Water All Around - Evelyn Vu

Will she ever find her mother?

Life for this eleven-year-old Linh was hard enough during the years post Vietnam war, but to be separated from her mother during an attempt to escape Vietnam in 1979 was unimaginable. 

But it happens and now they have no idea where her mother and baby sister are, or whether they survived. Soon she and her remaining family (father and brother) make a second attempt to escape, unsure who will make it this time or what will become of them. She questions both Mr. Moon and God, and then all the people she meets along the way, the big questions sticking in her mind even as she explores the shores and mountains near the refugee camp where they must remain until they hear whether they will be allowed to immigrate. She and her brother make friends with other refugees and try to survive, but Linh worries when her father’s wedding ring disappears and he becomes good friends with another female refugee. Will she ever be reunited with her mother?