Mai lives in a small village in Viet Nam. They have not been touched by the war and really have no idea what's going on outside the forest walls. One day, a beggar boy named Kien finds their village. He starts fishing and is really good at it. One day he took Mai and her little brother Loc on the boat. They fell asleep there and ended up in a storm. They were able to get back to the village with the boat in tact but there are already new people there, officials from Viet Nam's new government. They were going to execute Mai and Loc's grandfather for telling the village 'false information.' However, Kien got Grandfather, Mai, and Loc out of the village and onto the boat. They were aiming to go to Thailand. When they reached there, they were completely out of food. However, the village they arrived in would not take anymore 'boat people.' They sent them off again with some food, but not much. They planned to go back to Viet Nam. Grandfather has gotten extremely sick. Fortunately they arrived on Outcast Island, a little island full of boat people who have also escaped the new government. They fed them and gave Grandfather medicine but it was only so they could take their boat themselves and leave them behind. Once they found out, they packed up their stuff and left. On the voyage Grandfather did die. Days after they were found by an American boat who took Mai, Kien, and Loc in. The book ended with them finally safe on this boat.

I liked book. The ending was sort of sad, but it was still enjoyable. It was also quite informative. I'm going to give this 4 and a half stars. ( )