Hey, Hmong Girl, Wassup?

I read “Hey Hmong girl” ,whassup: the journal of choua vang by Leah rempal.

This is the only book she has written. Choua and her boyfriend (ku) went to a party without her parents knowing.

The story was about an Asian girl and her family struggling with life. They had a very strict dad and most of her family members were in a gang. The most important characters are choua and her sister mai. They both ran from home together to one of mai’s gang member's house. Mai told choua to stay downstairs because mai and her gang were partying. What impacted me was when mai said “ I hate this culture!” It impacted me because we have the same culture and she's going against it and how she speaks back to her father is very disrespectful to our culture.

I really liked the book , I think this is one of the best books I've read so far. This book was written for teenagers and older. I think all readers will like this book because it's very very interesting. You should read this book right now because this book has a lot of details and shows how a Hmong girl lives her life.

Book Review by Matt V.

Hey, Hmong Girl, Wassup: The Journal of Choua Vang

The book I read was Hey, Hmong Girl, Wassup by Leah Rempel. This is the first and only journal I have read by the author and I'm not sure if she has any other books. This journal follows a Hmong girl, Choua Vang on how she manage with her family's strict old-world traditions, and her friends and classmates, how she feel about her older sister and brother being in a gang, and how she got help from her english teacher, Ms. Martinez. The theme of the book is, “life is never going to be perfect, but it's what you make of it.” How will Choua survive this life where she knows she will not always get what she wanted.

Choua wanted to be like americans, who can marry anyone and do what they want. She wanted to be independent and to do that she lied to her parents to be able to do what she wants. She helped her family but also destroyed them. She wanted to be a good role model for her younger siblings and not like her older siblings but can she really do that? We get to see how Choua gets emotional and mad about her life and culture. The evolution is pretty interesting to see of how her life changes from beginning to the end.

I really suggest this book to everyone. I really like it because I feel like it was somehow related to me like how I sometimes feel like I wanted to be like americans too. I would suggest this book to anyone who likes reading books that are dairy/ dialogue written or realistically told. After reading this journal it made me want to know what have happen to Choua when she stopped writing this diary. If you are looking for a book with social, cultural, and acculturation issues, then I really recommend this book, Hey, Hmong Girl, Wassup?

Book Review by Pang Y.