Always with You by Ruth Vander Zee

Always With You by Ruth Vander Zee

My rating: 2 of 5 stars


I came across this book while working on my library's weeding project. (I didn't weed it!) The book grabbed me because it looked like it would be very sad; I knew that a death was somehow involved, but I didn't know who or what the circumstances were.



It's a very quick read; it's a longer picture book that has a subject not so acceptable for browsing children/parents in the picture book section. I was right about my first impression though; it is indeed about a death.



This story is about a girl named Kim whose village is bombed during the Vietnam War. Her loving mother is killed and her dying words to Kim are: "I will always be with you."



An enemy soldier hits Kim with his gun, which ends up hurting her sight for the rest of her life. She is, however, eventually found by United States soldiers and taken someplace safe. Because she needed special surgeries for her eyes, she was sent to the United States for medical help and ended up staying in an orphanage there.



She ends up living a happy life overall, but she always remembers her mother's last words to her.



The story was so sad! But I think it's important to have pieces of literature like this so that we will always remember that events like this happened in our history.



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