Last Flight

May 15, 2023
This 1975-set fictionalization—based on the author’s family’s experiences of boarding the final commercial flight out of Saigon—remains moving and powerful decades after the event. An unnamed child narrator describes navigating the city’s busy streets, which echo with the sounds of sandals and motorbikes. “Ba taught me,/ ‘Don’t be afraid.’/ Ma taught me,/ ‘Just walk. Don’t stop.’/ ...Somehow, we always made it.” When war brings new sounds, Ba, employed by Pan Am Airways, promises, “When it’s time, we will go to America.” But soon “Saigon is falling,” and after obstacles complicate the family’s departure, creativity and kindness help them get on the last flight. Digitally colored illustrations from Phumiruk render the landscape and figures in architectural detail, while lean, lyrical prose from Giang supplies a suspenseful full-circle arc. An author’s note concludes. Ages 4–8.