House Without Walls is a beautifully told story of a brother and sister on their long journey to safety, from Vietnam in 1979. It is based on the experiences of friends of the author, combined with those of others she has met and this only serves to make the account more real and therefore more distressing. The text, though easy to read, is undeniably harrowing and I would challenge anyone not to wish they could rescue the characters from the traumatic situations they encounter. While this happened several years ago, the news today remains full of accounts of refugees trying to escape to safety by boat and the tragic loss of life that can result.

We need to be reading books like this, not only to learn about the past, but to understand the present and hopefully inform our attitudes to the often discriminated against people still desperately seeking safety today.

My only slight quibble would be that this book is for children (as opposed to YA) and refers to the threat of rape on a few occasions. While I don't usually shy away from discussing difficult issues with children, I feel that this is not an appropriate topic for me to be discussing, as someone working in a primary school, with other people's children. This would prevent me from recommending the book to older primary children (10-11) for independent reading, however I would not hesitate to read it to children and omit this part. Other events, while distressing, are self-explanatory and would therefore not require defining prior to discussion.

Immigrants and refugees are all over the news lately, so this is a timely read.It gives a good overview about refugees and refugee camps through the eyes of a 11 year old Lam. I've know refugees from WW2, refugees from Viet Nam, Somalia, and other countries, both as friends, students and patrons. and extended family members. it's a rough road to travel and a dangerous one. One takes a chance and hope for a better life eventually. I know of one man who spend a little over 15 years in a camp. sad. BUT, these refugees have made themselves wonderful new lives over here in my community and their children are doing very well. I encourage everyone to read books on refugee experiences in the camps and in their travels toward freedom. I pray none of us ever finds ourselves in that situation. This is a good story for 5th grade up, It's written in free verse so it's a quick and easy read.