Week 9: All the Broken Pieces

Book Cover Image:

Book Summary:

This is a novel written in verse. It is poetic but often reads more like prose. The main character is Matt, a half Vietnamese and half American 12 year old boy. He has been adopted by a wonderfully supportive family in the U.S. He left behind a mom and younger brother in Vietnam that he cannot forget. He also cannot forgive his (natural) American father for leaving him and his mom there in Vietnam. They all three haunt him, daily. Matt struggles through many challenges of being ashamed and shamed for being Vietnamese. There are children that tease him because of it. One kid, Rob, even calls him frog-face. When he joins the baseball team and has to deal with this boy, they find out they have more in common than they think. Can they come to an understanding and find real friendship? Will Matt be able to open up about his Vietnam past? This is an emotional and historically poignant book for middle school children. The target ages for this book are grades 6-8.

APA Reference:

Burg, A. E. (2009). All the broken pieces. New York, NY: Scholastic Press.

My Impressions:

I really enjoyed this book even though it was a little sad at times. I loved the verse Burg used in this novel. It might really interest students to read a book organized in this manner. Also, it’s like reading poetry that one can actually understand. It is a tough subject but I think many middle school children could handle it and would enjoy learning more about another culture and a time in history. It is a touching story. One of my favorite parts, because of the language, is when Matt is describing his two brothers; the American one and the crippled, Vietnamese one. He describes his Vietnamese one as he does himself, “Fall.” The Vietnamese are darker (generally) and are from darker places. When he describes his American brother though, he calls him “Summer.” This is because he has blonde hair and a smiley face…he’s from a brighter place. Matt struggles with feeling abandoned by his mom because she sent him away. It made me tear up a bit when he was talking about this in the book. I am glad he later found out she was only trying to give him a chance at a “real” life by sending him to the States. I felt uplifted when he finally made peace with Rob (the one who always blames him for his brother’s death) and for finding peace within himself. I would recommend this to my students to get some experience with verse and with reading about a historical fiction-type book.     

  

Professional Review:

“Gr 6-8-- In 1977, 12-year-old Matt Pin lives a fractured life. He is the son of a Vietnamese woman and an American soldier and was airlifted to safety from the war zone. Adopted by a caring American couple, he has vivid and horrific memories of the war and worries about the fates of his mother and badly injured little brother. Matt's adoptive family adores him, and he is the star pitcher for his middle school baseball team, but there are those who see his face and blame him for the deaths of the young men they lost in the war. The fractured theme runs the course of this short novel in verse: Matt's family, the bodies and hearts of the Vietnam vets, the country that is "only a pocketful of broken pieces" that Matt carries inside him. Ultimately, everything broken is revealed as nonetheless valuable. While most of the selections read less like poems and more like simple prose, the story is a lovely, moving one. Use this in a history class or paired with Katherine Applegate's Home of the Brave (Feiwel & Friends, 2007).”

Review Reference:

Campbell, H. M. (2009, May 1). [Review of the book All the broken pieces, by A. E. Burg].

School Library Journal, 55(5), 101. Retrieved from http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/

Library Uses:

Focus ages: grades 6-8

This could be a part of a display to remember war veterans. It could be set up in April so the students would have a chance to read it before Memorial Day.

This book could be used as a social studies supplement when the students are studying past wars.

The librarian could even visit the classroom and read excerpts from it when they study Vietnam.