Clive Gifford,
The Water Puppets: A Story from the War in Vietnam
Hodder Wayland, 2002

The horrors of the Vietnam War are vividly described here, as seen through the eyes of a 13 year-old boy. It is 1967 and the country is divided between the Communist North and their Vietcong supporters from the South, and the South Vietnamese and their American allies. After a trip to market, Xuen and his younger sister Tam return to their isolated village of Noy Thien to discover it has been destroyed in a bomb attack. Xuen, his mother and sister, set out on a dangerous journey through the war-torn country to Saigon where his older brother Lahn lives. Part of the Survivors series, this is a well researched book, which provides good historical notes, a map, further information and a glossary.

Reviewed by DH