Brown, Jackie

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BROWN, Jackie

PERSONAL: Female.

ADDRESSES: Home—Roseville, MN. Agent—c/o Author Mail, Hyperion Editorial Department, 77 W. 66th St., 11th Fl., New York, NY 10023. E-mail—[email protected].

CAREER: Writer; also works in a children's bookstore.

AWARDS, HONORS: Paul Zindel First Novel Award, 2004, for Little Cricket.

WRITINGS:

Little Cricket (young adult novel), Hyperion Books for Children (New York, NY), 2004.

SIDELIGHTS: Jackie Brown received the Paul Zindel First Novel Award for her 2004 children's book Little Cricket, "both a gripping survival story and a gentle, heart-wrenching portrait of an immigrant family," observed Booklist critic Gillian Engberg. In Little Cricket, Brown examines the impact of the Vietnam War on a Laotian Hmong family. When North Vietnamese soldiers overrun Kia Vang's quiet farming village and conscript her father into the army, she flees to Thailand with her mother, grandparents, and brother. The family spends three years in a refugee camp before Kia, her grandfather, and her brother receive permission to immigrate to the United States. Leaving Kia's mother and grandmother behind, the three journey to St. Paul, Minnesota, where they encounter cultural differences, a new language, and prejudice. With the assistance of two kindly neighbors, Kia eventually adjusts to her unfamiliar surroundings and helps her brother and grandfather overcome their difficulties. "The subject is handled well, if simplistically," noted a Kirkus Reviews critic, "and the rich Hmong culture is treated respectfully." A Publishers Weekly critic similarly noted that "the details about Hmong culture will be new to most readers, and Kia's sense of alienation may resonate with other kids who feel displaced." School Library Journal contributor Carol A. Edwards praised Little Cricket, remarking that "this involving story emphasizes the resilience and perseverance of the characters rather than the suffering and pain they endured."