Cloudwish

Gr 9 Up—Vân Uóc Phan is a student at Crowthorne Grammar. She's a "scholarship kid" from Vietnam whose parents came to Melbourne, Australia, by boat after the fall of Saigon. Her observations about being privileged are sharp but not critical. She's also more concerned with her mother's chronic depression than she is with her own assimilation, and together mother and daughter offer a more complete picture of what it's like to live—and succeed—in an unfamiliar culture. Vân Uóc works hard and earns excellent grades, but socially she's supposed to disappear, a message she gets from both ends: her peers feel their turf is crowded enough, and her parents dictate a strict schedule that leaves her no time off. They pin their hopes on Vân Uóc's future. She's a good girl who nonetheless sees through her parents. Enter Billy Gardiner, who is Vân Uóc's secret crush. When he notices her, she thinks she's been found out, and, even more confusing, he seems so nice. It turns out they share a rebellious streak; she wants to be an art major but has so far kept this from her parents, who expect her to go to med school. And the Gardiner men have rowed crew for three generations, but Billy's pranks may cost him his position as team coach. He's also entitled and a bit mischievous: Will Vân Uóc lose her head? If they suspend disbelief that two teens from very different worlds can fall in love, readers will enjoy this culminating book in Wood's trilogy.