The ABCs of

1. The ABCs of

2. America Education Freedom Hope Family Dreams Decisions Traditions Opportunity Change NewLife

3. Miss Sayapong “Good-bye land of war, land of prisons, land of lies.” PASS School Death Rape Filth Hunger

4. English Confusion “This is cold?” $$$$ “I didn’t understand. ‘My own…room?” “’Look Grandma! I pointed at my cup. The squares turned into water.’ We shook our heads at each other. How were we supposed to know?” “Parents always told their kids who they could be with, what they could do. If the kids disobeyed, shouldn’t they get hit? I struggled to hide my confusion.” “Will I kill us with what I don’t know?”

5. What religion do I believe? Do I lie? “I have never lied before.” How should I confront her? Do I listen to my friends? Where do I want to fit in? Do I want to be a good Hmong girl? Decisions Are Heather and Lisa good for me? Do I listen to my family? How do I make Grandma proud? Do I want to be “American” or “Hmong”? Can I be both? Do I want a traditional Hmong life? How do I make her smile? How do I handle my anger towards Grandma?

6. El ePhan t uck a Nhia

7. Family

8. Grandma Love Hate Lost Protector Caregiver Acceptance Proud Dependent Traditional Pa’ndau Strong Life Line Vibrant Dominant Independent

9. “The Hmong are fiercely independent hills tribes who have populated the southwestern Chinese Provinces of Yunnan, Guizhou, and Kwangsi for more than 4,200 years.” p 221 Hmong Mai struggles to keep her Hmong identity and traditions while trying to adjust to her new American life.

10. “’In my home Mai will obey me,’ Grandma insisted. Heather whispered to me in English, ‘A battle for Mai’s soul. Who will win?’ ‘Me’, I replied under my breath. I chomped into the cross and bit off the whole top.” p 163 Independence Mai struggles constantly with the independence a new American life offers and the obligation to her Grandmother and her previous way of life.

11. Mai blames herself for her grandmother’s death. She came to America with her grandmother at her side and now she must continue on the rest of the journey without her. Just a Memory “My hands touched my sash and my collar, and I thought, Grandma is here, and I touched my silver necklace, here, and my jingling hat, here. Then I lifted my hands high into the air and twirled once slowly, here and everywhere.” p 219

12. “If I told the truth, Heather and Lisa would hate me.” p87 Mai wants to do the right thing… but what is right gets more unclear everyday. Keeping secrets “Lies could help, I reasoned. They weren’t always wrong. It would be okay for me. One tiny harmless lie, only one.” p87

13. Learning “I didn’t think much about pa’ndau anymore. My eyes were hungry for words! p 174 Mai works hard studying during her first Summer in America so that she may join her regular eighth grade class in the fall. “I remembered the encouraging words of Miss Sayapong in camp: ‘Keep learning, Mai. That is how to thank me.’” p176

14. “Mai is beautiful as an orchid, but has the strength of a tiger.” p 219 Mai is a smart girl with hopes and dreams of a better tomorrow in America. She struggles often with her own emotions. She wants to follow her Hmong traditions, but she is curious about the American way of life. Mai begins to find herself and slowly untangles the threads of her life. Mai

15. “A new year of luck, health, and happiness jingled in the air, and here I was safe and swirling, inside it.” p 220 Nyo Zoo Xyoo Tshaib Happy New Year! As the New Year arrives, Mai finally begins to make peace with herself over her inner struggles. She finally understands there is a way to balance the traditions and beliefs of her old Hmong lifestyle with her new life here in America.

16. O Is for Obedient. Mai struggles to understand how and why American children disobey their elders so easily. It’s almost fascinating to her to the point where she wants to try it herself.

17. P • Is for PASS, Preparation for American Secondary School. This is where Mai learned many things about American culture. She felt safe and protected there by her teacher Miss Sayapong who helped her get to America.

18. Q • Is for Qeej, the wind instruments made of bamboo. This symbolizes the happiness Grandmother felt when she witnessed Hmong customs being practiced in America, like the dancing the girls performed.

19. R • Is for Refugee. Mai spent ten years of her life as a prisoner in camps. Her dream was to be with her family in America and not spend her life as a Refugee anymore.

20. S • Is for Secrets. In America Mai learns that there are many secrets in her precious family. The secret Grandmother keeps from her is the most hurtful, yet Mai waits months to confront her about it.

21. T • Is for Threadworm, the stomach sickness Mai suffers from. She caught it in the refugee camp and it plagued her until she was treated by American doctors and medicine.

22. U for Unite “Only the shaman could rid my body of its bad spirits. Only the shaman could unite my wayward souls.” page 1

23. V for Vietnam “The Thai, the Lao, even most Americans didn’t believe that the Pathet Lao – the Communists who were the new rulers of Laos – had used poisoned gas against us after the Vietnam War.” page 10

24. for Westerners W “Hmong children never disobeyed. From what I saw last night, I guessed American children did all the time. It seemed as if nobody was in charge of an American family.” page 90

25. X for Xenophobia “Heather had told me about the gangs. How when the Hmong first came to Providence, other kids picked on us, beat us up. Some Hmong started sticking together for protection and fighting back.” page 125

26. Y for Yang “… my Yang ancestry. Slowly I traced the whorls of Yang men who had fought for freedom from the Chinese, Yang women who tried to save the forbidden Hmong alphabet by stitching the characters into pa’ndau, Yang who fought the Japanese and then the Communists.” page 212

27. Z for Zis “ ‘…The doctors are doing some tests. They took blood from you and some samples of, uh, your quav and zis [urine].’” page 133 Characters use Hmong words throughout the novel, lending strong cultural authenticity.

28. The ABCs of Tangled Threads created by Amy Parsons (A-G) Kim Irvin (H-N) Nickey Druley (O-T) Susan Lynch (U-Z)