ALL THE BROKEN PIECES

This debut novel is short, compelling, and bittersweet. It's two years after the Vietnam War has ended. Ten-year-old Matt Pin was airlifted out of his native country to "safety" in the U.S., but what he experiences here includes discrimination and nightmares of the life he left behind. Despite a loving adoptive family, Matt struggles. He is an ace Little Leaguer, but a teammate who lost a brother in Vietnam directs his anger at Matt. Narrator Tobias Wong reads with heart and humor. While the novel is written in verse, Wong's haunting delivery carries the story with the immediacy of first-person prose. His quiet narration pulls us in, so we listen almost holding our breath as Matt's devastating secrets are revealed. M.M.C. © AudioFile 2011, Portland, Maine [Published: MAY 2011]