Jane realizes she must explain where their dad's anger comes from. The problem is, she doesn't quite understand it herself.

Đà Nẵng, 1975. Phúc (pronounced /fo͞ok/, rhymes with duke) is eleven the first time his mother walks him through a field of mines he's always been warned never to enter. Guided by cracks of moonlight, Phúc moves past fallen airplanes and battle debris to a refugee boat. But before the sun even has a chance to rise, more than half the people aboard will perish. This is only the beginning of Phúc's perilous journey across the Pacific, which will be fraught with Thai pirates, an unrelenting ocean, starvation, hallucination, and the unfortunate murder of a panda.

Told in the alternating voices of Jane and Phúc, My Father, The Panda Killer is an unflinching story about war and its impact across multiple generations, and how one American teenager forges a path toward accepting her heritage and herself.

Author: Jamie Jo Hoang
Publisher: Crown Books for Young Readers
Published: 08/29/2023
Pages: 384
Binding Type: Hardcover
Weight: 0.85lbs
Size: 8.20h x 5.50w x 1.50d
ISBN: 9780593642962
Audience: Young Adult


Review Citation(s):
Kirkus Reviews 06/15/2023
Publishers Weekly 06/19/2023

About the Author
Jamie Jo Hoang, the daughter of Vietnamese refugees, grew up in Orange County, CA--not the wealthy part. She worked for MGM Studios and later, as a docu-series producer. Now she writes novels and blogs full time. When Jamie's not writing, she's wandering, pondering, and chasing experiences. Her self-published first novel, Blue Sun, Yellow Sky, is a Kirkus Reviews Best Book of the Year.