Description

A poignant comingofage story told in two alternating voices a California teenager railing against the Vietnamese culture juxtaposed with her father as an elevenyearold boat personon a harrowing and traumatic refugee journey from Vietnam to the United States

Jeff Zentner awardwinning author of The Serpent King and In the Wild Light

San Jose 1999 Jane knows her Vietnamese dad cant control his temper Lost in a stupid daydream she forgot to pick up her sevenyearold brother Paul from school Inside their home she hands her dad the stick he hits her with This is how its always been She deserves this Not because she forgot to pick up Paul but because at the end of the summer shes going to leave him when she goes away to college As Paul retreats inward Jane realizes she must explain wheretheir dads anger comes from The problem is she doesnt quite understand it herself

Nng 1975 Phcpronounced /fook/ rhymes with duke is eleven the first time his mother walks him through a field of mines hes always been warned never to enter Guided by cracks of moonlight Phc 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 Phcs 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 Phc 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