Butterfly Yellow

Butterfly Yellow (2019) is a young adult historical novel penned by Thanhhà Lai. The story follows 18-year-old Hằng from Vietnam, who arrives in the United States, where her brother, Linh, was taken six years ago during Operation Babylift. With the help of LeeRoy, an 18-year-old aspiring cowboy, she travels through Texas in search of Linh. The book explores themes of language and communication, the gap between dreams and reality, and the experiences of “the horrid and the sublime.”

Thanhhà Lai is a Vietnamese-American author who writes middle grade and young adult novels. Her first novel, Inside Out & Back Again (2011), is based on her own childhood experiences as a refugee in the United States and received the National Book Award and a Newbery Honor. Butterfly Yellow is her first YA novel, and it received the Scott O’Dell Award for Historical Fiction. Another work by Lai is Listen, Slowly (2015).

This guide is based on the HarperCollins Kindle Edition.

Content Warning: This book contains mentions and descriptions of violence, sexual assault, and trauma.

Plot Summary

Although the book begins in Hằng’s present, the story unfolds through the use of flashbacks and multiple points of view.